Mahipal Virdy - A Poetic Force of Nature

I would like to thank Mahipal Virdy for sharing his very interesting poetic discourse with us. You can find the original at his blog here http://mahipal7638.wordpress.com/meforce/

Cleanliness by Anand Bora

The Bharat mathematical poet Anand Bora sent me a poem to share with you. The Poem presents a world view of cleanliness in thought and action.

Anand Bora

The purpose of this page is to collect the mathematical poems of Anand Bora

Cleanliness

Love and Life

Paradigm Poems

Venerate Your Experience – Not This

Today’s Blog entry is a bit different due to most of my polyaesthetic pieces are printed at 24” X 36” maximum size and this one is 108” X 108”. Generally I print a lambda Duratran to be displayed in an easily manageable Light-box however today’s piece one will require one huge box.
The first image shows the piece in full. There is nothing wrong with your monitor the piece is totally white light with the exception of a piece of imperceptible text that if properly displayed would be 1 inch high and 2.5 inches long. The second image visibly shows the text which lies at the center of the field.
“Venerate Your Experience – Not This” is the title of this poem. The poem is a similar triangles poem that has been transposed into a different identity … Why don’t you see if you can put it back into the similar triangles poem form as well transposing it into other synonymous syntactical forms.

Basho (Specific Condition)

After some more (noisy mind) thoughts about not thinking; I feel the poem from the last blog entry should be considered as a relationship stated in a general condition (without direct value or value in a positive or negative sense) furthermore, I think the poem would be easier read in the specific condition. So I have a new version in the specific condition. (see above)

The mathematical structure remains the same as the last poem and can be seen on the last blog entry.

The Poem is derived as such:

Starting with the ideas that the Splash is to the Waveless Old Pond as Frog is to No Self and as Noisey mind is to clear Mind. Which is set up mathematically as:

Splash/Waveless Old Pond = Frog/No Self = Noisy Mind/Clear Mind

and arbitrarily choosing to use flavor five from the expanded similar triangles poem examples we can see that the next line can be set up as g/h = a-d/b-e

Which translates as:
Splash / Waveless Old Pond = (Frog - Noisy Mind)/( No Self- Clear Mind)

The variables are as such:

Frog =a

No Self =b

Noisy Mind=d

Clear Mind= e

Splash=g

Waveless Old Pond=h

An aesthetic decision to solve for a and using the third example from flavor five yields: a= g(b-e)/h + d

Therefore:
Frog = (Splash(No Self – Clear Mind)/ Waveless Old Pond) + Noisy Mind

Basho

Everyone seems to have had their way with poor Basho’s poem. I am not going to be pretentious enough to call this ‘haiku’ however, this expanded similar triangles poem was inspired by the wisdom that I have gleaned from my experience with Basho's poem.

The Poem is derived as such:

Starting with the ideas that the Frog is to The Self as Noise is to The Mind and as Splash is to the Old Pond Which can be set up mathematically as:

Frog/The Self = Noise/The Mind = Splash/Old Pond


and choosing (aesthetic decision) to use flavor five from the expanded similar triangles poem examples we can see that the next line is set up as g/h = a-d/b-e

Or:

Splash / The Old Pond = (Frog - Noise)/( Self- The Mind)

The variables are as such:

Frog =a

The Self =b

Noise=d

The Mind= e

Splash=g

The Old Pond=h

Furthermore, to solve for a or choosing to use the third example from flavor five yields: a= g(b-e)/h + d

Therefore:
Frog = (Splash(The Self – The Mind)/ The Old Pond) + Noise

After some more (noisy mind) thoughts about not thinking; I feel that I should mention that the poem above is stated in a general condition furthermore, I think the poem may be seen easier in the specific condition. So I have a new version in the specific condition. Please see the next blog entry for the specific condition.

Man (for Timo Gilbert)

Here is a Similar Triangles Poem titled "Man"- inspired by my conversations with Timo Gilbert.

Minimalist Poetry

Here is a "Similar Triangles Poem" titled Minimalist Poetry.

