One of my recent poetry-finds has been the anthology Regreen: New Canadian Ecological Poetry, edited by Madhur Anand and Adam Dickinson (Scrivener Press, 2009) and in it some small mentions of mathematics. The following poem by artist and poet Erin Robinsong considers things big and small -- and observes some paradoxes. Is math the puzzle or the explanation or . . .?
SEED : CEDE by Erin Robinsong
Looking into the peach-pit, we find a vast spaciousness, as if actually looking into a pit –
A math problem:
A peach pit is weighed against
the year’s yield plus the tree:
30 g, 900 kg.
Which weighs more?
Showing posts with label paradox. Show all posts
Showing posts with label paradox. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 18, 2016
Friday, August 14, 2015
Primes and a paradox
Canadian poet Alice Major has loved and admired science and mathematics since girlhood and this background brings to her mathy poems both charm and amazement -- qualities that those of us who seriously studied mathematics easily lack. At the recent BRIDGES conference I had a chance to hang out with Alice for a while and to purchase her latest collection, Standard Candles (University of Alberta Press, 2015). Such fun to experience her views of infinities and paradoxes, of triangles and symmetries and formulas and ... .
Alice has given me permission to post two of her poems here; read on and enjoy "The god of prime numbers" and "Zeno's paradox."
Alice has given me permission to post two of her poems here; read on and enjoy "The god of prime numbers" and "Zeno's paradox."
Sunday, June 8, 2014
Impossible Things Before Breakfast
Literary works by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832-1898, aka Lewis Carroll) are crammed with mentions of mathematics. One of my favorites (found here with numerous others, including "Ambition, Distraction, Uglification, Derision") is this exchange from Carroll's Alice in Wonderland.
"Alice laughed: "There's no use trying," she said; "one can't believe impossible things."
"I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was younger, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."
Alice in Wonderland
"Alice laughed: "There's no use trying," she said; "one can't believe impossible things."
"I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was younger, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."
Alice in Wonderland
Labels:
Charles Lutwidge Dodson,
impossible,
Lewis Carroll,
paradox
Thursday, September 19, 2013
BRIDGES poems, from 17 poets
Due to the hard work of mathematician-poet Sarah Glaz, poetry has been an important part of recent BRIDGES-Math-Art Conferences. And, under her editing, a Bridges 2013 Poetry Anthology has been released, featuring poetry from these poets who participated in one or more of the three most recent BRIDGES conferences (Enschede, Netherlands, 2013; Towson, Maryland, 2012; Coimbra, Portugal, 2011).
Sunday, September 15, 2013
Consider Pascal
Mathematician Blaise Pascal (France, 1623-1662) is known for his explorations with computing machines, for his ideas concerning probabilities, for trying to make rational a decision to believe in God and eternal life, for his explorations of the cycloid and the limacon (curves generated by rolling circles) and a host of other topics.
I was introduced to Melbourne poet, novelist, and mathematician (he teaches at Victoria University of Technology), Tom Petsinis by South-African editor of Poetry-International, Liesl Jobson. Here from Petsinis' collection, Naming the Number (Penguin, 1998) is "Pascal's Tooth," (a poem also available at the Poetry-International site). In the grip of severe pain, Petsinis ponders the ideas of Pascal.
I was introduced to Melbourne poet, novelist, and mathematician (he teaches at Victoria University of Technology), Tom Petsinis by South-African editor of Poetry-International, Liesl Jobson. Here from Petsinis' collection, Naming the Number (Penguin, 1998) is "Pascal's Tooth," (a poem also available at the Poetry-International site). In the grip of severe pain, Petsinis ponders the ideas of Pascal.
Labels:
cycloid,
Galois,
Liesl Jobson,
paradox,
Pascal,
Poetry International,
proof,
Tom Petsinis,
wager
Monday, June 20, 2011
Something for nothing
Among my favorite mathematical ideas are the seeming-paradoxes -- notions that require a twist and a turn and a leap before one can say "aha." Using a symbol for "nothing" is one of those leap-requiring ideas. I don't remember when I first understood zero, but I have enjoyed watching my children -- and now grandchildren -- grapple with ideas of things that are absent rather than present.
Here, from Hailey Leithauser, is a poem that celebrates the cipher.
Here, from Hailey Leithauser, is a poem that celebrates the cipher.
Labels:
Hailey Leithauser,
mathematics,
nothing,
paradox,
poem,
zero
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Poems of set paradox and spatial dimension
Universal Paradox by Sandra DeLozier Coleman
One gigantic set made of all that there is
Boggles the mind with paradoxes.
For it is greater than all, but smaller than this —
The set which consists of the subsets of it.
One gigantic set made of all that there is
Boggles the mind with paradoxes.
For it is greater than all, but smaller than this —
The set which consists of the subsets of it.
Labels:
cube,
dimension,
endpoint,
hypercube,
paradox,
perpendicular,
point,
Sandra DeLozier Coleman,
set,
space,
subset,
universal set
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Creation from "nothing"
Christian Otto Josef Wolfgang Morgenstern (1871-1914) was a German writer whose poetry often involved paradox or nonsense and whose witticisms are oft-quoted by his German admirers; for example, the following line from "The Impossible Fact" ("Die unmögliche Tatsache", 1910): "Weil, so schließt er messerscharf / Nicht sein kann, was nicht sein darf." which may be translated as "For, he reasons pointedly / That which must not, can not be."
Labels:
Christian Morgenstern,
mathematics,
nothing,
paradox,
poetry,
spaces,
translation
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Prisoner's Dilemma -- and permutations
In game theory's original, single-play, Prisoner's Dilemma problem, two prisoners each are given the choice between silence and betrayal of the other. The optimal choice is betrayal -- and therein lies a paradox. Volume 1.3 of the online journal Unsplendid includes the following poem by Isaac Cates that reveals the nature of this classic decision dilemma.
Labels:
game theory,
Isaac Cates,
optimal,
paradox,
permutation,
play,
prisoner's dilemma,
sestina,
trust
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Against Intuition
One of my favorite poets (mentioned previously for her poem, "Pi" in my September 6 posting) is the Polish Nobelist (1996) Wislawa Szymborska. Her language is apt and spare, her thoughts are wise, and her gentle humor is frequent.
Labels:
Baranczak,
Cavanagh,
counter-intuitive,
David Hilbert,
infinite,
Janet Lewis,
mathematics,
paradox,
poetry,
set,
Wislawa Szymborska
Thursday, July 29, 2010
A wedding song -- shaped by mathematics
This posting includes a stanza from of "A Wedding on Earth" by Annie Finch. In the poet's words: the poem has 11 stanzas with 11 lines for a total of 121 lines, this number symbolizing the two single members of a pair joining into a 2, which is the prevailing theme of the poem; and each stanza combining [averaging] the stanza of Spenser's epithalamion (18 lines) with Sappho's stanza (4 lines).
Labels:
angle,
Annie Finch,
balanced,
circling,
geometry,
intersection,
line,
mathematics,
one,
pairs,
paradox,
pyramid,
square,
Tupelo Press,
two,
wedding,
Wompo
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