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A Mathematician’s Sonnet

Posted on June 13, 2018July 27, 2021 by Clio

So algebra is not aligned to taste:
A bunch of letters dancing without need.
You find the dancers nothing but a waste?
My friend, some words on this you ought to heed:

We start with adding, just as shepherds did
To count their flocks when sent to fields by day.
Subtraction’s just some adding being hid
At dusk, when sheep are sent the other way.

The builders found a need to multiply
When roofs that needed thatch and floors were laid.
Then came the lengths, with measurements to try
The patience of the architect’s tirade.

And so, foundation set, we built a realm
With algebra to set upon the helm.

— ptkh 06.12.18

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