Palindromes

     Palindromic numbers are not uncommon  -- recently (in the July 12 posting) power-of-eleven palindromes are mentioned.  Palindromic poems are more difficult to find but see, for example, the postings for October 6, 2010 and October 11, 2010.

     At a  recent Kensington Row Bookshop poetry reading, Hailey Leithauser revealed that all but one of the poems in her recent collection Swoop (Graywolf Press, 2014) contain a palindrome.  

And here are a couple of my favorite palindromic phrases:

(the impossible integer)

Never 
odd or 
even. 

(the mathematician's answer when she is offered cake)
  "I prefer pi."

The Bridges of Konigsberg

From the August 1997 issue of The Mathematical Intelligencer, we have this poem by Judith Saunders about a long-standing puzzle solved solved by the mathematical giant, Leonhard Euler (1707-1783).

The Nightmare of an Unsolved Problem

Back in the 1980s when I first met the Collatz conjecture in a number theory textbook it was stated this way:
     Start with any whole number  n :
          If  n  is even, reduce it by half, obtaining  n/2.
          If n is odd, increase it by half and round up to the nearest whole number, obtaining  3n/2 + 1/2 = (3n+1)/2.   Collatz' conjecture asserts that, no matter what the starting number, iteration of this increase-decrease process will each time reach the number 1.   

Cryptography -- an MAA lecture and a poem

     Living near the Silver Spring metro station, on the border of Washington, DC, makes travel to the offices of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA)  an easy trip for me, and I am able to enjoy occasional lectures at MAA's Carriage House Conference Center.  On December 9 I was fortunate to attend an entertaining and informative lecture on  "Cryptography:  How to Keep a Secret," by UC Irvine math-computer-science professor (and Numb3rs consultant), Alice Silverberg. (Podcasts of lectures are available at the MAA site.) 

Minimal poem from Saroyan

This poem appears in Complete Minimal Poems by Aram Saroyan (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2007).  Another of Saroyan's minimal poems was posted on November 9.

A Lemma by Constance Reid

Constance Reid (1918-2010), died on October 14.  Sister of a mathematician (Julia Robinson), Reid wrote first about life in World War II factories that supported the war effort and then, later, several biographies (including one of her sister) and other books about mathematics.  Kenneth Rexroth's poem "A Lemma by Constance Reid" (offered below) is based on material appearing in Reid's popular book From Zero to Infinity:  What Makes Numbers Interesting (Thomas Y Crowell, 1955).  Reid is known for the enthusiasm and clarity with which she presented mathematical ideas--seeking to attract and to satisfy non-mathematical readers. 

Goldbach's conjecture -- easily stated but unsolved

This blog's July 20 posting featured work from poets who have spouses or siblings who are mathematicians.  Today, introducing the work of  Michele Battiste (who considers Goldbach's conjecture), we again honor that theme.  Goldbach's conjecture asserts that every even integer greater than 2 can be expressed as a sum of two prime integers.   For example, 4 = 2 + 2, 6 = 3 + 3, 8 = 3 + 5, 10 = 7 + 3 or 5 + 5, and so on.  The conjecture was first proposed in 1742 by German mathematican Christian Goldbach in a letter to Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler -- and in 2010--though it has been verified for many, many, many even integers--it still remains unproved.