These poetic words of Ada Lovelace (1815-1852) -- concerning translation of mathematical principles into practical forms -- I found here:
Those who view mathematical science,
not merely as a vast body
of abstract and immutable truths,
whose intrinsic beauty, symmetry and logical completeness,
when regarded in their connexion together as a whole,
entitle them to a prominent place
in the interest of all profound and logical minds,
Showing posts with label mathematical. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mathematical. Show all posts
Friday, September 18, 2015
Tuesday, July 14, 2015
Visual-mathematical poetry
The poems that I write and most of the poems that I include in this blog use mathematical patterns to structure their lines and stanzas or mathematical terminology in their content -- but blogger Kaz Maslanka is a mathematical poet who does something different: his creations involve mathematical operations and symbols as well as words. For example, the following visual poem -- involving symbols for "equals" and "divided by" -- comes from a recent posting (in his blog, "Mathematical Poetry") of what Maslanka calls an orthogonal space poem.
During July 29-August 1, 2015, Kaz Maslanka and I both plan to participate
in the BRIDGES Math-and-the-Arts Conference at the University of Baltimore --
sharing our poetry and enjoying the work of others.
Join us if you can; no registration fee is required for Friday "Family Day" events
which include a poetry reading.
"Winning" -- a visual poem by Kaz Maslanka in a form related to the formula for the area of a rectangle, A = lw or, alternatively, w = A/l. (Double-click on the image to enlarge it.) |
During July 29-August 1, 2015, Kaz Maslanka and I both plan to participate
in the BRIDGES Math-and-the-Arts Conference at the University of Baltimore --
sharing our poetry and enjoying the work of others.
Join us if you can; no registration fee is required for Friday "Family Day" events
which include a poetry reading.
Labels:
divide,
Kaz Maslanka,
mathematical,
multiply,
orthogonal,
poetry,
space
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
Found poetry - words of Dirac
The epigraph for Richard Bready's "Times of Sand" (a stanza of which I posted a few days ago on 21 February) is a quote from British physicist Paul Dirac (1902-1984, founder of quantum theory). This quote reminded me how often we find poetry within well-written prose -- and I have gone to WikiQuotes and found more poetic words from Dirac:
If you are
receptive
and humble,
mathematics
will lead you
by the hand.
If you are
receptive
and humble,
mathematics
will lead you
by the hand.
Labels:
equation,
mathematical,
mathematics,
Paul Dirac,
physical,
poetry,
quantum theory,
science
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
In Praise of Fractals
Philosopher Emily Grosholz is also a poet -- a poet who often writes of mathematics. Tessellations Publishing has recently (2014) published her collection Proportions of the Heart: Poems that Play with Mathematics (with illustrations by Robert Fathauer) and she has given me permission to present one of the fine poems from that collection.
In Praise of Fractals by Emily Grosholz
Variations on the Introduction to
The Fractal Geometry of Nature by Benoit Mandelbrot
(New York: W. H. Freeman and Company, 1983)
Euclid’s geometry cannot describe,
nor Apollonius’, the shape of mountains,
puddles, clouds, peninsulas or trees.
Clouds are never spheres,
In Praise of Fractals by Emily Grosholz
Variations on the Introduction to
The Fractal Geometry of Nature by Benoit Mandelbrot
(New York: W. H. Freeman and Company, 1983)
Euclid’s geometry cannot describe,
nor Apollonius’, the shape of mountains,
puddles, clouds, peninsulas or trees.
Clouds are never spheres,
Labels:
curve,
Emily Grosholz,
Euclid,
fractal,
geometry,
Mandelbrot,
mathematical,
poetry,
Robert Fathauer,
shape
Monday, October 20, 2014
Martin Gardner collected poems
Last week the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) had a special program honoring Martin Gardner (1914-2010); tomorrow (October 21) is the 100th anniversary of his birth. The shelving in the MAA meeting room displayed copies of many of Gardner's approximately one hundred books. However, none of the books displayed were books of poetry and, indeed, Gardner referred to himself as "an occasional versifier" but not a poet. Nonetheless he helped to popularize OULIPO techniques in his monthly (1956-81) Scientific American column, "Mathematical Games," and he also was a collector and editor of anthologies, parodies, and annotated versions of familiar poetic works. Here is a link to his Favorite Poetic Parodies. And one may find Famous Poems from Bygone Days and The Annotated Casey at the Bat and half a dozen other titles by searching at amazon.com using "martin gardner poetry."
