There once was a man from…
Yeah, I’m not gonna finish that one. However there is a new database of limericks courtesy of Randall Munroe of xkcd.
My trusty student aide perused the database and found a bunch of the mathy-sciency ones. If you don’t feel like combing through yourself (or don’t have the aide to beat all aides), you can find them on my del.icio.us account.
At Andy’s suggestion, we’ll be reading #106 at the conclusion of the Pendulum unit.
If a pendulum’s swinging quite free
Then it’s always a marvel to me
That each tick plus each tock
Of the grandfather clock
Is 2 pi root L over g.
Then it’s always a marvel to me
That each tick plus each tock
Of the grandfather clock
Is 2 pi root L over g.
Hmm… it just occurred to me that talking about limericks with high school freshmen might not be such a good idea.
And a new math-y one just showed up: #337.
Comment by Andy — February 11, 2008 @ 2:58 pm
It’s tagged. Thanks Andy!
Comment by Jackie — February 11, 2008 @ 5:26 pm
I had no idea that he ran a blag, too. I am afraid of how much time….
Comment by jd2718 — February 16, 2008 @ 10:49 am
Well, I just found out about the forum discussions for the comic. Just in case you had some extra time to spare…
Comment by Jackie — February 18, 2008 @ 4:02 pm
The blag doesn’t take too much time, at least not on a regular basis. As for the forums, just stay away.
Comment by Sarah — February 18, 2008 @ 10:10 pm
Yeah, the forums. Lost an hour in there last Sunday. Luckily I found my way out.
Comment by Jackie — February 20, 2008 @ 9:13 am
[...] 01 - There is a wonderful, illustrated treatment of math and visual art at MathTrek (Julie Rehnmeyer). Read if you like that sort of math, but even if you don’t, just go and look. You won’t be disappointed. 01 - Used and abused, infinity and eternity, philosophy and mathematics, and popular culture. Alexandre Borovik supplies a special-for-the-carnival version of a post on the culture of kitsch. 01 - Math and music? We know the relationships, right? Well, how about using math to clean up a primitive recording? MathTrek tells how a good algorithm helped win a Grammy (for Woody Guthrie). 01 - Kaz of Mathematical Poetry asks Is Pure Math is Poetry? - continuing a discussion from the last carnival. 01 - And for, ahem, a different kind of poetry, Jackie’s got a link to a mathematical limerick collection. [...]
Pingback by Carnival of Mathematics 1000 « JD2718 — February 22, 2008 @ 6:56 pm
A very belated Thank You for posting this! I used some of the limericks on the cover pages of exams this semester, and ended up passing along the link to those who were particularly happy to read math limericks.
Comment by Ξ — May 15, 2008 @ 7:29 am
Ξ Glad to hear there are others who enjoy reading math limericks! I love the idea of using these on the cover page of the final exam. Thanks!
Comment by Jackie — May 15, 2008 @ 3:56 pm