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Reaching for the stars . . . with science and poetry

December 5, 2019, 7:12 am
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     Astronomer Beatrice Muriel Hill Tinsley (1941– 1981) made fundamental contributions to our understanding of the evolution of galaxies (See, for example, Wikipedia).  California math teacher, editor and poet Carol Dorf celebrates Tinsley in the following poem. 

       Ask for a universe and what do you get?
               a Golden Shovel for Beatrice Tinsley           by Carol Dorf

       For a while scientists' proposed loopholes
       crossing the universe, wormholes a technique in
       which to traverse distance to other worlds, this

       unpleasant constraint which most reasoning
       holds us to a single solar system or may
       be, just perhaps a transit could exist  
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Qatar teacher uses Arabic poetry to teach math

December 9, 2019, 9:51 am
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     Today I call your attention to an inspiring story -- Mohamed al-Janahi is an engineer-turned-elementary-school-math-teacher who uses Arabic poetry to help students understand mathematical concepts.  More of this story is found here,   In Arabic, in this YouTube video, al-Janahi tells of his work.
     And to add a bit of poetry in English, I offer a couple of stanzas of "Time" from my collection My Dance is Mathematics (now out of print but available online here).

from   Time       by JoAnne Growney

                 I

          The clock goes round —
          showing time a circle
          rather than a line.
          Each year's return to spring
          swirls time on time.  
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Using mathematics in the Pursuit of Happiness

December 13, 2019, 11:16 am
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Writing to Learn -- try Haiku

December 16, 2019, 2:03 pm
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     Some of us learn a concept best when we write about it -- taking notes in class or while reading OR simply exploring our mind's thoughts.  Recently I discovered (in AAAS Science Magazine) these "Elemental Haiku" by Mary Soon Lee  -- offering a Haiku for each element in the periodic table.

For example, for Silicon (Si, atomic number 13) we find this:
Locked in rock and sand,
age upon age awaiting
the digital dawn.

Trying to find a Haiku to describe ALGEBRA, I came up with this:
Learn to represent
problems using equations--
then learn to solve them!

To explore previous postings of Haiku in this blog, here's a link!
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Where are you from?

December 19, 2019, 11:37 am
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A question often asked when meeting someone new is "Where are you from?" -- one of my neighbors, who was born in India and now lives in Maryland, has written a poem that considers many ways one might answer that question.  Today, I have been thinking about it too.  Here are several of my beginning thoughts . . .

     I am from the barn yard, counting chickens
          I am from arithmetic, multiplying
               I am from algebra, solving
                    I am from calculus, integrating
                         I am from poetry, looking for words   . . .
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Counted syllables --> holiday wishes . . .

December 23, 2019, 8:56 am
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 * 
 My 
 wish for 
 you is peace 
 and happiness 
 and whatever else 
 will count for you.  THANK YOU 
 for  all  you  share with 
 me.  My nights and 
 days are rich 
 from your 
 gifts! 
    

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Math-poetry in support of immigrants

December 27, 2019, 7:31 am
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     Winner of the Ted Hughes poetry award, British poet Hollie McNish has been in the news recently as she has been commissioned to write a new version of Antigone.  Also of note is that her poem "Mathematics" -- about immigration -- has had over 2 million viewers on You Tube.

Here are a few lines from McNish's "Mathematics":

     I desperately want to scream
     “Your maths is stuck in primary”
     Cos one who comes here also spends
     And one who comes here also lends
     And some who comes here also tend     
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Poetry made visual with math terms

December 30, 2019, 8:50 am
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     As the year ends I have been revisiting books not seen for a while -- and one of them is Concert for Violin and Loneliness (Criterion Publishing, 2002) by the Romanian poet Mircea Goga (b. 1948). This collection was translated by Doru Radu and me.   Here are several samples in which Goga uses mathematical imagery to enrich his poems.

Poems by Mircea Goga

Proportions

Like an iceberg
of which only an eighth is visible --
of death we show only
life . . . 
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With bits of mathematics, a poem for a New Year

January 2, 2020, 11:42 am
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     Here -- containing bits of mathematical terminology --  is an excerpt from "A Poem for the New Year" by Nigerian poet Christopher Okigbo (1932-1967).  

from    A Poem for the New Year     by Christopher Okigbo

          Where then are the roots, where the solution
          To life’s equation?

          The roots are nowhere
          There are no roots here
          Probe if you may
          From now until doomsday
          We have to think of ourselves as forever   
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We become what we think . . .

January 6, 2020, 11:24 am
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     Browsing a recent issue of World Literature Today, I have found a thought-provoking activist poem by Linda Hogan that considers the ways we are shaped by "our numbers."  I offer below its opening stanzas:

       Embodied   by Linda Hogan

       I am embodied first by the numbers
       given my grandparents,
       no choice but to sign the Dawes Act.    
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Browse Math-Poetry Links . . .

January 8, 2020, 6:36 am
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     Today I invite you to browse -- to spend a moment reading titles, clicking on a title that intrigues you.   ENJOY!

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The world of Math Girls . . .

