I've not often thought about the math behind poetry. As with many activities and viewings throughout the course, I've exercised changing my perspective. In doing this, I found myself counting the syllables in poems, counting the letters, looking for patterns that made them make sense. This change in perspective helped me see the beauty in mathematics in a place that I had never looked before. The introduction to the week has also left me with a list of novels for further research.
Video/Readings
Each of the poems that I chose offered something unique. I enjoyed them all, and with respect to keeping a blog post to an accessible length, I will briefly summarize each in case it may entice the viewers of the blog to read them.
Sarah Glaz - I am a pentagon - Beautiful connections of the pentagon to the golden ratio, and further to the dodecahedron, relating that it's "face covers the universe", just as Plato had theorized.
Lisa Lajeunesse - Strong mathematical induction - A view of the intertwining of joy and sorrow, tied together by the principal of mathematical induction.
Alice Major - Three-body Problem - A somber reflection on heartbreak, the ellipse of love evolving into a spiral, tangent, and the geometry of heartbreak, catalyzed from an addition of a third force.
Dan May - Eight Minutes - Abstract, has me theorizing what the author could be talking about. What is the significance of 8 minutes? Being "trapped in the gap between event and information" makes me think of looking at a star that may already be extinguished.
Kate Jones - Climate extinction - Kate me researching Svante Arrhenius. Powerful statements on climate change, such as "the comfort seekers don't deny that change is happening. They rely on automatic fixes that don't require they change any habit or desire". Concludes with an existential question: When we are eventually extinct, and microorganisms rule again, will they rebuild us?
Activity
For the activity this week, I chose to create two PH4 poems. I'll speak on the inspiration and connections that each represent
Strength of Heart - I related this poem to our program, and the difficulties that we have all overcome in order to be successful thus far. Undertaking a Masters Program, while most are working full time, is not for the faint of heart. Connecting the words reminded me of the many connections going into and out from the heart. Without those connections, the heart would stop beating. Similar to success in the program, many students have developed strong connections that contributed to their overall success.
Transitional Encounters - A play on the idiom of two ships passing at night. The phrase pertains to a strong but brief encounter. With the PH4 format for this phrase, the words do not follow the idiom, but dance around each other throughout. Or, depending on your perspective, perhaps they have meaningful encounters, but it only lasts 8 lines, then the stanza is over.
Weekly Reading - Surfing the Mobius Band: An Example of the Union of Art and Mathematics - Francisco Saez de Adana
I took pleasure in this week's reading, as I admittedly was unfamiliar with the Mobius band. The descriptions of its characteristics, and how the mathematics and philosophy of the band were included in comic books, had me appreciate the complexities of Math's ability to reach all audiences.
I had a literal stop to my reading after the author explained the features of the Mobius band. He asked the reader to try to trace what you think is the external side of the band. As many know, you will eventually end up at the start. It reminded me of the symbol of the Metis people. While there exist different reasons why the Metis are represented with the infinity symbol (not necessarily a Mobius band), the Alberta Metis suggest that the "infinity symbol suggest that the Metis people will exist forever" (Metis Nation of Alberta, 2024).
Although the pictures in the article do not necessarily do the comics justice, both examples embed the art of the Mobius strip into their articles. In the first comic, the section opens up to form a double page, and the characters converse while walking along the Mobius band, commenting on the familiarity of their walk. The second comic's page layout shows the infinity loop as a Mobius band, where "the storytelling itself is configured in the form of a band of Mobius" (Saez de Adana, 2018). Including mathematics into this form of media makes the math accessible to a cohort that may not have expected it (is math cool...?).
The reading made me appreciate math's ability to connect to everyone, and it makes it easier to see that math is everywhere. My question is, have you ever facilitated a math connection for someone that was unexpected, either a student, friend, or family member? What did it look like?
References:
Metis Nation of Alberta. (2024). Symbols of the Metis Culture. https://albertametis.com/culture/symbols-of-culture/
Saez de Adana, F. (2018). Surfing the Möbius Band: An Example of the Union of Art and Mathematics. Bridges 2018 Conference Proceedings, 423-426.
Poems found at:
https://www2.math.uconn.edu/~glaz/Mathematical_Poetry_at_Bridges/Bridges_2024/The-program-and-the-poets-2024.html
Hi Pat!
ReplyDeletePat, your exploration of the intersection between mathematics and poetry in this week's blog is truly insightful and refreshing. I appreciate how you've not only delved into the mathematical aspects of the poems but also provided brief yet enticing summaries of each, encouraging readers to explore them further.
Your PH4 poems, "Strength of Heart" and "Transitional Encounters," further showcase your creativity in applying mathematical inspiration to personal and programmatic experiences. The analogy of heart connections mirroring the connections contributing to success in our Masters Program is particularly touching. Like how Susan explained this week, it seems like you followed the pattern such as...
a,b,c,d / b,a,d,c/ b,d,a,c/ etc... I had fun looking for the patterns!
The discussion of Francisco Saez de Adana's reading on the Mobius band is interesting. Your reflection on the Metis people's use of the infinity symbol and the incorporation of the Mobius strip into comics beautifully illustrates how mathematics transcends traditional academic boundaries and various aspects of culture and art.
Hi Pat,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the your PH 4 poems. Thank you for sharing the inspiration behind the poems. I really related to your first poems as I can connect to it in terms of my inspiration behind applying and joining the masters program. I was feeling overwhelmed with my life and needed to do something for myself. It definitely took a lot of strength of heart to add another dimension to pre-existing work load.
Regarding your reading reflection, I appreciate the connection you drew between mobius band and the symbol of metis people. It is a great example to demonstrate how mathematics is integrated deeply into cultural systems.
Your question regarding helping mathematical connection reminded of my yesterday when my toddler was needing help locating her toy cars. She was very frustrated in process of finding her cars. So we made this into a game, we drew five cars on her white board. We started looking for five cars and we looked everywhere in her room and drawers. Every time we found a car, we erased one car from the board to help her see how many more cars she had to look for. She is at the very early stage of learning to count numbers and with these simple activities we are able to add the concept of addition and subtraction.