Labels:
city,
game,
John William Burgon,
Jonathan Vos Post,
MAA,
Martin Gardner,
mathematical,
Oulipo,
parody,
poetry,
Scientific American,
time
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
Martin Gardner, again
This past weekend a review by Teller (magician of the Penn & Teller team) of an autobiography of Martin Gardner appeared in the NYTimes Book Review. According to Teller, Gardner (1914-2010) wrote the memoir, Undiluted Hocus-Pocus: The Autobiography of Martin Gardner, at the age of 95 on an old electric typewriter in his single-room assisted-living apartment in Norman, Oklahoma.
Labels:
double acrostic,
magic,
Martin Gardner,
mathematical,
poem,
rhyme,
time,
Tom Hood
Monday, December 23, 2013
Ah, you are a mathematician
Thanks to Arturo Sangalli of the Writer's Union of Canada -- and fellow-participant in a recent Banff creativity conference -- who reminded me of this poem. And thanks to Bill Dunham who has spread it widely by including it in The Mathematical Universe (Wiley, 1997). These brief stanzas were written in the early 1990s when many of us kept our financial facts in checkbooks rather than online; still current, however, is the mistaken image of mathematicians as those whose task it is to keep numbers clean and orderly.
Misunderstanding by JoAnne Growney
Ah, you are a mathematician,
they say with admiration
or scorn.
Misunderstanding by JoAnne Growney
Ah, you are a mathematician,
they say with admiration
or scorn.
Labels:
Arturo Sangalli,
balance,
Christmas,
digits,
JoAnne Growney,
mathematical,
mathematician,
numbers,
pi,
William Dunham
Sunday, June 16, 2013
What is not possible?
It is impossible for a number to be greater than 2 if it is not greater than 1. It is impossible to find a rational number whose square is 2. Up to now it has not been possible to show that π is a normal number. Mathematicians like the challenge of the impossible. To challenge, to prove, to refute.
In the poem below Chelsea Martin devises an entertaining web of circular reasoning to explore the impossibility of eating at MacDonald's.
McDonalds Is Impossible by Chelsea Martin
Eating food from McDonald's is mathematically impossible.
Because before you can eat it, you have to order it.
And before you can order it, you have to decide what you want.
And before you can decide what you want, you have to read the menu.
And before you can read the menu, you have to be in front of the menu.
And before you can be in front of the menu, you have to wait in line.
And before you can wait in line, you have to drive to the restaurant.
And before you can drive to the restaurant, you have to get in your car.
And before you can get in your car, you have to put clothes on.
In the poem below Chelsea Martin devises an entertaining web of circular reasoning to explore the impossibility of eating at MacDonald's.
McDonalds Is Impossible by Chelsea Martin
Eating food from McDonald's is mathematically impossible.
Because before you can eat it, you have to order it.
And before you can order it, you have to decide what you want.
And before you can decide what you want, you have to read the menu.
And before you can read the menu, you have to be in front of the menu.
And before you can be in front of the menu, you have to wait in line.
And before you can wait in line, you have to drive to the restaurant.
And before you can drive to the restaurant, you have to get in your car.
And before you can get in your car, you have to put clothes on.
Labels:
Chelsea Martin,
circular,
impossible,
irrational,
mathematical,
normal,
pi,
poem,
proof,
theorem
Sunday, March 3, 2013
A mathematician, a poet, a woman
When I contacted University of Kansas mathematician Judith Roitman for permission to include her poem "Sixth Cosmogony" in this poetry-math blog she was quick to point out that this is not really a mathy poem. For example, the math term "differentiated" in the first stanza of the poem is not being used in its mathematical sense. However, my motivations for including the poem remain. First, and quite important: this is a poem by a mathematician who is also a woman and a poet. Second, I am interested in mathematicians' reactions to seeing math terms in non-mathematical contexts; are mathematical meanings part of what you think of any time that you hear a math term such as "differentiate" or "factor" or "commute"?
