Monday, May 04, 2009
Thursday, April 30, 2009
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/
Posted by Kaz Maslanka at 11:56 PM 6 comments
Labels: Mahipal Virdy
Thursday, April 09, 2009
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.
Posted by Kaz Maslanka at 8:26 PM 4 comments
Labels: Anand Bora
Anand Bora
The purpose of this page is to collect the mathematical poems of Anand Bora
Cleanliness
Love and Life
Paradigm Poems
Posted by Kaz Maslanka at 8:24 PM 0 comments
Labels: Anand Bora
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
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.
Posted by Kaz Maslanka at 11:29 PM 3 comments
Labels: Buddhism, similar triangles poems
Friday, March 20, 2009
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
Posted by Kaz Maslanka at 5:17 PM 4 comments
Labels: Basho, Buddhism, Expanded Similar Triangles Poem, haiku
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
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.
Posted by Kaz Maslanka at 11:50 PM 8 comments
Labels: Basho, Expanded Similar Triangles Poem, haiku
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Man (for Timo Gilbert)
Here is a Similar Triangles Poem titled "Man"- inspired by my conversations with Timo Gilbert.
Posted by Kaz Maslanka at 11:55 PM 7 comments
Labels: Man, similar triangles poems, Timo Gilbert
Sunday, March 08, 2009
Minimalist Poetry
Here is a "Similar Triangles Poem" titled Minimalist Poetry.
Posted by Kaz Maslanka at 11:43 PM 0 comments
Labels: Minimalist Poetry, similar triangles poems
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
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
Posted by Kaz Maslanka at 9:45 PM 1 comments
Labels: mockpaperscissors, TT.O.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Bogus Science
Posted by Kaz Maslanka at 11:55 PM 12 comments
Labels: Expanded Similar Triangles Poem
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
Posted by Kaz Maslanka at 11:46 PM 0 comments
Labels: Marc-Anthony, Roland Barthes, Sherman Alexie
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
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!
Posted by Kaz Maslanka at 12:45 AM 2 comments
Labels: Karl Kempton, mathematical visual poetry
Science and Spirituality
Science does not dispel spirituality rather it points the direction of its next incarnation.
Posted by Kaz Maslanka at 12:40 AM 2 comments
Labels: science and art
Ed Schenk
The purpose of this blog entry is to collect pieces by Ed Schenk.
i^4
Predestination / Karma / Reincarnation
Ed Schenk's World
Posted by Kaz Maslanka at 12:31 AM 0 comments
Monday, January 26, 2009
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
Posted by Kaz Maslanka at 10:39 PM 2 comments
Labels: Ed Schenk
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
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)
Posted by Kaz Maslanka at 11:29 PM 4 comments
Labels: axiomatic poems, death, Ed Schenk, karma, life, Peano Axioms
Monday, January 19, 2009
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.
Posted by Kaz Maslanka at 6:57 PM 2 comments
Saturday, January 17, 2009
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:
Posted by Kaz Maslanka at 1:02 AM 6 comments
Labels: Bob Grumman, The Long Division Poem
Thursday, January 15, 2009
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.
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.
Posted by Kaz Maslanka at 11:12 PM 2 comments
Labels: American Mathematical Society, JoAnne Growney, prometheus, Pushcart Prize in Poetry, Reza Sarhangi, Robert Fathauer, Sarah Glaz
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.
Posted by Kaz Maslanka at 12:04 AM 2 comments
Labels: Karl Kempton, Mathematical Paradigm Poems
Friday, January 02, 2009
Kempton's View
Karl Kempton has sent me a paradigm mathematical poem (above) in response to the last two blog posts; so let's look at it. The image shows the volume of a ellipsoidal solid with the three ellipse radii defined metaphorically. The first radii is a value of "lack of forethought" and the second being an radius of "ego" and the last radii being the ratio of "attachment" divided by "humility" and all of this is equal to "my big mouth".
