Enjoy this poem by Eka, longtime Fearless Ideas student and published author, who is going into sixth grade this year!
Math
I see math in the cheesecake that just came out of the oven.
I see math in the hexagonal weave of a snowflake.
I see math in the tempo of a song.
I see math in the curve of a dancer’s leg.
I see math in my dog’s powerful strides.
I see math in the intricacy of a spider’s web.
What I’m trying to say here is that math is an all-consuming subject, which has spread across every aspect of a human’s life. It is all-pervading, and if you look hard enough, math will show itself in the most beautiful ways imaginable. Math is a complex beast, one with thoughts and questions and dreams and desires. Math is there for you, and it is a shoulder you can lean on when the world seems to have gone to chaos. Math is an ally, a neutral force, and a rule to be broken, and it is but a guideline and a lens through which we view the world. Giving names to phenomena and cataloguing it in our minds is a constant of the human nature, and math is one of the greatest things that has come out of it. I am speaking as such because math has changed my view of the world and how I live in it as but a citizen of this grand, glorious Earth. Before I was changed as such, I was ignorant of the intricacies of math and its ever-changing self. I viewed it as an enemy and a stifling force thrown over my creativity, determined only to stop all forms of artistic self-expression. But math in itself is a form of art, a multilayered dance of rhyme and reason. It is the path forward, and a road to the future, and as such, I am changed for the better because of it. It is the product of art and science, and amplifies all that touch it, and helps them ascend to a higher plane of understanding, an inner sense of the world and its mysterious workings. We will never truly understand the dance of Mother Nature, but math and its fellow subjects are certainly helping us go further and further every day. If the people of the world can open their eyes and see that math is powering our civilization, then the world will change. But the system needs to be changed first, and that can only be done if we open our minds and our hearts and embrace the different with a sense of wonder and a willingness to try.
Created, Edited and Posted by Leone, Fearless Ideas Summer Intern
This is really great and as a literature and words person myself I had never thought about math as an art, but it's a great way to think about it and I wish someone had talked about it like that when I was younger!
How wonderful to get to appreciate the magic of math entirely through the power of words. A reminder that those who think art and science are at odds should probably learn more about both!