January 13, 2020, 7:41 am
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     This past weekend my oldest granddaughter turned sixteen -- and I intensely want every career door to be open to her and to my other granddaughters (and my grandson).  The times are changing, new doors are opening for girls and women,  Still, these syllable-square thoughts are on my mind this morning.  

     Math Girls     

          A math girl must be       
          smarter than the rest –-
          yet must be modest
          and never claiming.
          Math-World is not fair.

And here are more of my mathy-perhaps-poetic thoughts.

     When you’re a math girl you may be the only girl in the room.
          A math girl must be three times as good to be equal.   
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Math-Poetry tomorrow (1/17) -- in Denver at JMM

January 16, 2020, 9:00 am
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Remember -- and Celebrate

January 20, 2020, 11:43 am
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Focus on FOUR

January 22, 2020, 7:44 am
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     Numerous poems by Canadian poet Alice Major connect to science and mathematics, and Major has connected me with Ottawa poet and mechanical engineer Sneha Madhavan-Reese -- who has shared with me not only poetry but also the new-to-me fact that her home city of  Ottawa lies on the traditional and unceded territory of the Algonquin Nation.  Here is Madhavan-Reese's poem, "Four," a thoughtful reminder of the vast versatility of mathematical notions.
   
       Four     by Sneha Madhavan-Reese

             Is 4 the same 4 for everybody? -- Pablo Neruda, The Book of Questions

       My mother draws her four with a right angle;
       my father's is pointed on top.  My daughter's four,
       half the time, is backwards.  Her sister signs,
       tucking a thumb into her raised palm.   
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Remembering Leonardo da Vinci

January 27, 2020, 7:40 am
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     One of the readers featured at the recent 1/17/2020 JMM math-poetry reading was Italian mathematician/poet Rosanna Iembo.  Below, with Iembo's permission, I offer a sample from her poem, "A New Dawn"  -- a poetic narrative in the voice of Leonardo da Vinci, a genius of the Italian Renaissance.  Here are a few lines from this narrative; the entire work is available from the poet (contact information is offered here on her website.).

Referring to Luca Pacioli, the poet's voice of da Vinci says:

       With him
       a common feeling
       that did not end over the years.

       And in the "Proportion"
       which he decided to call
       "Divine"
       where I drew
       my polyhedra,
       understanding
       reached maximum splendor.   
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Poetically exploring the the invention of "i"

January 29, 2020, 8:55 am
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     Today's posting features work by Punya Mishra, professor and administrator at Arizona State University -- a writer who offers explanations of mathematical concepts in his poems, explanations that can appeal to students!   Mishra's website features several mathy poems and in our email correspondence he said that "The Mathematical i" is his favorite.  Here are are several stanzas:

from The Mathematical i     by Punya Mishra

       The negative numbers were full of dismay
       We have no roots, they were heard to  say
       What, they went on, would be the fruit
       of trying to find our square root?

       Matters seem to be getting out of hand
       Since the negatives have taken a stand,
       On the fact that positives have two roots, while they have none.
       They plead, would it have killed anybody to give us just one?
       The square roots of 4 are + and – 2! As for -4 ?  How unfair,
       He has none! None at all. Do the math gods even care?
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Learning slowly . . savoring difficulty . . .

January 30, 2020, 10:57 am
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      There are geniuses (like Srinivasa Ramanujan) who learn mathematics quickly -- but I am not one of them.  In the following poem I reflect on how I learn . . . 

       Reflection     by JoAnne Growney

       I read and I did not understand.
       Less than a page.
       I read slowly and I did not understand.
       I read and took notes.
       My notes were three times as long as what I had read.

       I rewrote what I read in my own words.
       I reread it and inserted extra clarifying words.  
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Prize-winning math poems -- 2020 AMS contest

February 3, 2020, 8:23 am
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In 2020, for the second year in a row, the American Mathematical Society has held a math-poetry contest for students.  (Contest information is available here.)  The three winning poems in the 2020 AMS Math Poetry Contest are:

    "Outlier," by Sabrina Little, Mackintosh Academy, Boulder
    "The Number Won," by Austen Mazenko, Cherry Creek High School
    "x² + y² = 1(ife)," by Chenyu Lin, Colorado Christian University

From Chenyu (aka "Emily") and Sabrina I have received permission to present their poems here:

Lin's university studies include a major in Nursing. Her future plans include graduate study and either nursing education practice in under-developed communities or research in patient care.

Sabrina is a thirteen-year-old from Louisville, CO. Her hobbies include drawing, painting, and martial arts.

Further information about the contest -- and last year's contest also -- is available here.
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Another prize-winning poem

February 4, 2020, 6:42 am
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     It was not until after my posting yesterday that I got permission from the third of the winners in the AMS 2020 student poetry contest to post his work.  Here is "The Number Won" by Austen Mazenko.   (And here is a link to a YouTube video of the January 18 event in which each of the winning poets reads their winning poem.)
Austen is a high school senior from Greenwood Village, CO. He loves words, numbers, and their patterns--and looks forward to pursuing mathematics in college next year.
THANK YOU to the American Mathematical Society for encouraging math-poetry!
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