Classroom Difficulties with Mathematics

     Something to think about . . . do some of us still cling? . . . obediently and thoughtlessly . . . to beliefs such as

                I can't / poets can't     understand mathematics
                                or
                I can't / math people can't     understand poetry 

Current interactive teaching/learning processes are helping to revise those negative attitudes -- and my thoughts on the subject were brought to mind by a poem that showed up recently in my email.  It is Poem 15 in the Poetry 180 project, an activity initiated in 2002 by Poet Laureate Billy Collins in 2002 -- a project that provides a poem for students for each day of the traditional school year.  (Each Sunday subscribers get an email that provides a link to a poem for each day of the coming week.)

Complement and Compliment -- and Geometry

     Poetry's special effects often come from the multiple meanings of terms used -- and today I offer  a snip of a mathy item that I enjoyed and that  plays with meaning -- an item I found a few days ago (September 19) on X (Twitter), 

A posting by California math teacher Howie Hua

And, looking back for geometry in earlier postings, here is a link to a prose poem posted in February, 2017 -- "The Geometry of Poetry" by Janet R. Kirchenheimer.   Still another geometry reading opportunity is the baseball poem "Our Ballpark" by Le Hinton (sampled in this 2015 posting).

September Brings THE BLOOMSBURG FAIR

     During the past weekend, long-time friends in Pennsylvania have reminded me that this is the week of The Bloomsburg Fair -- an annual event held in Bloomsburg, PA (where I lived with my family and taught mathematics at Bloomsburg University for a bunch of years).  Public schools in Bloomsburg started their fall classes a week early so that students could have vacation-time during Fair Week -- held near the end of September.  The fair brings farmers and gardeners and cooks and other creative country folk together to show their products and it was easy for me to get involved since I lived just a few blocks from the Bloomsburg Fairground.  Moreover, Pennsylvania county fairs were familiar to me from my childhood.  I grew up on a farm near Indiana, PA  -- home of the Indiana County Fair, in which my father participated by exhibiting crops and animals and which I attended to enjoy Ferris-wheel rides and other carnival entertainments.

     One of my celebrations of this fondly-remembered Bloomsburg event was to write a poem entitled "The Bloomsburg Fair," a poem with bits of math.  Here is one of its stanzas.

Midlife Calculus -- poems by Britt Kaufmann

     Today's featured poet, Britt Kaufmann, is not only a writer but also a graphic designer, a playwright, and "a lifelong reader and learner."  And a math tutor!  Out this month (from Press 53) is her mathy collection, Midlife Calculus -- a thoughtful and  fun-to-read collection that links math ideas to a variety of life's experiences.  

     Last February, I was introduced to Kaufmann's work when her book-title-poem, "Midlife Calculus," appeared in Scientific American.  I was delighted to also find her poem,  "Z-score of Zero" here in the April-May edition of MAA Focus and I was drawn to include it in this April, 2024 blog-posting.  Visit and enjoy!

     Midlife Calculus is available here.  And below are a couple of samples:    

Playing Hopscotch . . . and Counting . . .

      Growing up on a Pennsylvania farm gave me lots of opportunities to use mathematics -- counting sheep, choosing patterns for planting, and many kitchen tasks.  I also enjoyed occasional times to join friends at in-town playgrounds and, on their paved areas, hopscotch was one of our arithmetical and geometrical activities.  Recently I came across a wonderful online collection of poems by Maya Angelou (1928 - 2014) -- and, within it, this slightly mathy poem that includes hopscotch and also speaks of racial injustice:  

     Harlem Hopscotch    by Maya Angelou

     One foot down, then hop! It's hot.
     Good things for the ones that's got.
     Another jump, now to the left.
     Everybody for hisself.  

Favorite Number -- a Baker's Dozen

      Among my favorite emails are those that come from Innisfree, an online journal (at this link) edited by poet Greg McBride, with new issues emerging each six months.  A wonderful discovery in the most recent issue is the mathy poem "Lagniappe" by Michigan poet Lynn Domina.  

    Domina's poem relates to some of my delightful childhood experiences:  I often was asked to help a great aunt with her shopping  and, for both of us, one of our favorite stops was a family-owned bakery which supplied an extra pastry to any dozen purchased -- in case one of the dozen was a bit small or otherwise inferior -- and my aunt always rewarded me with the extra.  Today, no pastries -- but a great poem; read on:

math talk -- a way to learn

EXPLORE MATHEMATICS BY TALKING ABOUT IT!

      math talk: mathematical ideas in poems for two voices is the title of a 1991 poetry collection (Wide World Publishing, available here) by theoni pappas, a long-time teacher of mathematics and  author of  many books that help to popularize mathematics.  Here are the opening lines of her poem-for-two-voices, "Zero," -- found on page 23 of her math-talk collection.

