Intersections -- Poetry with Mathematics

Mathematical language can heighten the imagery of a poem; mathematical structure can deepen its effect. Feast here on an international menu of poems made rich by mathematical ingredients . . . . . . . gathered by JoAnne Growney. To receive email notifications of new postings, contact JoAnne at joannegrowney@gmail.com.

Tuesday, October 30, 2018

Five Little Pumpkins

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  Happy Halloween! This children's rhyme is found at the DeepLearningToolKits(DLTK) website ) and available at that site also with...
Friday, October 26, 2018

The Prince of Algebra . . . and SAT scores

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     An article in a recent issue of the  Washington Post (perhaps this link will get you to it) told of a drop in SAT scores for the Class...
Thursday, October 25, 2018

Enter by Nov 9 -- Student Math-Poetry Contest

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C ontest sponsored by the A merican M athematical S ociety  for   junior-high students . . .  . senior-high students . . . college stu...
Monday, October 22, 2018

Describing a scene with numbers

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      Lana Hechtman Ayers is a versatile and accomplished poet who also has a degree in mathematics --  in her poem below, she paints a pic...
Thursday, October 18, 2018

Read your Math-Poetry in Baltimore, 1/18/19

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You are invited be part of a reading of math-linked poetry   sponsored by the  Journal of Humanistic Mathematics    and   SIGMAA-ARTS ...
Wednesday, October 17, 2018

Math-themed -- and seasonal -- Haiku

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      Artist and computer scientist Stephen Luecking , now retired from teaching at DePaul University, has sent me some of his Haiku with ma...
Monday, October 15, 2018

Can numbers be a bridge to understanding. . . ?

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Fifty-Fifty      by Carl Sandburg (1878-1967)        W hat is there for us two        to split fifty-fifty,        to go halvers on? ...
Friday, October 12, 2018

The music of twelve tones -- in poems

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     Inspired by the musical composition strategy  twelve-tone technique  -- devised by Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg (1974-1951), in...
Wednesday, October 10, 2018

Math-Poetry Contest for Maryland Students

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Submission deadline :  November 9, 2018 Winners Announced :  December 12, 2018 Winning Poems Presented :  January 19, 2019      The Amer...
Monday, October 8, 2018

A special Fibonacci poem

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     A recent email from Marian Christie -- a nominally retired mathematics teacher from Aberdeenshire  -- alerted me to her very special s...
Friday, October 5, 2018

Line and design -- poetry by Adrienne Rich

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     A poem I first read during my high school years -- and have loved ever since -- is " Aunt Jennifer's Tigers " by Adrienne...
Wednesday, October 3, 2018

The equal sign--and poetry--from Robert Recorde

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  A poetic introduction of the equal sign (by Robert Recorde):  This image is an excerpt from Recorde's The Whetstone of Witte (1...
Sunday, September 30, 2018

Counting syllables . . . measuring memory

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Political events of this past week (involving a candidate nominated by President 45 to serve on the Supreme Court) have triggered my thinkin...
Wednesday, September 26, 2018

Name five!

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     A recent mailing from the National Museum of Women in the Arts offered me this challenge:  name five female artists!  Including friends...
Monday, September 24, 2018

Celebrate math students -- a Fibonacci poem!

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     South Dakota mathematician Dan May teaches mathematics at Black Hills State University where he also leads workshops for middle school...
Thursday, September 20, 2018

A mathy poem for sale . . . in Kenya

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     A vernacular poem by Kenyan writer Alexander Nderitu  ("Kenya's Shakespeare") -- entitled " Mathabu ma Carey Francis...
Monday, September 17, 2018

Time and Precision . . . .

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   California poet Carol Dorf is a semi-retired secondary school mathematics teacher who is an important force in poetry.  Not only a fine ...
Thursday, September 13, 2018

Meeting Math People via Poems

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     Mathematics classes are crowded with vital material and it is hard to find time to also consider the PEOPLE of mathematics -- one way t...
Wednesday, September 12, 2018

Math Limerick Stories

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     Mathematics teacher Josephine Johansen  is a talented teacher who works to help her students LOVE mathematics.  Below are two stanzas f...
Monday, September 10, 2018

OEDILF -- with definitions in limerick form

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     Since 2004, OEDILF, the Oxford English Dictionary in Limerick Form has been assembling limerick definitions of English words.  I lear...
Thursday, September 6, 2018

Something or Nothing -- Thinking about Zero

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     The site of the 2019 Bridges Math-Arts conference has been announced  -- it will meet in Linz, Austria next July.  This link leads to ...
2 comments:
Tuesday, September 4, 2018

As a new school-year starts, a Latin Square poem

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 With MATH in the middle,   here is a LATIN-SQUARE poem that starts and ends with GIRLS  !  girls do great math...
Wednesday, August 29, 2018

Math Is Beautiful and So Are You

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 Read on for a poem of love   and mathematics!      This poem celebrates an upcoming wedding . . .  one of my two wonderful sons will be ...
Monday, August 27, 2018

Upcoming in Washington -- National Book Festival

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     The BOOK WORLD section of this past weekend's Washington POST  offers the program for The Library of Congress National Book Festiva...
Wednesday, August 22, 2018

The Arithmetic of Identity

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     There is never enough time to read all that I wish  -- so much poetry and mathematics awaits my attention.  The Portuguese poet Fernand...
Monday, August 20, 2018

Celebrating Visual Poetry

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     One of my delights in both poetry and mathematics is the multiplicity of meanings that come from careful attention to a particular text...
Wednesday, August 15, 2018

Imaginary Numbers

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     Today a fine poem that plays with the meanings of "real" and "imaginary" -- and one that I like a lot.  Its author,...
1 comment:
Monday, August 13, 2018

Speaking, understanding . . . where is truth?

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     A review in the Washington Post of a new book about Oscar Wilde  opens with this quote: "Man is least himself when he talks in h...
Friday, August 10, 2018

Code switching -- and a Fib . . .

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     1       When       1        I      2        speak to      3        you, I wish      5        to be understood.      8        If I...
Wednesday, August 8, 2018

American Arithmetic

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     Last Monday -- with visiting friends (Janet and Terry) from Pennsylvania -- I again visited the National Museum of the American Indian ...
Friday, August 3, 2018

Highlighting Poetry-Math Favorites

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     Looking back over the eight years of  postings in this blog, I find several items that have stood out in their popularity.  In case you...
Tuesday, July 31, 2018

Mathematics and Motherhood

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     The latest issue of the Journal of Humanistic Mathematics focuses on the theme "Mathematics and Motherhood" -- go here to exp...
Monday, July 30, 2018

Sixty years is a long time . . ..

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      Yesterday in my Honda, in heavy traffic -- driving to my present home in Silver Spring, MD from a high school reunion weekend in India...
Thursday, July 26, 2018

Mathematics . . . an encrypted love song . . .

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      Australian poet Geoffrey Lehmann is also a writer of children's books and a tax lawyer.  This mathy poem comes from his collectio...
Monday, July 23, 2018

Poetry at BRIDGES 2018

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The 2018 Brides Math-Arts Conference in Stockholm will take place this week -- July 25-29, 2018.  Mathematician Sarah Glaz has been a leade...
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JoAnne Growney
I enjoy finding connections between different sorts of things . ..
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