As a follow-up to my recent posting about OEDILF (Omnificent English Dictionary in Limerick Form), I can't resist posting my limerick that appears on that site. Years ago when I first learned of the dictionary I submitted several limerick-definitions but the only one that has survived is this definition of "factor":
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| This limerick is found here at the OEDILF site. |
One of the fun-to-visit poetry resources on the internet is the Omnificent English Dictionary in Limerick Form, a website resource that has for a goal the inclusion of at least one limerick for each meaning of each and every word in the English language. Here is a link to an earlier mention of OEDILF in this blog and here, from the OEDILF site, are a pair of limericks about Calculus -- limericks that are currently awaiting dictionary approval.
"Was it Newton or Leibniz?" I asked
My professor. He smiled and then tasked
Me to find more about
My small calculus doubt.
I researched and the truth was unmasked.
Structural constraints often govern the patterns we find in poetry -- well-known in poetic history are rhythm-and-rhyme patterns including the sonnet and the villanelle and the limerick, and the syllable-counting pattern of some Haiku. Because many poems were shared orally, rather than in writing, patterns of counting and sound helped to ease the challenges of remembering.
For me a wonderful source for learning about new poetic forms is the blog of poet Marian Christie -- a writer and scholar, born in Zimbawe and now living in England , who has studied and taught both mathematics and poetry. In her very fine blog, Poetry and Mathematics, found here, Christie explores many of the influences that mathematics can have on poetry -- including, here in a recent posting, some effects transmitted by the SHAPE of a poem.
A perfect way for math-poetry fans to celebrate Valentine's Day is to visit the anthology, Strange Attractors: Poems of Love and Mathematics (AK Peters/CRC Pres, 2008), edited by Sarah Glaz and me. Here is a sample from that collection, a limerick;
There Was a Young Maiden by Bob Kurosaka*
There was a young maiden named Lizt
Whose mouth had a funny half-twist.
She'd turned both her lips
Into Mobius strips . . .
'Til she's kissed you, you haven't been kissed!
*Of Japanese heritage, Kurosaka was born in Lake George, NW -- he became a college teacher and author of science fiction and limericks.
Here is a link to previous Valentine-related postings:
this link leads to blog-search results for "Strange Attractors."
Mathematics offers brief, condensed
language for many big ideas. Even for small problems -- such as the
word problems of a beginning algebra class -- translation of the words
into a mathematical equation offers the chance to express the problem precisely
and to solve it using established procedures.
And brief mathematical forms also are popular in poetry -- the six-line Fib and the five-line rhyming stanza called a limerick both have wide appeal. And, because of the brevity, the language must be concise. At this webpage, maintained by Joachim Verhagen, are lots and lots of mathy limericks. Here is a sample:
The Moebius strip is a pain,
When you cut it again and again,
But if you should wedge
A large disk round the edge
Then you just get a PROjective plane.
This link leads to an interesting article about a Mobius strip made of light (see also the photo below); this link leads to a Wikipedia article about a real projective plane. And more of Verhagen's Mobius strip limericks may be found here.
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| A Mobius strip from this NOVA article |
This link leads to a website with instruction for construction and playful activities with a Mobius strip. To enjoy limericks found in earlier postings in this blog, follow this link.
A couple of weeks ago I posted information about prize-winning poetry in the Writing portion of the 2021 MoMath Steven Strogatz Contest for high school students. After finding that I began to look for the results of earlier contests. Apparently 2020 was the first year of these contests and in that year, also, poems were winners -- limericks (with related drawings) by Sarah Thau. “Limericks and poetry are not a typical way to convey information about
math,” admits Thau, “but I think it makes it more palatable than
learning functions by rote. Who doesn’t love a limerick?”
From her winning collection, entitled "Little Function Limericks," here is a sample of Thau's work:
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| The entire collection of Thau's limericks is found here. |
New York's Museum of Mathematics celebrated National Limerick Day on May 12 with an online program of contributors reading their mathy limerick stanzas. I did not learn of the reading in time to apply for participation but here is a sample I might have submitted.
In baseball the diamonds are square--
And the ball has the shape of a sphere.
Nine guys make a team--
So, two teams make eighteen--
And fans cheer when plays come in pairs.
The limericks read at the May 12 MoMath program may be found here -- and here is a link to the results of a SEARCH in this blog for "limerick." The sample offered above was posted long ago, back in April 2010.
A limerick is a five-line rhyming verse, usually humorous, often earthy and rude. Various limericks have appeared previous postings in this blog -- this one comes from the online journal Parody -- Poetry for the world as it really isn't.
I found Norwood's sexist limerick here in a July 2013 posting in Parody. Here is a link to previous postings in this blog of mathy limericks.
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| A limerick for mathematicians -- by Ben Orlin |
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| A clever computational limerick -- by Leigh Mercer |
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