Creating New Poems by Sampling Old Ones

      In its collection of Math Voices the American Mathematical Society (AMS) has a very interesting Feature Column -- a column written for students, teachers, and the general public -- that offers essays about math that it describes as "useful, fun, inspiring, or startling."  When browsing the column recently I found and enjoyed a column by Sara Stoudt of Bucknell University entitled "Sampled Poems Contain Multitudes" -- an article that gives readers an opportunity to experience Walt Whitman's poem, "Song of Myself" (a book-length poem with a total of 52 poem-sections, found here at the Poetry Foundation website) via a poem with a sample line for each section,  Here are the opening lines:

From Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself":

World's Most Interesting Mathematician

     Angela Tabiri, a young mathematician from Ghana, in July captured global attention by winning the title,  World’s Most Interesting Mathematician. Here is her story!  This accolade was bestowed upon her by The Big Internet Math-Off, a competition held last July.  Here is a link to the finals in the competition in which Angela's winning entry is included.

Go here for Angela Tabiri's math story.

The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics

      Daniel May -- professor at Black Hills State University in South Dakota -- enjoys not only teaching mathematics to future teachers but also exploration of the combinatorics of card games and the poetry of mathematical patterns and ideas.   He spends his summers working with Bridge to Enter Advanced Mathematics (BEAM), a mathematics enrichment program for under-served public middle school students in New York City and Los Angeles.

     Below I offer a poem by May that was part of the program at the recent BRIDGES Conference.  (May's poem also is found with lots of BRIDGES poetry and poet-information here at the website of Sarah Glaz.)

          Eight Minutes     by Daniel May

          Eyelids closed,
          warm
          sunlight shining

          bright

          onto my thin skin.
          Earth below me, lush and vibrant from
          our star's
          nearly infinite rays.

Prison Math and Poetry Projects

     One of the good things that is happening is that poets and math people -- and others -- are investing time and funds in projects to help incarcerated individuals find crime-free activities for their present and future lives.  Here is a link to information about a Prison Math Project and this link leads to information about Prison Poetry Workshops.  A wonderful variety of activities have been taking place!

     Below I offer the opening lines of a poem that counts prisoners and tells of the racial and other injustices that they suffer-- a poem by prisoner, Korean war veteran, and poet Ethridge Knight (1931-1991).  (Knight's complete poem may be found here  -- along with many more -- at the Poetry Foundation website.)

A Fable      by Etheridge Knight

Once upon a today and yesterday and nevermore there were 7 men and women all locked / up in prison cells. Now these 7 men and women were innocent of any crimes; they were in prison because their skins were black. Day after day, the prisoners paced their cells, pining for their freedom. And the non-black jailers would laugh at the prisoners and beat them with sticks and throw their food on the floor. Finally, prisoner #1 said, “I will educate myself and emulate the non-colored people. That is the way to freedom—c’mon, you guys, and follow me.” “Hell, no,” said prisoner #2. “The only way to get free is . . . 

Knight's complete poem is available here.

Previous blog postings telling of math-poetry opportunities for incarcerated persons may be found here at this link.

BRIDGES Poetry -- and Clerihews

    One of my favorite mathy publications is the Journal of Humanistic Mathematics, an online peer-reviewed journal published twice yearly by the Claremont Colleges Library and edited by Mark Huber, Claremont McKenna College, and Gizem Karaali, Pomona College.  The most recent issue -- (Vol. 14, issue 2), available online here.  The screen-shot below shows the poetry-contents of this issue.

A Nickel, a Dime, a Dollar . . .

    In childhood -- and later also -- rhymes help us to remember.  I recall reciting, in early years. "Pme, two, buckle my shoe; three, four, shut the door . . ."  Here -- at the website, Empowered Parents -- are a number of counting songs and rhymes.

    Recently I found among the poems of one of my favorite poets -- Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes (1902-1967) -- a delightful counting poem entitled "Brass Spittoons."  Here are some of its lines:

Math can lead us to Poetry . . .

      As I age and find myself slowing down in my math-poetry ventures it is a delight to see other mathy writers surging with energy and thoughtful publications.

     One frequent source of math-arts connections is Sarah Hart, Professor Emerita of Mathematics, School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences, Birbeck University, London.  Here is a link to an article by Hart containing material excerpted from her collection Once Upon a Prime:  The Wondrous Connections Between Mathematics and Literature (Flatiron Books:  New York, 2023).  

     Once Upon a Prime is a prose explanation completed with frequent literary examples.  Here is a poem that her daughter, Emma, wrote "for Mummy's book."