Mock Paper Scissors

Quote from Mock Paper Scissors:
(Failed song-and-dance man turned cowboy icon, John Wayne X Beverly Hillbilly Jethro Bodine) Divided by top banana Bonzo and his presidential second billing, Ronald Reagan = Chimpy McStagger.
Quote from Mock Paper Scissors:
(Crazed psycho founder of the murderous Manson Clan, Charles Manson) + (Crazed founder of the follow-the-meteor Heaven’s Gate Death Cult, Marshall Applewhite) X (the Jonestown Cult’s favorite beverage) = Crazed founder of the 700 Club, and one-time GOP Presidential Candidate, Pat Robertson


The Australian Math poet Pioh has turned us on to some more wonderful stuff. Thank you Pioh!!

These are a perfect example of Math poetry in politics. Click here for the entire site http://www.mockpaperscissors.com – there are many more of these so please check it out. If you sit on the left you will find them extremely funny. If you sit on the right you may be disgusted. I am politically moderate however I am left of center so the two posted here are my favorites.

Enjoy

Bogus Science

Here is an Expanded Similar Triangle Poem in all six synonymous syntactical permutations from group six.

Marc-Anthony / Roland Barthes / Sherman Alexie

Marc-Anthony
( Aberration + BonhomieNebulosity)/ Nebulosity = Xenobiotic http://piptalk.com/pip/Forum7/HTML/000787.html


Roland Barthes
Writing Degree Zero
http://www.scribd.com/doc/6160074/Barthes-Poetic-Writing


Sherman Alexie
"Poetry = anger x imagination."
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/One-Stick-Song/Sherman-Alexie/e/9781882413768

Dusk by Karl Kempton

The following four images comprise a new minimalist visual poem by Karl Kempton. It could easily be said that each slide is a separate poem as well. I would like to draw our attention to the first slide which certainly can be viewed as mathematical poem in its own right. What is signature in this first slide (poem) is Karl’s use of text (there is no image as a rendering, there is just text, yet the images come through). It has a lot of the same simple and elegant features that remind me of Marton Koppany’s work.
The other three slides add an artistic breadth to the original idea in the first slide. It’s a very nice piece Karl! Thanks!

Science and Spirituality

Science does not dispel spirituality rather it points the direction of its next incarnation.

Ed Schenk

The purpose of this blog entry is to collect pieces by Ed Schenk.

i^4

Predestination / Karma / Reincarnation

Ed Schenk's World

Ignorance^4 by Ed Schenk

I would like to bring our attention to another very interesting piece (above) by the Dutch artist Ed Schenk. This one is titled “i to the fourth power” and it connotes an infinite loop of ignorance as well as asking a couple of questions. His question makes me think about asking more questions like the ones below. Can one answer be expressed as rational and the other irrational … can we express one type of ignorance being more rational and another type being more irrational?
Hmmmmm

Ed Schenk Predestination / Karma / Reincarnation

The following text are expressions by the Dutch Mathematical Poet, Ed Schenk

Predestination / karma / reincarnation

Some agnostics define death as:
death = life – life axiom 1)

In many religions the believe is there is something after or above death. This could be written as:
death ≠ 0 axiom 2)

Now if axiom 1 and axiom 2 are simultaneous valid, this leads to the postulate:
life ≠ life

This looks contradictory, however if we introduce the element time, axiom 1 could be written as:
death = life(n+1) – life(n),
where n is the current life. Moving variables yields: life(n+1) = life(n) + death. This could be written as:

next life = this life + death (predestination)

or

this life = next life – death This formula looks a bit strange, however this is due to semantics. If we take into account that time is not necessarily linear we could replace the word ‘next’ by the word ‘another’.

This leads to: this life = another life – death (karma)

Mathematickles by Betsy Franco

Mathmatickles by Betsy Franco
I would like to speak a bit about the book Mathematickles by Betsy Franco. The book is a wonderful collection of Mathematical Poetry showing addition poems, subtraction poems, long division poems, and multiplication poems. What I find refreshing about the poems is that they are constructed in a way that you can tell that Franco knows the difference between addition and multiplication in Mathematical Poetry for these poems are obviously not thrown together without thought. This may not seem like a big deal however, I find a lot of confusion about this topic among some intellectuals much less the general public. I think this book is an outstanding book for teaching young students how to use math as a language and have fun doing it. I would recommend it to all primary school teachers who are teaching math.