Thanks Karl for illuminating my problem :)
Posted by Kaz Maslanka at 7:20 PM 0 comments
Labels: Karl Kempton, similar triangles poems
Thursday, January 01, 2009
Primitive Clarification
I am sure that most of our general population will find this discussion pointless but those interested in language, visual language and mathematical poetry should not. We use addition and multiplication in our language everyday but most are not aware of it. I think a person could spend their entire life devoted just to the concept of exploring the ideas presented in this one blog post (I am serious). We are just scratching the surface of the possibilities with our few examples shown in this blog. It is not trivial to ponder the differences in addition and multiplication for they are crucial to our existence through our everyday decisions. However, I can agree that in mathematical poetry we are taking these operations into the nebulous areas of art and art aesthetics. Numbers are clear and easy to manipulate with mathematical operations however, extrapolating them into the realm of images or concepts is much more difficult and it is even more difficult to say something new and interesting with it.
This blog post is an extension from my last post where I was trying to clarify the difference between addition and multiplication in the context of mathematical poetry. The best way to approach this is to start by viewing the blog entry
Our example (above) in this blog post concerns the three images in the original work found at the blog of artpolice. (which seems to have disappeared) My original statement was that the images are an example of using multiplication in mathematical poetry as opposed to using addition. What I have done here is to show the work corrected with the proper operational sign and also create a little piece showing a solution to the problem if indeed it were done with addition.
The Image below was submitted by the math poet PI. O. --- He obviously knows the difference between addition and multiplication of images as well as the artist Tisa Bryant. Thank you PI. O.!
This wonderful image is a work by Tisa Bryant, titled "Slave Lady" and will be part of the show:
WHEN DOES IT OR YOU BEGIN? (MEMORY AS INNOVATION)
Festival of Writing, Performance, & Video
JANUARY 9 – FEBRUARY 1, 2009
Curated by Amina Cain & Jennifer Karmin
at Links Hall
3435 N. Sheffield Avenue
Chicago, IL
Posted by Kaz Maslanka at 9:31 PM 0 comments
Labels: Addition, Chicago, Jennifer Karmin, Multiplication, the difference between additon and multiplication, Tisa Bryant
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Me And My Big Mouth
Me And My Big Mouth
Well I have to confess that I have been a bit ornery. I ran across a blog that was discussing the painting shown above. I thought I would try to stir things up a bit and drop in the comment that the math was wrong and that it should have been multiplication as opposed to addition. This created quite a stir among this group of rowdy folk at the art police blog. You may want to follow it back to see their musings after I dropped the comment.
The text in green below is a response to my comment from the art policeman and my response to him is in white.
Kaz said:
"Well, I hate to be the mathart police however, the math is wrong ... it should be multiplication and not addition.
How can it be wrong when it was never right in the first place?
It is true that there is no 'correct' art however there is correct and incorrect mathematics. This is why you called up your mathematical art equation department ... you just didn't realize it was me. (I guess it was presumptuous of me to show up)
Well, the art at least that is....
But for the sake of even more pointless argument.
And you really have not argued a thing you have just brain-farted your opinion and have not backed it up with a damn thing. Have you?
You are correct that I didn't give you a direct hint Furthermore; I should not expect you to dig through my blog to find a hint so I owe you an apology and I will now supply the link
So let us at least show you Kaz Mashorseshockey how to argue.
Here we go-
Are we not dealing with three paintings here in this particular equation?
Only three, so therefore if the factors were to be multiplied as in repeated addition, as you suggest, then the two said factors would result in a product of a multiple of the two.
I see your last statement being basically correct. Although, repeated addition is not how I would describe this situation within this context.
Unless the two factors were exactly the same then they would result in the same product,
Well the last statement seems to indicate that you think that 4 x 4 = 4 and not 16 … I doubt that was your intention so we are not clear here.
or if one factor was zero, then the resulting product would be zero or in this case no painting at all(which is what they should be in a perfect world)...that zero being the no product.
Again I see this last statement being correct.
However in this case we have two singular images resulting into another singular image and that clearly can only be stated in an equation of addition.
1painting + 1painting =2painting
or #1painting + #2painting =#3Painting
If it was a multiplication problem, as you Kaz Matdingdong have suggested , we would result in
1painting x 1painting =1painting
or #1painting x #2painting =#2painting
Here it seems that you are not making any sense for it seems that you are saying that the statement, "4 + 4 = 8" is a valid equation yet "4 x 4 = 16" is not valid or maybe you are trying to say that 2 x 4 = 4 which of course is not true mathematically furthermore, this is not the case in the artwork for the second image from the painting is not the same as the product image(Obama) -- I am not following your logic here.
