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poem by Wislawa Szymborska, Polish author and Nobel Prize Winner in Literature
Source: Wisława Szymborska, Monologue of a dog, 96 pp., Foreword by Billy Collins, New Poems translated from the Polish by Clare Cavanagh and Stanisław Barańczak, Harcourt,Inc.,New York, Toronto, London, 2005, ISBN 0-15-101220-2
I love math poetry & songs!! The only reason I can recite the quadratic formula is because my teacher combined the formula with a song and the melody helps me recall the information. Because I am in enrolled in "History of Math" and we have discussed famous mathematicians, I figured everyone should be aware of what it takes to be a modern day mathematician! So here it goes..
ReplyDeleteI Am the Very Model of a Modern Mathematician
lyrics by Lin Parker
in The Mathematics Teacher October 2001
may be sung to the tune of
"I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General,"
from the Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert and Sullivan
I am the very model of a modern mathematician;
I'm fluent in all measurings, both metric and American;
I know that pi is 3.141592654
And many many many many many many places more.
I can figure averages-mean and mode and median;
And I can crunch the numbers for a standard deviation;
I check the tails of normal curves, 5 percent in each; and hence
Reject the null hypothesis with ninety percent confidence.
Reject the null hypothesis with ninety percent confidence,
Reject the null hypothesis with ninety percent confidence,
Reject the null hypothesis with ninety percent confidence.
I'm very good at integral and differential calculus;
At finding max and minimums, I'm simply just miraculous;
In matters mathematical- both simple and quadratical,
I am the very model of a modern mathematician.
In matters mathematical- both simple and quadratical,
He is the very model of a modern mathematician.
For more fun math poetry and songs visit:
http://www.pleacher.com/mp/mpoetry/mpoet.html