Poetry Experiments: Life Lessons from Math Class

Image by Gerd Altmann

Free Write Prompt

Treat the provocative titles of these math principles as words only.  For example, tell me about the presence of the “diamond principle” or the “excluded third” in your life. Or, think of this prompt as writing an alternate theory for the mathematical principle.  Whatever you do, DO NOT look up the mathematical principle. (Write for 10 minutes)

Math Principle Options

You cannot divide by zero
Principle of excluded third
Principle of double negation
Method of distinguished element
Never-ending irrational numbers
Number and operations in base 10
Ratios and proportional relationships
The number system
Stratified sampling
Diamond principle

​Pigeonhole principle
Uniform boundedness principle
Racetrack principle
Square cube law
Transfer principle
Principle of maximum caliber
Inclusion-exclusion principle
Littlewood’s three principles of real analysis
Courant minimax principle
​Hopf lemma

"Math Inspired" Example Poems

Source:  San Antonio Peace Center

Something Extra

10 Cartoon Laws of Physics  Read an actual list of the laws, including its 5 Amendments here.  These may trigger another poem, perhaps about your personal experience with cartoon physics in real life? Title it "Cartoon Physics, part 3," BECAUSE there is a . . .

Cartoon Physics, part 2 poem It is a significantly more personalized wish for the cartoon laws of physics to address a family tragedy, wherein a character in  the poem has "cut a hole in the air & vanished into it." 

Neil deGrasse Tyson This short clip features a small panel -- Tyson, an astrophysicist, and a comedian -- who have a few laughs about cartoon physics.

Source: Poetry Foundation
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Poem Prompt

Look up the mathematical principle from your free-write, and write a poem that combines your imagined writing from the first prompt with some details of the actual principle. (Take 12 minutes total, really! Two minutes of "research" and 10 minutes of writing. Go!)

Another Example Poem

"Circle Poems" made me think of Miguel's Six Circle Theorem.  I am not a specialist, so here is a direct quote from the 11011110 Journal:

 If four points A,B,C,D  lie on a circle, and we draw four more circles through AB, BC, CD, and AD, the second intersection points of each of these four circles will also lie on a circle. Below I've drawn the first five circles in black, and the circle that must exist through the intersection points in red dashes.

To which mathematical principle from the first prompt did you write ? 
​Leave us some lines in the comments.
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