Monday, March 30, 2020
Mathematics...underlies everything...said the poet
NUMBER THEORY by Mary Peelen
Forty one apples in the tree,
red and round,
praise awaiting gravity,
wholly free of abstraction.
When it comes to the primes
and matters of religion,
I defer to Pythagoras,
his ancient cult and authority.
Monday, June 24, 2024
Mathematicians that aren't white men . . .
Who
can do
mathematics?
What about girls and women
and people of color?
We need to open
our eyes and
our doors!
Even though mathematicians are frequently exploring new ideas and patterns of thought, minds often have been closed against recognizing math skills in varied groups of people. It has taken lots of effort to get math doors opened to women, to people of color. Here are some informative and inspiring videos:
Journeys of Black Mathematicians (A documentary project by George Csicsery)
Meet a Mathematician: Dr. Gizem Karaali
Meet a Mathematician: Dr. Lisa Fauci
Friday, March 4, 2011
Journal of Humanistic Mathematics -- V1, Issue 1
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Poetry at JMM -- groups, etc.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Is your favorite poet a mathematician?
Thursday, August 4, 2016
POETRY -- in the Journal of Humanistic Mathematics
The current issue (online since late July) features my review of Madhur Anand's vibrant new collection, A New Index for Predicting Catastrophes (Penguin Random House, 2015) and these poems:
Wednesday, August 14, 2019
Journal of Humanistic Mathematics--a TREASURE
This current issue of JHM also offers a selection of five poems and also a folder with insightful reflections in both prose and poetry -- "A Life of Equations Shifting to a Life of Words" by Thomas Willemain.
Friday, February 15, 2019
Musical sounds of math words -- in a CENTO
Monday, February 8, 2021
Journal of Humanistic Mathematics -- new issue
Recently released, Issue 1 of Volume 11 (2021) of the Journal of Humanistic Mathematics; in it Editors Mark Huber and Gizem Karaali have collected for us a wonderful selection of articles -- including a work of fiction, a folder of teaching limericks, and the following very fine (and mathy) poems:
"Early Morning Mathematics Classes" by Angelina Schenck
"Proof Theory" by Stan Raatz
"One Straight Line Addresses Another Traveling in the Same Direction
on an Infinite Plane" by Daniel W. Galef
"Turing's Machine" by Mike Curtis
"Iterations of Emptying" by Marian Christie
Go here to JHM Volume 11 to explore, to enjoy!
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Poetry heard at JMM
Poets who submitted work in advance and were on the "Poetry with Mathematics" program included:
Jacqueline Lapidus, Judith Johnson, Rosanna Iembo (accompanied by the violin of her daughter Irene Iaccarino), Charlotte Henderson, Carol Dorf (read by Elizabeth Langosy), Sandra Coleman, Marion Cohen, Tatiana Bonch (read by John Hiigli), Harry Baker (via video presented by reading organizer Gizem Karaali -- an editor of the online Journal of Humanistic Mathematics, which sponsored the the reading), and JoAnne Growney (also an organizer of the reading).
Participants during an "open reading" included:
Mary Buchinger, Chris Caragianis, Rip Coleman, Seth Goldberg, Joshua Holden, Ann Perbohner, Pedro Poitevin, and Jason Samuels.
Friday, February 17, 2023
More Math-Poetry from JHM
Every six months a new issue of the open-access online publication, Journal of Humanistic Mathematics, becomes available. And -- among lots of other inclusions -- it offers a rich variety of mathy poems. Here is a link to the table of contents of the latest issue -- and I strongly suggest that you visit and explore. Math-poetry items, listed at the bottom of the TC, are shown in the screen-shot below:
Sunday, September 28, 2014
Journal of Math in the Arts features Poetry
Ten times the square root of a flock
of geese, seeing the clouds collect,
flew towards lake Manasa, one-eighth
took off for the Sthalapadmini forest.
But unconcerned, three couples frolicked
in the water amongst a multitude of
lotus flowers. Please tell, sweet girl,
how many geese were in the flock.
Wednesday, January 25, 2023
A mathy poem from artificial intelligence
A recent Facebook posting by Maryland poet and computer programmer Henry Crawford included a poem written by a robot -- and he shared with me the link for BETA.OPENAI.COM -- a free site, but one requiring the opening of an account. I did that -- and began to explore. Here is a screenshot of one of the results -- from when I entered the request "Write a poem using math words".
A poem composed by AI |
Friday, December 8, 2023
A Must-Read Journal -- Humanistic Mathematics
One of the very special online resources for connections between mathematics and poetry (and also other art forms) is the Journal of Humanistic Mathematics. Edited by California mathematicians Mark Huber of Claremont McKenna College and Gizem Karaali of Pomona College, this free-access journal has online issues published each six months -- available here.
Poetry of many different forms is available in JHM -- and a poem from the January, 2023 issue that I enjoyed rereading recently is "Mathematics" by Northwestern Math Professor Kim Regnier Jongerius -- a poem inspired by the song "Memories" from the musical Cats and describing some of the joys and frustrations inherent in doing mathematical work. I offer one of its stanzas below and I invite you to go here (to the JHM website) to read more.
from Mathematics by Kim Regnier Jongerius
Mathematics!
I must wait for an insight
Try to think of connections
That I haven't before.
When the day breaks with no solution coming to me
Then my courage sinks to the floor.
Enjoy all six stanzas of the poem here in JHM.
THANK YOU, Jongerius and JHM for sharing thought-provoking words.
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Tomorrow in San Diego -- Math Poetry Event
sponsored by the Journal of Humanistic Mathematics
With Reason: A Portrait by JoAnne Growney
Sophia Kovalevsky * (1850-1891)
Sunday, July 7, 2024
Bridges 2024 -- in Richmond, VA
As she had done in numerous preceding years, mathematician-poet Sarah Glaz is once again an organizer for a poetry reading at the BRIDGES Math-Arts Conference -- this year to be held in Richmond, Virginia, August 1-5.
Bridges Poetry Reading Website |
Poetry Reading Sunday, August 4, 3:00 - 5:00 pm2500 West Broad Street Richmond, Virginia
Monday, July 13, 2020
Math-Poetry for a virtual BRIDGES Conference
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Poetry-with-math, Jan 17, Baltimore
Room 308 Baltimore Convention Center
Wednesday, January 9, 2019
Mathematical motherhood -- keeping count
From that issue, here are opening stanzas of a poem by Nevada scientist and mathematician Marylesa Howard -- lines that offer a mathematical description of the constant adjustments of parenthood. Several decades ago, when I was a math professor and parent of young children, I needed to keep details of parenting away from my profession -- a divided life. I'm glad things are different now.
Friday, September 18, 2020
What is x?
This thoughtful poem by versatile poet Mary Peelen appeared in the Winter, 2016 issue of The Massachusetts Review.
Variable by Mary Peelen
The x could have been
anything at all,
the sound of wind chimes,
a gong, a choir, a cantor,
a mermaid, a schoolmarm,
cathedral bells.
Instead—what a lark—
it’s laughter.