Sunday, 27 January 2008

Poking angles


It was a very interesting prompt by Read.Write.Poem. That is, to incorporate mathematics into a poem. I had initially thought of using a mathematical equation as a refrain and write a Villanelle. I even started one. I trashed it and wrote this piece. I post this for Monday Poetry Train too...


Enclosed in the blackboard, tangents go in all directions

Can secants be left behind, cutting the circle into two
They show their supremacy.
Radii watch silently holding hands with chords.
Inscribed angles lie askew
Central angles shed tears.
Sectors made, Segments demarcated,
Triangles cut into shapes.
Nothing left of that ringed shape.

What started the fight
Who asked the toughest question
It was just a taunt by centre of that circle to the inscribed angle
Don’t you know I am double your value
Pandemonium broke out.
Fist fights, poking eyes by those staid rays of the angles
Squeaking voices, scratching parts

All things considered, what it said stands true-
Inscribed angle in a circle is half its central angle

Do feel free to critique it.

*
Update: I found a new prompt, Weekend Wordsmith. This post works great for their last prompt, It's illegible as many think of mathematics as that.

18 comments:

  1. Geometry wars! I loved geometry and I get this, but I also suspect there is a deeper meaning I'm either too dense or too tired (or both) to be picking up tonight. Probably both.

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  2. This is mathmatically incorrect!

    So is my spelling!
    Sigh!

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  3. Beyond my means I'm afraid, but has a sense of purpose behind the cutting angles.

    Rose

    xo

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  4. oh Gautami, you couldnt have said it better! Superb...loved it! "Central angles...tears"..oh I am gonna read this lots again, bookmark it since I liked it so much.

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  5. Gautami, I love the personification of geometrical terms! Very lively and creative. I imagine a classroom chalkboard filled with shapes, the poor circle left in shambles.

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  6. Very fun -- & I wouldn't know if it was mathematically correct or not.

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  7. 'What started the fight
    Who asked the toughest question
    It was just a taunt by centre of that circle to the inscribed angle
    Don’t you know I am double your value'

    LOL!! That brings to mind the ancient Greeks' music of the spheres and Pythagorus' calculations of the cosmos. Now reduced to chalkboard turf wars and bragging.

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  8. the whole math thing is greek to me!!!!! good glory i know a triangle has three sides,, and that is about as far as i ever got int he whole angle thing... this post sounds like you know your way around the math thing guatami... is that what you teach????

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  9. I used to be a Geometry queen...bak in school. Not anymore..my brains hv rusted.

    Keshi.

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  10. certainly a departure from the expected!

    i esp like the title and the idea of "taunting" between mathematical ideas

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  11. very simple but interesting one .

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  12. me, too, Keshi, I was all about geometry in school. it was the only math class I ever loved. Probably as artists we liked tangible shapes and stories.

    Funny, piece, Gautami... love the fighting figures.

    I also like
    Inscribed angles lie askew
    Central angles shed tears.

    and that angles looks so much like angels, angled angels shedding tears...

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  13. 1. You place an entirely new equation into poetry.

    2. The father of math, Pythagoras, would have loved it.

    3. Notice how I've placed numbers into a comment :-)

    Beautiful poem.

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  14. I like the way you've personified these various mathematical ideas!

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  15. I confess the only reason I passed Geometry was because the teacher liked me. I love the personification of the poem, and bar room blackboard brawl!!

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  16. you've done well in combining math and poetry. I like the way the words give directions/arguments

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  17. What fun! though I'm glad the fight is safely confined to the chalkboard.

    My math poem is up now, too.

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  18. Hi- I enjoyed this very much. I have taught mathematics. This is full of energy!

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