Either way you look at it, and obviously you didn't, The multiplication scenario does not fit.
Maybe you can look at this again after checking out this blog post
We here at The Art Police feel you are horribly wrong in correcting us, so therefore you, along with our fine art friend from NC Karen on the other blog, have failed in trying to insult the intelligence of The Art Police.
You have misunderstood my correction for it was not to insult anyone I just thought that I would have some fun and stir things up at bit and try to get some discussion concerning the problem of addition and multiplication in math poetry. However I really didn't mean to give poor 'whirley gig man' a reoccurring nightmare from his high school days. And if he really knew me I think he would like me because I have more in common with him than he realizes.
Again my intent was certainly not to piss anyone off … Whirley gig man was right … I was just farting around … I just didn't realize it stunk so badly.
YOU Kaz Matahoowy FAILED!
And you will be added to our ART POLICE TIOI(Trying to Insult Our Intelligence) list of
Top That Killer!
We do appreciate your appreciation for Mathart and do encourage you keeping up with your craft.
I appreciate your appreciation and you will notice that I purposely have avoided talking about art in this blog post and especially the art aesthetic used in the painting.
Cheers Mr. Policeman
Posted by Kaz Maslanka at 11:41 PM 7 comments
Labels: Addition, folk art, the difference between additon and multiplication
Friday, December 19, 2008
See the Mathart show in Washington D.C.
Here is the link for the mathart show in Washington D.C. this January. You can see the variety of work from the links presented. The image I chose to show (above) is titled:
“A Strange Dream”
Oil crayon on paper, 20" x 24" (framed), 2008. "
The work is by Karl Kattchee, Associate Professor of Mathematics, Mathematics Department, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, La Crosse, WI
Professor Kattchee says, "I generally work in the abstract and typically with oil crayons or pencil on paper. Each drawing has an internal logic, mathematical in nature, which usually evolves while I work. My mathematical instincts urge me to keep the internal logic consistent, but my artistic side wants to bend the rules. The soul of my drawings is the balance between the two."
Posted by Kaz Maslanka at 12:13 AM 1 comments
Labels: American Mathematical Society, Bridges, mathart, Nat Friedman, Reza Sarhangi, Robert Fathauer
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
Prometheus’s Epistle Nominated For A Pushcart Prize In Poetry
Here is the Anouncement by ZYZZYVA - I see their blog has been moved or deleted - Here is my original letter from them
Posted by Kaz Maslanka at 8:45 PM 1 comments
Labels: Job, orthogonal space poem, prometheus, Pushcart Prize in Poetry
Friday, December 05, 2008
Michael Sussna show in Carlsbad California
Tonight I went to the opening of my friend Michael Sussna at the New Village Arts Theatre in Carlsbad California. There were 21 pieces curated by Laura Kurner from the Theatre. All of Michaels Images were done with Ultra Fractal Software and more can be viewed at his website. If you get a chance to see the show you can check it out at the address below.
New Village Arts Theatre
2787 State St
Carlsbad, CA 92008
(760) 729-8747
Posted by Kaz Maslanka at 11:22 PM 0 comments
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
Binoy Majumdar
My friend Anand Bora has turned me onto the late Bharat (India) poet Binoy Majumdar. Today I have selected Three mathematics related poems by that were taken off of the website at this link. These were translated into English by Aryanil Mukherjee
flowers have no room for geometry or even its traces
they are all mixed up into a singular mess
geometry makes the landscape
all those lines we use in poems
from time immemorial have these poems existed
like serene mathematics
lying in an unseen corner
awaiting discovery this autumn evening
in the Bakul grove under faint moonlight
length, weight and time - these three worldly units
are talked about too often
like there's nothing else in the can...
also a unit that measures light, or
how audible are you could be measured too
in our world, man-day is another unit
Posted by Kaz Maslanka at 12:10 AM 5 comments