A couple of weeks ago at an MAA math lecture by Alissa Crans on the Catalan numbers, I sat near card-trick mathematician Colm Mulcahy. And I asked him if he knew any poems about card tricks and their mathematics.
Though he at first said "no," Mulcahy turned out to have a couple of connections up his sleeve. From Matthew Wright he learned of "The Card Players" -- a colorful sonnet from Philip Larkin's 1974 collection High Windows and available here with selections of Adriaen Brouwer's art.
And Bruce Reznick reminded him of the lyrics for "The Gambler" by Kenny Rogers. The complete lyrics may be found here; I include below a stanza that offers some instruction about counting.
Showing posts with label trick. Show all posts
Showing posts with label trick. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
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