Poemranker [Replying] Thu Nov 21 15:43:13 PST 2024

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Division it was that upheld him. He divided one by one third and found the answer three. Then six by two, this too, three. He tried it on seven, the log of eleven, even the cube root of two to the eighth. Everything he divided by a third of itself yielded none other than three. So he generalized and preached to the world âx / x/3 = 3. Itâs true for You! Let it be carved on my stone and laughed at if ever disproved.â Now his body lies deep in the ground. His equation waves like a flag. And all who pass say there lies a man that nobody ever found wrong.

-=Dark_Angel=-, P.I.

5-Jan-05/1:53 AM

In what way does this poeme relate maths to life? By being mathematically inept? Or by having an oaf make an easily provable conjecture, then writing it on his tombstone and challenging passing dweebs to disprove it?

Anyway, I'm not saying you should hold to rigorous mathematical standards. I don't see how that makes any sense in the context of a poeme. I was pointing out that your argument (c.f. "the mathematics had to be simple in order to be beyond doubt") was a silly one. There is a great deal of interesting, not-so-simple mathematics that is beyond doubt. Of course you could argue that the protagonist was an utter oaf, and therefore incapable of proving his conjecture. But then what? Does this poeme become a bold, sweeping statement about how oaves wander through life saying obvious things? You ought to be commended for your insight! Though in my experience, oaves mostly wander through life writing wallyish poetry about things they know very little about, and smelling of dung. Mostly.

"And just in case youâre about to say that without logic, there is no math, let me add that much of the universe is running on chance to the chagrin of Einstein and others, and maybe the mind that made it that way likes the emotional tug of trying to outwit probability"

I wasn't about to say "without logic there is no math", because any such statement would almost certainly be followed by an enormous amount of guff, no matter what anyone said about it. But I certainly would at least like to know what you mean by your implication that the uncertainty principle implies there is no logic. In answering, please say what you mean by "logic", "no", and "the emotional tug of trying to outwit probability."

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