Vídeo inspirado no poema de Millôr Fernandes.

Poesia Matemática

Às folhas tantas

do livro matemático

um Quociente apaixonou-se

um dia

doidamente

por uma Incógnita.

Olhou-a com seu olhar inumerável

e viu-a, do Ápice à Base,

uma figura ímpar:

olhos rombóides, boca trapezóide,

corpo octogonal, seios esferóides.

Fez da sua uma vida

paralela à dela

até que se encontraram

no infinito.

“Quem és tu?”, indagou ele

em ânsia radical.

“Sou a soma do quadrado dos catetos.

Mas pode me chamar de Hipotenusa.”

E de falarem descobriram que eram

(o que em aritmética corresponde

a almas irmãs)

primos entre si.

E assim se amaram

ao quadrado da velocidade da luz

numa sexta potenciação

traçando

ao sabor do momento

e da paixão

retas, curvas, círculos e linhas sinoidais

nos jardins da quarta dimensão.

Escandalizaram os ortodoxos das fórmulas euclidianas

e os exegetas do Universo Finito.

Romperam convenções newtonianas e pitagóricas.

E enfim resolveram se casar,

constituir um lar,

mais que um lar,

um perpendicular.

Convidaram para padrinhos

o Poliedro e a Bissetriz.

E fizeram planos, equações e diagramas para o futuro

sonhando com uma felicidade

integral e diferencial.

E se casaram e tiveram uma secante e três cones

muito engraçadinhos.

E foram felizes

até aquele dia

em que tudo vira afinal

monotonia.

Foi então que surgiu

O Máximo Divisor Comum

Freqüentador de círculos concêntricos,

viciosos.

Ofereceu-lhe, a ela,

uma grandeza absoluta

e reduziu-a a um denominador comum.

Ele, Quociente, percebeu

que com ela não formava mais um todo,

uma unidade.

Era o triângulo,

Tanto chamado amoroso.

Desse problema ela era uma fração,

a mais ordinária.

Mas foi então que Einstein descobriu a Relatividade

e tudo que era espúrio passou a ser

moralidade

como aliás em qualquer

sociedade.

Music video to “Lose Yourself (In The Digits)” (by Pi Diddy at TeachPi.org), made for Pi Day 2008 by enthusiastic math students at Fort Vancouver High School. High quality version downloadable from WWW.FORTMATH.COM

Lose Yourself (In The Digits)

Look, if you had…one shot…one opportunity…

To recite the digits of the number pi… One moment…

Would you capture it… or just let it slip?

His palms are sweaty, knees weak, head is heavy

The numbers cloud his vision already, keep it steady

He’s nervous, but on the surface he looks calm and ready

To re-cite, but it’s not quite off-settin’

That he’s froze now, and the whole crowd knows he vowed

To get it perfect, but the numbers won’t come out

He’s chokin’, how – everybody’s jokin’ now

Three point one five—woops—kablouw!

Snap back to reality, oh, it’s a malady

Oh, it’s so random, he choked

He can’t stand, but he won’t give up

That easy, no

He won’t have it, he knows – all his fans really hope

He can shatter the glob…

…al world record of Fo’…

…rty-two-thousand*, although

If-he-looks down at his notes, he knows that’s when it’s

Back to the learnin’ by rote

To feel rapture

He’d better capture those digits a little faster

You better lose yourself in the digits of pi, it’s a high

But you got a thousand more to go

The numbers do not stop

Or drop into pattern, no

And memorizin’ ‘em takes most of a lifetime

If I’m not mistaken, my memory’s wakin’

This number’s mine for the taking

Hear it ring, as I list all the, digits in order

And whole numbers are borin’, approximations just keep me snorin’,

Pi only grows longer to get more precise

A rounded-off fraction just won’t cut the ice

So twenty-two sevenths, you take my advice

If I catch you round here, you will

Pay the price, so give up this façade,

Ray-shee-os are oh so flawed

They close the door to those who like infinite

Strings of oh’s, 2s, 9s, 3’s, and 6’s, it

Shows the woes of-all-the schmoes who chose

To forgo Pi’s logic, and I

Don’t suppose those bozos applaud it

When I throw down the gauntlet, with a

“Three point one four”… I got it!

You better lose yourself in the digits of pi, it’s a high

But you got a thousand more to go

The numbers do not stop

Or drop into pattern, no

And memorizin’ ‘em takes most of a lifetime

Pi is 3.141592653589793238462643383279…

No more games, I’m-a bust right outta my cage, and

Get my Pi-recitin’ groove on, on this here stage

I was playin’ in the beginnin’, the mood all changed

I been broken up from soakin’ up this whole page

But I kept churnin’ and kept learnin’ to decipher

The rhythm of the number that makes me so hyper

All the pain and strife amplified by the

Fact that I can’t get back to my life, I’m

Whacked and I don’t exactly know why, I’m

Acting like I am attracted to Pi! So

Back to a kid jam-packed with random numbers

I think this whole process is makin’ me dumber

It still shakes me up, man, it makes me sentimental

That a number so essential is also transcendental

Caught up between bein’ in fashion and bein’ irrational

It’s passion flashin’ through my brain

Whenever I explain it

I just think pi is nice, Would you… like a slice?

I’ve gotten to the point, it’s like a vice, I’m not

Afraid of gettin’ caught, but still it hurts a lot

Success is my only mathematic option, failure’s not

Pi, I love you, but these people got to know

A million tiny circles haunt my every thought

So here I go with my shot

Brain, fail me not,

This may be the only opportunity that I got!

You better lose yourself in the digits of pi, it’s a high

But you got a thousand more to go

The numbers do not stop

Or drop into pattern, no

And memorizin’ ‘em takes most of a lifetime

Pi is… 3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510582097494459…yeeeah.

You can do anything you set your mind to, man. Even memorizin’ pi. I’m out.

* We realize that the new world record (though not yet verified) is 100,000 digits. The song was written when the record was 42,815. We stayed with the original number, because frankly, it fits the rhyme better!

“Lose Yourself (In The Digits)” lyrics are the property of TeachPi.org.