Labels:
cosmogony,
differentiate,
Judith Roitman,
mathematical,
mathematician,
poem,
poet,
random,
space,
Under the Microscope,
woman
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
The magic of "i"
An exciting math event occurred last week -- the opening of MoMath,
a Manhattan museum that makes math fun.
from Voyage around the Square Root of Minus One by Paul Hartal
. . . Mathematical equations are embedded
with mysterious forces
and their uncanny power transcends
the cognitive faculties of the human mind.
Labels:
imaginary,
mathematical,
minus,
Paul Hartal,
poetry,
square root
Friday, November 23, 2012
Women Scientists in America
That
one,
Gray, is bold,
mathematical,
and female. One of the founders
(one-nine-seven-one) of the
Association for
Women in Mathematics and an attorney,
a leader of our struggle to get
well-meaning men to confront the
attitudes they inherited, to change -- so that "think
mathematically" does not mean the
same as "think
like a man." Mathematics has
myriad voices.
Awaken!
Hear all
of
us. a Fibonacci poem by JoAnne Growney
us. a Fibonacci poem by JoAnne Growney
Labels:
AWM,
Fibonacci,
JoAnne Growney,
Mary Gray,
mathematical,
mathematician,
think,
women
Monday, October 29, 2012
Greatest common factor
Sometimes a mathematical phrase offers a splendid concentration of meaning in an otherwise non-mathematical poem. This is the case in the poem below by Taylor Mali, teacher and slam poet.
Undivided Attention by Taylor Mali
A grand piano wrapped in quilted pads by movers,
tied up with canvas straps—like classical music’s
birthday gift to the criminally insane—
is gently nudged without its legs
out an eighth‐floor window on 62nd street.
Undivided Attention by Taylor Mali
A grand piano wrapped in quilted pads by movers,
tied up with canvas straps—like classical music’s
birthday gift to the criminally insane—
is gently nudged without its legs
out an eighth‐floor window on 62nd street.
Labels:
divisor,
greatest common factor,
math,
mathematical,
pattern,
poem,
square,
Taylor Mali
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Puzzle poems from Benjamin Banneker
Benjamin Banneker (1731 - 1806) was a free African American mathematician and almanac author -- also an astronomer, surveyor, and farmer. (I learned of his work through my friend Greg Coxson, an engineer, teacher, and fan of mathematical poetry -- and Coxson learned of Banneker through a school project of his son.) Beyond building a wooden clock and helping to lay out the borders of Washington, DC, Banneker predicted the 1789 solar eclipse and included rhyming math puzzles in his almanac. Coxson introduced me to a fine website, established by by John F. Mahoney of Washington, DC's Benjamin Banneker Academic High School, entitled The Mathematical Puzzles of Benjamin Banneker.
Banneker's Almanack had an eclectic mix of astronomy/astrology, medical advice, weather prediction, and other things. Here's a math-problem-poem from that Almanack -- found, along with others, at Mahoney's site:
Banneker's Almanack had an eclectic mix of astronomy/astrology, medical advice, weather prediction, and other things. Here's a math-problem-poem from that Almanack -- found, along with others, at Mahoney's site:
Labels:
Benjamin Banneker,
Greg Coxson,
John Mahoney,
mathematical,
mathematician,
poem,
proportion,
puzzle
Monday, August 6, 2012
Spanish favorites
One of my favorite DC-area poet-people is Yvette Neisser Moreno -- who, besides giving us her own work, is active in translation of Spanish-language poetry into English, most recently (with Patricia Bejarano Fisher) a Spanish and English edition of Venezuelan poet Maria Teresa Ogliastri’s South Pole/Polo Sur (Settlement House, 2011). Although I have not found any mathematical poems by Moreno, I learned from an interview that the Chilean Nobelist Pablo Neruda (1904-1973) is her favorite poet and I therefore present here the geometrically vivid opening opening stanza of Part XI of Neruda's well-known long poem, The Heights of Macchu Pichu: A Bilingual Edition (The Noonday Press, 1966).
