Did you know that April was Math Awareness month? So we at GCP are turning our thoughts to mathematics. We pay tribute to Benjamin Banneker, present some math quotes, and, as April is still Poetry Month as well, present a math based Langston Hughes poem. Enjoy.
Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806) was a largely self-educated mathematician, astronomer, compiler of almanacs, inventor and writer. He was born on November 9, 1731, in Ellicott’s Mills, Maryland. A free black who owned a farm near Baltimore, Banneker was largely self-educated in astronomy by watching the stars and in mathematics by reading borrowed textbooks. He constructed a wooden clock in his early twenties, despite having seen only one other timepiece in his life. His knowledge of astronomy helped him author a commercially successful series of almanacs. He corresponded with Thomas Jefferson on the topics of slavery and racial equality. He firmly believed, and was quoted as saying, “The colour of the skin is in no way connected with strength of the mind or intellectual powers.”
“Some mathematician, I believe, has said that true pleasure lies not in the discovery of truth, but in the search for it.” Tolstoy
“Perfect numbers like perfect men are very rare.” Rene Descartes
“Mathematics is like love, a simple idea, but it can get complicated.” Anonymous
“Do not worry too much about your difficulties in mathematics, I can assure you that mine are still greater.”–Albert Einstein
“Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.” Albert Einstein
“Truth is ever to be found in the simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things.” Issac Newton
“A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.” Albert Einstein
2 and 2 are 4.
4 and 4 are 8.
But what would happen
If the last 4 was late?
And how would it be
If one 2 was me?
Or if the first 4 was you
Divided by 2?