A mathematician who finds poetry in math and math in poetry(quantamagazine.org)
quantamagazine.org
A mathematician who finds poetry in math and math in poetry
https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-theorist-who-sees-math-in-art-music-and-writing-20240112/
22 comments
As above, so below ;)
>"Thousands of years ago in India, poets were trying to think about the possible meters. In Sanskrit poetry, you have long and short syllables. Long is twice as long as short. If you want to work out how many there are that take a length of time of three, you can have short, short, short, or long, short, or short, long. There are three ways to make three. There are five ways to make a length-four phrase. And there are eight ways to make a length-five phrase. This sequence you’re getting is one where every term is the sum of the previous two. You exactly reproduce what we nowadays call the Fibonacci sequence. But this was centuries before Fibonacci."
Related:
Ambuda: "Building the world's largest Sanskrit library":
https://ambuda.org/
Related:
Ambuda: "Building the world's largest Sanskrit library":
https://ambuda.org/
I liked the bit about the hobbit, even if it was a bit out of the blue.
those interested in the link between math and literature might be interested in the link between narratives and linear logic.
those interested in the link between math and literature might be interested in the link between narratives and linear logic.
Can you recommend any resources to learn more about this link?
On the surface: The world would be premises and stories would be proofs.
Linear Logic for Non-Linear Storytelling by Anne-Gwenn Bosser and Marc Cavazza and Ronan Champagnat has an example.
Then generating proofs means generating valid stories. Linear logic is tough though, it is a logic that admits contradiction so straightaway most logicians are clueless in how to handle it.
Linear Logic for Non-Linear Storytelling by Anne-Gwenn Bosser and Marc Cavazza and Ronan Champagnat has an example.
Then generating proofs means generating valid stories. Linear logic is tough though, it is a logic that admits contradiction so straightaway most logicians are clueless in how to handle it.
I do not think the last sentence is an adequate description of what linear logic is, or how it's used and understood.
It is interesting in itself, I admit that. But I don't see how it would admit contradiction, or how logicians are clueless how to handle it. It is in fact well understood, and used in many places, e.g. computer science [1,2]
[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linear_logic
[2] https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/logic-linear/
It is interesting in itself, I admit that. But I don't see how it would admit contradiction, or how logicians are clueless how to handle it. It is in fact well understood, and used in many places, e.g. computer science [1,2]
[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linear_logic
[2] https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/logic-linear/
There are lots of mathematicians, and statisticians and the like, who become interested in literary analysis. They may even go on to publish articles and books with their findings, applying mathematical or computational techniques to the study of literature. The problem is, they're usually only interested in their own insights, and shy away from the existing conversation that surrounds a given work of literature. These researchers seem to be unaware that literary scholars have been thinking about their same problems for years. Their bibliographies often contain hardly a single work of literary criticism. You wouldn't try to write a book about physics, or mathematics, without consulting a physicist or a mathematician, but somehow these scholars think that you can write a book about literature without being in dialogue with literary scholarship.
Recent and related:
Mathematical journeys into fictional worlds (2021) [pdf] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39576156 - March 2024 (10 comments)
Mathematical journeys into fictional worlds (2021) [pdf] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39576156 - March 2024 (10 comments)
Not sure if Decimas poetry could be considered an example of this. Personally I always believed everything is related to everything.
Math and Physics equations are full of beauty capable of transmit the same joy as poetry. The main difficulty is that they require more study.
For me, looking at Maxwell equations is a source of pleasure. Also, after improving my understanding of the Laplacian, I came to appreciate the heat equation.
For me, looking at Maxwell equations is a source of pleasure. Also, after improving my understanding of the Laplacian, I came to appreciate the heat equation.
It's not very surprising to find math in Perec's work, he deliberately put it there.
Math poetry is a pretty active genre.
What examples would you suggest?
There's also this funny/cheesy poem, quoted in full in the second Harold and Kumar movie:
“The Square Root of Three”(written by David Feinberg)
I’m sure that I will always be A lonely number like root three
The three is all that’s good and right, Why must my three keep out of sight Beneath the vicious square root sign, I wish instead I were a nine
For nine could thwart this evil trick, with just some quick arithmetic
I know I’ll never see the sun, as 1.7321 Such is my reality, a sad irrationality
When hark! What is this I see, Another square root of a three
As quietly co-waltzing by, Together now we multiply To form a number we prefer, Rejoicing as an integer
We break free from our mortal bonds With the wave of magic wands
Our square root signs become unglued Your love for me has been renewed
source: https://allpoetry.com/poem/4721391--The-Square-Root-of-Three...
“The Square Root of Three”(written by David Feinberg)
I’m sure that I will always be A lonely number like root three
The three is all that’s good and right, Why must my three keep out of sight Beneath the vicious square root sign, I wish instead I were a nine
For nine could thwart this evil trick, with just some quick arithmetic
I know I’ll never see the sun, as 1.7321 Such is my reality, a sad irrationality
When hark! What is this I see, Another square root of a three
As quietly co-waltzing by, Together now we multiply To form a number we prefer, Rejoicing as an integer
We break free from our mortal bonds With the wave of magic wands
Our square root signs become unglued Your love for me has been renewed
source: https://allpoetry.com/poem/4721391--The-Square-Root-of-Three...
Degenerate poetry:
> [f] I once read that space has three dimensions because orbits aren't stable in 4-space.
There once was a man from Verdun
Or, from https://www.ultimate.com/phil/pdp10/quux.poem : "...and so the line connecting the points Ga and Gb in gradient space,
which correspond to the planes A and B in image space, is the
set of points representing positions of a plane see-sawing around the
line of intersection between A and B..."
Now I see; then I saw;
The planes of a cube have a linear law.
The endpoints of lines in the gradient space
Show where the see-sawing planes fall into place.
Macrakis, sitting beside me, half-asleep: "COFFEE!"
Caffeine doesn't help me composing this verse.
It only awakes me; my thoughts all disperse.
One thinks better dozing, collapsed in a heap;
Why else are most students in classes asleep?
"...the lines in gradient space are perpendicular to the lines in
image space. This doesn't provide enough constraints, however.
Additional equations may be derived from the intensity information.
One can get one or more solutions for a trihedral vertex. If the
vertex has more than three planes, then there are more constraints
than necessary, and one may have to resort to least squares..."
Alone, the geometry isn't enough:
You also require intensity stuff.
We get enough data if points are tri-planed,
While four leave the gradients over-constrained.
I count the following as more mathematical than physical; maybe I'm just a sucker for double dactyls — YMMV:> [f] I once read that space has three dimensions because orbits aren't stable in 4-space.
I often have wondered in
What kind of orbit a
Planet proceeds in a
Tesseract space?
Multidimensional,
Hyperelliptical,
Dizzying spacemen in
Trans-solar chase.From Verdun or Nantucket?
Maybe its neighbours would help for context:
"There once was a man from Peru
Whose limericks stopped at line two"
and ""Journal of humanistic mathematics (https://scholarship.claremont.edu/jhm/) is a good source. Their semi-annnual issues usually have a few poems.
Hart flexes from her home office
They edited the title since: "The Mathematician Who Finds the Poetry in Math and the Math in Poetry"
And I agree it's better :)
And I agree it's better :)
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[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallpaper_group