Although counting is one of the basic activities of mathematics, its importance also extends to the highest mathematical levels. We count the solutions to systems of equations, the crossings in a diagram of a knot, the intersections of surfaces in multi-dimensional space, the necessary repititions in a circuit covering the edges of a graph. Counting likewise imposes order on some of life's difficult and non-mathematical tasks. In Veneta Masson's poem, "Arithmetic of Nurses," we have a vivid picture of the careful alertness required of those who cares for ill patients.
Following Masson's poem, is "Things to Count On," one of my own poems of counting--a prose poem describing the way that numbers order the life of a frugal farmer and his family, working to make ends meet in Pennsylvania in the middle of the 20th century.
Showing posts with label Plain View Press. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Plain View Press. Show all posts
Friday, October 1, 2010
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
From "Red Has No Reason" -- a poem about the nature of mathematics
My new poetry book, Red Has No Reason, is now available (from Plain View Press or amazon.com). Several of the poems mention math--and one of them comments on the nature of mathematics. Ideas for "A Taste of Mathematics" (below) came from a mathematics conference in San Antonio, TX (January 1993) where it was announced that the billionth digit in the decimal expansion of π is 9. Recently an amazing new calculation record of 5 trillion digits (claimed by Alexander J. Yee and Shigeru Kondo) has been announced.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Poems starring mathematicians - 2
Published a century later than William Benjamin Smith's "The Merman and the Seraph" (see April 14 posting) we have Crossing the Equal Sign (Plain View Press, 2007)--a poetry collection by Marion Deutsche Cohen. Cohen lives in Philadelphia and teaches mathematics at Arcadia University where she has used her literary interests to develop a new course, "Truth and Beauty: Mathematics in Literature." I have chosen several excerpts from Cohen's collection that offer internal snapshots of her sort of mathematician:
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