Math Poem

Writing a poem about math can be beneficial to students, especially if they are creative and enjoy writing poetry.  It can make them see math in a different light and is generally a new way of looking at abstract ideas.  However, for students who don't enjoy writing poetry (I would say >50% of students fall into this category) it can further alienate them from math - the opposite of the desired effect.  Also for my own classes I need to take into account my own interests and strengths, neither of which is poetry.  Unfortunately my attitude toward poetry is beyond simple apathy - I actively dislike poetry.  If I were to assign this in a classroom I don't know if I could mask my distaste for the assignment I am giving, and when it comes to questions or marking I would be lost and disinterested.  I like the idea of connecting math to other areas, but I would pick something I have more personal interest in so that I can at least model interest in the assignments I am giving out.



Free Writing:
Divide up: labour, pie, cells, money
Dividing is dividing things into parts, but the parts don't have to be even.  In math dividing is more about dividing evenly so it becomes how much of the numerator would denominator number of people get if it were split exactly evenly amongst the people.  Dividing is getting things smaller, breaking up things into parts.
Zero is: nothing, void, not a number, abstract
Zero is the twin of infinity, 1/infinity=0, 1/0=infinity.  The two numbers are the same abstract concept but zero seems like more of a number.  Infinity is abstract but so is 0.  Zero is not a practical number and only came into existence when mathematicians needed it. A farmer would not need 0 ever, they would simply say they have "nothing" or "no number".  Many mathematical laws break down at zero, just like they would break down at infinity if infinity were actually a number.

Poem:

Divide into parts,

Equal or not,

No longer a whole,

No longer untouched.

Zero and infinity,

Two parts of one.

Divide into zero,

Untouched or not?