[math-fun] An ear for idiom
Heather McHugh's poem "Hackers Can Sidejack Cookies" in the May 11 New Yorker is a real surprise. Although it is a self-described collage of hacker jargon, the juxtaposition of the phrases echo conversations from decades of my own hacker life, and the arrangement is oddly pleasing. "Who wrote these tunes, these runes you need black art to parse?" That verse could apply to mathematics as well, and I suppose McHugh could have taken Niven and Zuckerman's elementary number theory book for the starting point of a collage. But "quadratic reciprocity" cannot compare to the imagery of "A berserker wizard gets no score for treasure." About 20 years ago the New Yorker published a short story based math word problems. I think it started, "A lies in bed next to B, dreaming of C." It seems to me that there have been few attempts to work the language of sci-math-tech into literature. Maybe McHugh's poem will inspire others to use nerdspeak beautifully in other formal writing, as if it were any other kind of valued ethnic speech pattern. McHugh was near MIT back in the day, I wonder if she ever had occasion to visit MAC or TMRC. Hilarie
To all math lovers: Come experience math-fun at its very finest! I am working with an energetic group of folks to create North America's first Museum of Mathematics. We are well on our way to becoming an amazing, permanent, public, world-class, hands-on museum. Our first traveling exhibit will have its world premiere this sunday, June 14, at Washington Square Park in NYC, as part of the World Science Festival outdoor street fair. Our exhibit, called "The Math Midway," features fun and challenging mathematical content at all levels from children to PhDs. There is a range of unique exhibits, from square-wheeled tricycles that ride smoothly on a circular track of catenary arcs, to a plane of laser light that you can pass plastic polyhedra through, to find their surprising cross sections. You can create unique pen and ink drawings to take home using the mechanical harmonograph. Or play with the "organ function grinder" in which you input a number, set a function, and turn the hand crank to generate both a numerical output and a unique calliope tune which is transformed according to your function. Be sure to collect a complete set of the six souvenir math coins we are giving as game prizes, labeled with Pi, e, i, 0, -1, and infinity. And of course, I'll have laser-cut parts for a large colorful geometric sculpture that you can help assemble. If you are in the NY area, come experience it. Right now we are only scheduled for the one day, as we work towards arranging other future venues. Details are here: http://www.mathmidway.org/ We are looking for a community of math-loving folks to join with us in furthering this exciting project. All kinds of support are welcome, including ideas for future hands-on exhibits, energetic folks to join our advisory council, financial support, permanent location possibilities, etc. Pleased forward this to anyone you know who may be interested in attending or helping to further develop the American Museum of Mathematics. George http://www.georgehart.com P.S. Saturday in the park with George: http://www.georgehart.com/central-park/
participants (2)
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George W. Hart -
Hilarie Orman