“What, after all, is mathematics but the poetry of the mind, and what is poetry but the mathematics of the heart?” So wrote the American mathematician and educator David Eugene Smith. In a similar vein, the German mathematician Karl Weierstrass declared, “A mathematician who is not at the same time something of a poet will never be a full mathematician.” Most mathematicians will know what they meant. But what do professional poets think of mathematics?
In this delightful collection, the editors present the view of the same terrain - the connections between mathematics and poetry—from the other side of the equation: the poets. Now is your chance to see if the equation balances.
—Keith Devlin, mathematician, Stanford University, author of The Math Gene, The Math Instinct, and The Language of Mathematics
Charles Ashbacher, Journal of Recreational Mathematics

April 2010

“As the song states, ”Love is a many-splendored thing.“ In this book mathematics is splendored in many ways that demonstrate the breadth and depth of interest and joy that it presents to those who love it. ”
—Charles Ashbacher