About Betsy:
Betsy Franco, a writer and a member of Suburban Squirrel comedy troupe, has written over eighty books-young adult novels, picture books, poetry, and nonfiction. A graduate of Stanford University, with an M.Ed from Lesley College, she particularly loves to show people how sassy, beautiful, and creative math can be. Her latest book is Bees, Snails, and Peacock Tails about geometry in nature. Mathematickles, also published by Simon & Schuster, was inspired by Bob Grumman's mathemaku and long division poetry. Metamorphosis, a novel illustrated by her son Tom, is forthcoming in fall 2009.

To give young adults a voice, she has compiled four anthologies of their work including: You Hear Me? poems and writing by teenage boys, and Falling Hard, 100 love poems by teenagers, published by Candlewick Press.

Betsy lives in Palo Alto, California, with her husband Doug who shares her interest in math. They have three creative sons, James and Dave (actor/writers) and Tom (sculptor, illustrator). See www.betsyfranco.com.

The Long Division Poem

I would like to introduce the long division poem structure to this blog. The structure has been used for quite a few years primarily by Bob Grumman. It is similar to an orthogonal space poem with the exception that it uses a remainder. Because of its simplicity Betsy Franco and others including teachers have used it to help children play with mathematical ideas in the form of language. I think this is an excellent way to give children a fun way to play with poetic ideas and at the same time introduce them to the idea of applied mathematics. Here is a Christmas poem and one of my favorites by Bob Grumman:

Joint Meeting of the American Mathematical Society and Mathematical Association of America Conference 2009

This blog entry is to share a few moments and images of the AMS and MAA Joint Meeting held this year in Washington D.C. The first lonely image is a view from my hotel room bed as I tried to get to sleep by counting the sheep jumping over the Washington Monument. The weather for the most part was cold and rainy and made my three-quarter mile walk to the conference a little trying at times. However the last day was nice and offered the image below which was shot from my hotel room window as the sun was rising in the east.

The shot below is a 180 degree panoramic view of 21 images sewn together to provide an overview of the entire show of mathart. The show is always modestly done due to its modest budget (relative to art galleries) but it is always done well and the people who work on it are wonderful enthusiastic individuals who feel mathart can make a difference. They even gave out prizes this year.
The shot below is of the past president of the Mathematical Association of America, Joseph Gallian as he was browsing the show.

Speaking of browsing the show … The next image (below) is of our friend Ivars Peterson who writes about mathart for many publications including Science News.

From left to right: Reza Sarhangi the nucleus of the Bridges Conference on mathematical connections in art music and architecture , Annette Emerson, the Public Relations Officer of the AMS and Anne Burns, one of the Judges for the mathart exhibit and webmaster for the mathart exhibit webpage.
The next image is of Robert Fathauer who curates the mathart show each year and also owns and operated Tessellations a company devoted to selling objects that inspire the math aesthetic.

Here is Nat Friedman and one of his knots displaying a minimum surface by spanning a soap bubble film across the knot. Very interesting and simple stuff showing complex concepts.

The next image is of Reza Sarhangi with Arthur Benjamin who happens to spend a lot of time on stage racing calculators … I have seen him in action and yes, he can calculate in his brain faster than you can calculate on your hand calculator. Check out this video.

JoAnne Growney and Sarah Glaz recently edited an anthology of mathematical love poems titled “Strange Attractors”. The book was published by AK Peters and can be seen in the above photo at the bottom right of the image. Also in the photo are Klaus Peters (left) and his lovely wife Alice (Thus AK). The conference also provided a poetry reading session to deliver poems from the book. The event was organized by co-editor JoAnne and you can see the crowd gathering for the reading in the image below.

In the image above you can see JoAnne standing and speaking to the crowd and Sara sitting and listening (lower right). The image below is of fellow mathematical poet Bob Grumman as he delivers one of his long division mathematical visual poems.

The image above is of me delivering my poem "Prometheus's Epistle to Job"

Here is a link to a review of the poetry reading by Karren Alenier.

Kempton's Mouth

Karl Kempton has expanded his mathematical paradigm poem “My Big Mouth” into a polyaesthetic series show below. Very nice Karl! I especially like the last image which I would love to see at the bridges show in Banff this summer.