Mathematical Prose

The 2004 image above is a mapping of Potential Energy to Kinetic Energy and addresses the mechanics of changing spiritual belief. Cognitive Behavioral Science is a great example of this process. I admit that the above work is a rough outline and needs more detail for one to fully grasp what I am pointing at. I plan to use this as a template for other work in the future with more detail.

I think a lot of what is on this blog might be considered mathematical prose (as well as the work displayed above) - it is certainly worth thinking about. On that thought - John Sims pointed me at the following link (here). The following quote came from mentioned link and I think it fits in well with this blog.

Quote:
"Another way we might think about potential literature is via an analogy with potential and kinetic energy. If potential energy is stored in an object, then we might say that potential literature is embedded within a language. In the first case, the field of gravity would determine an object’s potential energy; in the case of literature, the field of memory would determine a work’s potentiality. Pushing the analogy further, we can compare the conversion of potential energy into kinetic energy to the conversion of potential literature into real texts. In physics, that conversion is expressed through motion, in literature it is expressed through two related ludic activities, both of them realized at the level of the letter: the crafts of writing and reading with volition."

The quote speaks primarily of Oulipo however I think it can be said of many forms of experimental writing. While I am happy that Ouilpo has so much interest, I am a bit envious due to be believing that there could be a lot more experimentation with "Substitution in Mathematical Poetry" as well. While both are forms of experimental writing the approach language very differently even though I see both being rooted in formal science.

See "Disappearing Context" to add clarity to the images below.

Two similar triangles poems solved for money.

The two equations are set equal to each other

Disappearing Context

If you are not familiar with "Similar Triangle Poems" please read this link before going further.


One of the things that excite me the most about mathematical poetry is the fact that one can mathematically merge poems into each other. The results of these operations are extremely interesting in how the context of the common variable disappears. Or in other words the common context that both poems share … disappears. This is a feature that no other poetic form can accomplish and we are going to accomplish it in this blog entry. One can perform this feat on multiple mathematical poems however we are going to show how it is done on just two. The first thing that one needs to have ready is at least two poems that share a common “variable” or “term.” In our example (above) we have the common context of “money”. In other words both mathematical poems share a common term in the form of a word, in this case money. In the first poem we have the idea that Man is to Blood as God is to Money and simultaneously we have the idea that Man is to God as Blood is to Money.** In addition we have the second poem which states that The Victor is to “Honor in War” as Money is to “Righteous Effort” And Simultaneously it says The Victor is to Money as “Honor in War” is to “Righteous Effort”

Now let’s solve both poems for the term “Money”

The image above shows both poems ‘solved’ for money. Since both poems are now in the form of being equal to money then we now must set both poems equal to each other. By setting them equal to each other we have merged the two poems together and everything is still logically intact. The image below shows both poems set equal to each other.



Now that we have the two poems merged into one let’s look at how the meaning has been changed by the reformation. Let us solve the new poem for the term “Honor in War” and see how it reads.



Wow! This poem reads right out of a Patriots Bible yet the two poems that created it were both cynical and possibly sarcastic in relation to the Patriot's beliefs. Once the context of money was taken out we have an entirely new situation. This reminds me of how a person can be consciously holding back a lie yet, speaks dancing truths all around the lie. In this case the money is the lie.

**Also an interesting feature of Mathematical Poetry is that all the different possible syntax structures in a poem exist at the same time therefore when you read a mathematical poem, in each of their different syntax states, the temporal meaning of the poem fills up much like a glass of water when you turn on the faucet.

Substitution in Mathematical Poetry

Substitution in Mathematical Poetry

If you have no understanding of similar triangles poems then please read about it at the following link: “Similar Triangles Poem”

This Blog entry will show an example of substitution in mathematical poetry. Substitution can occur when we have two equations that have a common term. For example let’s look at the two equations which have the same form as two similar triangles poems: A = BD/E and A = HJ/U since both equations have the term ‘A’ in common and consequentially they both happen to be solved for ‘A’ then we can set both equations equal to each other as such:

BD/E = HJ/U

We know that we can solve for any of the variables in our new equation and get a new equation in terms of one variable. Let do so and solve for ‘J’ so we now have: J=UBD/EH

So now let’s apply what we have just witnessed to two similar triangles poems.

First of all we must look at the following two poems.

We know from our earlier example that we can solve a mathematical equation for any term in it. If we take the first poem and solve it for “my memories” we then can present the poem as:

Notice (below) that we have the two poems solved for the same term (my memories).

Now we can set each poem equal to each other because they both have identical terms. (see below)

We also know that we can solve this poetic equation for any of the terms in it. So let us solve this poem in terms of “Delaware River”

Now we can see that the later poem was derived from the two similar triangles poems shown at the top. What is interesting is that all of the logical processes used to create the first two poems are contained in our resultant poem including the subtle differences in the contexts of each initial poem.
Substitution can also be used in poems created by different poets as long as they have a common term. Follow this link to collaborative substitution poems.

The following polyaesthetic piece uses the image of a shipping beacon located at Cedar Swamp on the Delaware side of the Delaware River. The full Delaware River Poem from our example is nestled in the lower left hand corner of the image. The physical size of the digital image is 67” x 31”

The Collaborative Substitution Poem

This post is one of the most important (if not the most important) post I have ever written to this blog and I have been wanting and waiting to write it for a couple of years I just needed the right time.

The most important aspect of mathematical poetry in my ‘humble’ opinion is collaborative substitution poems. Collaborative substitution poems can evolve eternally and infinitely like no other form of poetry. Even non-poets can make mathematical poems using existing mathematical poems. I get very excited whenever I think about how these poems could evolve. The mathematical poem is very special in the sense that its structure lends itself very easily to substitution of terms/variables.



Just like in the equation from physics which states that force = mass multiplied by acceleration. F = ma. (image above) Since acceleration can be defined as the change in velocity per time we can substitute delta v divided by delta t into the equation to yield F = mass multiplied by delta v divided by delta t or F= mass delta(v)/delta(t)

What this means for mathematical poetry is that all variables are capable of being substituted by another poem. This gives a poem infinite flexibility in that future poets can substitute the variables within it in ways that could turn a small poem into a giant rhizome of ideas with roots that extends itself into many directions similar in shape to the black dotted arms spreading across the tabletop of the domino game. Today we are making the first step (that I know of) in this process.

On August 13, 2007 Cherryl Floyd-Miller posted a similar triangles poem titled death. It just so happens that I created a similar triangles poem posted May 17, 2007 also titled death.

Here is another look at Cherryl’s poem “Death”



Here is another look at my poem “Death”



If I solve for the term “death” in my poem (actually it is already solved for “death” in the original posting) and replace the variable “death” from Cherryl’s poem with my poem (solved for death) then we get the following expression. I have kept the color of the words so that they can be easily seen within both contexts shown below.



I have solved the expression above for the term Life and this leaves us with the following poem.



Now that we have seen it together in the later image I present the final image Here is our “collaboration poem”

One of the things I really enjoy about this poem is the conflation of the original contexts. Cherryl’s poem had a context of corporal finality where the context of mine was more about the process of spiritual growth. In this poem both ideas can be seen.

Now the next thing that could happen is that another mathematical poet describes one of the other elements in this poem such as “pulseless” or “heresy”. Then they take their poem and substitute it for “pulseless” or “heresy” and viola we have a new collaborative poem made from three poets. And so on and so on and so on …