Hibr

Poetry & Mathematics

“Three sevenths of the heart for a look from her eyes.  

A Seventh is offered for both her rosy cheeks.  

A Seventh and one half of a seventh, and the quarters for the refusal of my unsatisfied desire.  

A Seventh and sixth of a quarter for her well-circled breasts,  

For the Sinn of my arming, has denied me and repulsed.  

The rest, which is five parts, is for her words  

That would calm my thirst, if they were heard.”

    These verses were not written by a guy on the street trying to impress a beautiful woman walking past, but by the well known mathematician, Ibn al Banna, from Marrakesh in about 1200 A.D.

    In mathematics there is a simple equation, which goes as follows: (3/7 + 1/7 + (1 + 1/2 + 1/4)1/7 + 1/7 + 1/ (6×4)1/7)X + 5 = X, which gives X=168.

    The first question one could ask is whether mathematics is regularly presented in poems by Arabs, or is it just a coincidence to find such a text?

    Actually, this was not the only text found from that era that presented mathematical puzzles in a poetic style: the Arabs before Islam were known for their cleverness in poems and what is called ‘souk okaz’, where competitions took place between the best poets at that time.

    In any event, it is clear that poetry was part of the Arab personality and character, and influenced another scientific area of study that the Arabs practiced during their glory years:  

“A square that has its surface in the diagonal  

To measure the best have been exhausted.  

Two of his sides are as long as two radicals from the diagonal  

At the moment of measurement. How do you explain that?”

    The solution for this puzzle would be square side = √2 and the diagonal = 2.

    This art of learning surely has its amusing side. Just think how much time you need to memorize an idea written out in a usual text in any language, and how much time you could save when it is presented in a lyrical, rhyming way.

    To finish, don't let us forget Omar al-Khayyam, the mathematician who we know through the famous rubaiyat. Let us be inspired by him, and sing the great anthem of 'Imaginary numbers': 

“Imaginary numbers.

What strange mathematic wonders, 

Condemned at first as outlaws,

They could not steal your thunder. 

They solved algebraic equations

That had long been occasions

For mathematicians’ squabbles

And magic incantations. 

They proved a great solution

In the numbers revolution,

And earned their rightful presence

In this short contribution. 

They might well be neglected,

They are imaginary and rejected,

But they work like other numbers

And deserve to be respected.