Saturday, July 14, 2012
More of Hypatia -- brave, smart woman
Poet and blogger Ellen Moody offers a lively and informative feature on poet Elizabeth Tollett (1694-1754); Tollett, too, wrote of forebears she admired, including Hypatia (c. 370 C. E. - 415 C.E.) -- who has been described as the first woman to make a substantial contribution to mathematics. In contrast with Anne Harding Woodworth's focus on the tortured death of Hypatia, Tollett's lines portray the struggles of her life.
What cruel laws depress the female kind,
To humble cares and servile tasks confined!
In gilded toys their florid bloom to spend,
And empty glories that in age must end;
For amorous youth to spread the artful snares,
And by their triumphs to enlarge their cares.
Labels:
discrimination,
Elizabeth Tollett,
Ellen Moody,
Hypatia,
mathematical,
mathematician,
mathematics,
poem,
poetry,
torture,
woman
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Natural numbers
My just-previous posting tells of a Monday poetry reading I was able to attend. On Monday, May 14, a poetry reading took place that I wanted to attend but missed; poet Gary Snyder read at the Folger Shakespeare Library.
Written in the 1950s and read by him here on YouTube, Gary Snyder's poem, "Hay for the Horses," involves a mathematical calculation:
Written in the 1950s and read by him here on YouTube, Gary Snyder's poem, "Hay for the Horses," involves a mathematical calculation:
Labels:
calculation,
counting,
Folger,
Gary Snyder,
mathematical,
natural number,
poet
Thursday, January 12, 2012
The Function Room
For each of us who's studied mathematics, the word "function" triggers important mathematical meanings. And so, when I read Patrice Phillips un-mathematical poem "The Function Room," I automatically add a mathematical layer to the meaning. Do you?
Labels:
function,
mathematical,
mathematics,
Patrice Phillips,
poetry,
WolframAlpha
Monday, December 26, 2011
A mathematical woman
As in an earlier posting (20 December 2011), today's feature includes verse by Lord Byron (1788-1824). This time the source is Byron's satiric poem Don Juan. In Canto I, the poet describes Don Juan's mother, Donna Inez, as learned and "mathematical." Here are several stanzas about her -- sagely seasoned with words like "theorem," "proof," and "calculation."
Labels:
calculation,
Lord Byron,
mathematical,
parallel,
poem,
proof,
theorem,
woman
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Ruth Stone counts
It seemed as if she might write -- and write well -- forever. But she did not. Moreover, poems by award-winning poet Ruth Stone (1915-2011) are not celebrated for their use of mathematical imagery. Still, she noticed numbers. She counted. As in "All in Time."
Labels:
counting,
mathematical,
numbers,
poetry,
Ruth Stone
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
A puzzle with a partial solution
When we have experiences near to each other, we may try to connect them. We form superstitions. "Bad things come in threes" -- and something similar for good things. And we make poetry -- offering new associations that delight and surprise.
Gertrude Stein is one of my favorite poets. She was, like me, born in Pennsylvania (though she, unlike me, left and became Parisian). She creates almost-meaning from unlikely juxtapositions. I find in her work the delight of a puzzle to which I can find a partial solution. And come back for more. Here are two stanzas from Stein's "Stanzas in Meditation" that play with some mathematical meanings.
Gertrude Stein is one of my favorite poets. She was, like me, born in Pennsylvania (though she, unlike me, left and became Parisian). She creates almost-meaning from unlikely juxtapositions. I find in her work the delight of a puzzle to which I can find a partial solution. And come back for more. Here are two stanzas from Stein's "Stanzas in Meditation" that play with some mathematical meanings.
Labels:
add,
average,
count,
Gertrude Stein,
mathematical,
poetry,
range
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)