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Poems: Math limericks

Science in meter and verse

Illustration of a ring of sky with bunnies jumping on it.

Masha Foya

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Infinity

I searched for the end of infinity
An activity of great affinity
I took a dry run
And kept adding one
But never quite reached the vicinity

Topology


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A Möbius strip once departed
On a trip off to places uncharted
But it made a wrong turn
Only to learn
That it ended up back where it started

Fibonacci Series

He begins with a pair of young rabbits
Who mate every month (it’s their habit!)
Two, three, five, eight, thirteen
An ongoing machine
Fibonacci exclaims, “Now I have it!”

Jeffrey Branzburg is a retired math teacher and educational technology consultant who worked with teachers and administrators on effective uses of computers and related technologies in the classroom. He was director of technology for the National Urban Alliance.

More by Jeffrey Branzburg
Scientific American Magazine Vol 334 Issue 4This article was published with the title “Math Limericks” in Scientific American Magazine Vol. 334 No. 4 (), p. 71
doi:10.1038/scientificamerican042026-7Hod62lNS85F53plfmEIlh

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