Comments on: Mathematical Poems

By: Clifford

Clifford — Wed, 31 Aug 2005 00:08:53 +0000

Alejandro, with regards your comment 26….I’d be honoured if someone did that to me!

In 27… the second one is just great!

-cvj

By: erc

erc — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 20:21:27 +0000

I believe you! - I had the same problem with the preview.

By: Alejandro

Alejandro — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 20:12:34 +0000

Strange. In the preview the last line of each poem appeared separated from the previous ones by an empty line. I swear it!

By: Alejandro

Alejandro — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 20:10:26 +0000

Searching for confirmation of the facts given above, I found this page with lots of interesting examples:

http://www.magicdragon.com/UltimateSF/sfpo-14pt0.html

Among others I found this topological limerick:

A burleycue dancer, a pip
Named Virginia, could peel in a zip;
But she read science fiction
And died of constriction
Attempting a Mobius strip.

And this algebraic one:

A lady of 80 named Gertie
Had a boyfriend of 60 named Bertie.
She told him emphatically
That viewed mathematically
By modulo 50 she’s 30.

(sorry, for some reason I can’t make the last line of each poem appear without a line gap)

By: Alejandro

Alejandro — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 19:58:42 +0000

The unintended poem mentioned by Hal Kouns is by William Whewell, historian and philosopher of science from the 19th century who among other things coined the word “scientist”. I remember the story from one of Martin Gardner’s classic columns for Scientific American. It seems in an afterdinner speech a collegue of him quoted the lines reciting them as a poem and asked who had written them. Whewell did not recognize them, and when the speaker revealed the source, he was not at all amused.

By: erc

erc — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 13:45:43 +0000

I think the mnemonic is for the digits of \pi?

I still remember (I hope correctly ):

When a pendulum’s swinging quite free
It’s always a mystery to me
How one tick plus one tock
Of the grandfather clock
Is 2\pi root L over g

More GCSE physics than maths though, I’m afraid…

By: Clifford

Clifford — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 00:42:52 +0000

Oh, I see! Thanks!

-cvj

By: Zevatron

Zevatron — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 23:32:48 +0000

Five plus e plus four
does not equal five plus four
plus a bit more

Yes, not very good, I know. It was off the top of my head pre-coffee…

By: Mathematical Rhymes at Kyun

Mathematical Rhymes at Kyun — Sat, 27 Aug 2005 20:05:50 +0000

[…] Clifford at the Cosmic Variance busts some mathematical rhymes. […]

By: Clifford

Clifford — Sat, 27 Aug 2005 17:56:39 +0000

Zevatron, I’m being slow… I’m not sure I get it…… but I’m maybe not draping the Haiku form onto it properly?

Hal: Which textbook, I wonder?

W. Kiernan, what’s the mnemonic for (dare I ask)…?

-cvj