Problem 4b: The Wondrous Tale of Math and Poetry

------------- Old high school friends, Math and Poetry, meet on the way to work -------------

M Long time, no see! How do you do?

P Thanks Math, I’m great! Are you great too?

M Oh Poetry, I’m bored. What shall we do?

P Let’s go on a road trip; Just me and you!

M But where shall we go, dear Poetry?

P There are plenty of things that we can see!

How about the Sequoia Redwood trees?

M So very exciting that would be!

I’ve hear they grow three hundred feet tall

How many leaves will they shed in the fall?

P Who cares, my friend; just admire their beauty

M I’ve heard their sap tastes very fruity.

But what about work, I’ve got important duties!

P C’mon dear Math, stop being so snooty.

Math, my friend, you could use a good break.

Your precious mental health is at stake!

M I’ve got responsibilities, for goodness sake!

Gosh, your logic gives me a headache!

P Vacation is good! You really need one.

Come on! I promise it’ll be so much fun.

I guarantee you won’t have regrets. None!

You’ll be all cheered up by the time we’re done.

M Alright, I’m convinced. Are you going to drive?

How many hours is it? Like five?

Ditching work! Wow, I feel so alive.

Maybe I am vacation-deprived!

P That’s the spirit! Hop in my SUV.

And no, the drive will only be about three.

M I already feel amazingly free!

Maybe some time off is good for me!

----------------------------------- In the evening after a long hike ----------------------------------

P So math, how are you liking the park?

We should light a fire; it’s really dark.

M We’d better control our campfire’s sparks.

Ridiculously dry, this tree’s bark!

P Good thinking, shall we go back to the car?

If you’d like I can play some guitar.

We can lie on the hood and gaze up at the stars.

M They are so far away; Who knows how far?

This is so intriguing, Poetry

Much more complex than Euclidean Geometry

P Your mind is wandering uncontrollably.

My mind functions better thinking globally.

M Poetry, please don’t overreact!

Try out thinking in the abstract.

P Compared to poetry, math is much more exact.

Perhaps I’m the abstract one in fact.

M I didn’t mean to place any blame

You and I are actually quite the same.

Both structured and abstract, I claim. 

There’s no need to feel any shame.

P My message is abstract; my meter organized.

M With concrete postulates my theory is subsidized.

And I always show steps when I generalize.

That way my rigor isn’t compromised.

P How similar we are! I was not aware!

M You and I make quite the pair!

P Our synergy is beginning to flare!

M To ours, no friendship can ever compare!

------------ Math and Poetry become BFFs and now go camping every weekend ------------

The End

Prob 4.a

Why a scientist must read poetry:

I looked at this topic in reference to writing in general last semester, and was able to discover a rich relationship between science and writing. Poetry is a symbolic, nuanced, and mysterious form of writing that aligns with many parts of science where the researchers act as detectives. Therefore, I am going to adapt my ideas about writing and reevaluate this connection:

Every particle in the universe has an effect on every other, no matter how small. Human experience is based upon the acknowledgement of the effects, both physical and emotional, through varying levels of abstraction. Life is about exploring and finding which interactions between things are important and investigating them further. Sensors and poetry both serve to amplify these relationships to the point that they are able to be observed by humans. Sensors help to demonstrate connections between physical or electrical events and are tied to a temporal relationship. Poetry works to identify and develop connections that are often deep in the emotional and abstract, but equally significant, dimensions of the world.. A scientist uses a sensor to glean things about the world, just as a poet learns as he/she composes. The feelings in one’s mind are often as scrambled as the sub-atomic particles that make up the mind itself that a researcher might study.

An example of a sensor is a simple sun position measuring tool that you may recognize from the north engineering quad.  The gnomon (shadow casting element) is the first part of the sensor, reaching into the sky as a spire. The movement of the distant--by relative scale--sun is amplified and visually represented on the ground below. The sun, millions of miles away, casts a discrete shadow, and markings beneath translate it to a language humans understand. Everything in the world casts a shadow, and writers and poets are those who are able to illuminate it.

Just like the sensor, this post connects two phenomena as it shows the critical relationship between seemingly discrete disciplines. It analytically identifies the effect of sensors and writing poetry on human understanding and amplifies the significance of both by making the all important connection, forming both physical and figurative neural pathways. A poet and a scientist are not so different, studying different planes of reality with much intersection. The effects and the connections often become convoluted through layer upon layer of interpretation and redefinition, but pulling a poem apart to reveal its underlying threads will always reveal sensorial qualities. As a poet works to transcribe the world onto paper, the scientist gathers data from a sensor. Like poems, every sensor, even the simplest of digital switches, tells a story.

Though I originally spent my time thinking about this concept with regards to essay writing, I actually like it more in conversation with poetry. The interpretive element of reading a poem is ridiculously similar to that of reading instruments. That is why a scientist should certainly read poetry, and go even further than just read. He/she has to work to fully come to an understanding of the poem (whether it was the intended one or not) because the critical thinking involved is crucial. I know that this thought experiment has encouraged ME to look closely at poems, and I hope some other future scientists can be inspired as well.

To my STEM-loving peers, do any o these concepts resonate with you? I’m curious to hear what you think.