How To Write A Mathematical Poem

To write a mathematical poem, we require the following conditions.

1. Symbols or numerical values must appear at the beginning or end of a line. For example, if I want to list the first few primes, I may write

1^st prime is 2
2^nd prime is 3
3^rd prime is 5
And then so on

This completes the stanza. Here the inner text is the relation that relates the outer symbols or numerical value. To make it more abstract, we can write

Let
p₁ be the first prime
p₂ be the second prime
p₃ is the third prime
And then so on
 

Here the line “And then so on” is very important. It may appear in every poem. It generalizes a statement.

2. Literary devices can be used to prove a theorem. Alliteration is used to identify words that have the same initial letter. Here is an example

What is past?
Past, upto, first letter is prime
And that prime is a set
And that set is P
Where
P is {2, 3, 5, … }

Here using alliteration, we identify past with prime and then showed that past, which is time, is discrete.

3. Exclamation point “!” and other punctuation should be used with care. The exclamation point in one line can be identified with factorial in another line to prove a result. Here is an example

I don’t know why my predictions have uncertainty
And that is off by one unit
In quantum mechanics though
Uncertainty relation (UR) has a minimum
And that minimum is half of Planck’s constant
Planck’s constant, therefore, is 2

Note the 2
It is the first prime
Note again the 2!

In language
! is for feeling
It is factorial in math though
Planck’s constant, therefore, is 2!

Recall the UR
It has a minimum
And that is 2!/2
It is the first order UR
nth order UR would, therefore, be p_n!/p_n

4. Questions and answers (Q&A) can also appear in a poem which leads us to an important result. To give an example, we complete the poem we started in item # 2.

What is past?
Past, upto, first letter is prime
And that prime is a set
And that set is P
Where
P is {2, 3, 5, … }

Wait a minute!
Present – what about that?
The first letter of which, too, is P

Well done friend!
You got it!
The present is in no way different than past

Here is how they go
Was was is
Is is was
And
Were were are
Are are were
And
Am am am
And
Shall is shell
Will is well
And then so on

More examples can be found in our previous posts.