[petelamana (OP)]

Some years ago when my god-son was attending Virginia Tech, pursuing an undergraduate degree in mathematics, I presented him with The Collected Works of Robert Frost.  I tried to explain to him that to fully appreciate, and understand, the "muse" of mathematics he should begin with, at the very least, a familiarity of Robert Frost.  I told him that during my undergrad and graduate work in mathematics, Robert Frost occupied a spot of equal importance in my library as did my many mathematical texts.  Later he confessed to me that he never read the tome I presented him with.  I love my god-son, and while he is an excellent "technical" mathematician, he lacks an appreciation for the "art" of mathematics.  We talk, often, about various ideas and concepts, and it is clear that he has difficulty bridging to a clear grasp of the theoretical.  Is that because he didn't read Robert Frost?  No.  However, I feel that his mathematical education suffered for lack of a "classical" education.

I am curious to know what others believe. 

Incidentally, it amazes me that he was able to graduate #1 from his high-school, and then with honors from VaTech - in mathematics - and NEVER took a trigonometry class.  What is this world coming to?

[Bored chemist]

The usual reply to this sort of thing is "evidence is not the plural of anecdote", but in this case the anecdote isn't even plural.

Are you suggesting that the existence of mathematicians prior to Frost's work  constitute evidence of time travel?
Or had you just not thought it through properly?

[alancalverd]

Incidentally, it amazes me that he was able to graduate #1 from his high-school, and then with honors from VaTech - in mathematics - and NEVER took a trigonometry class.  What is this world coming to?

Not the entire world, but a nation whose president thinks 2 + 2 = 5, at least three states have determined the value of π by legislation, and more people have been shot by 5-year-olds than by terrorists. God help America.

[petelamana (OP)]

Not the entire world, but a nation whose president thinks 2 + 2 = 5, at least three states have determined the value of π by legislation, and more people have been shot by 5-year-olds than by terrorists. God help America.

Amen to that!!

[jeffreyH]

Not the entire world, but a nation whose president thinks 2 + 2 = 5, at least three states have determined the value of π by legislation, and more people have been shot by 5-year-olds than by terrorists. God help America.

Amen to that!!

Bored Chemist wrote that without touching the keys. He must be a wizard!

[petelamana (OP)]

I have no idea how that happened.  I was trying to quote alancalverd.  Sorry.

[alancalverd]

Wikipedia

Robert Lee Frost (March 26, 1874 – January 29, 1963) was an American poet. His work was initially published in England before it was published in America.

says it all, I fear.

Full marks for "The Road Not Taken", without which funerals and prizegivings would be really, really dull. Not sure about maths, but it's the key to innovation in engineering, business and warfare..

[evan_au]

I don't know about Robert Frost, but people have tried to read all sorts of mathematical things into "Alice in Wonderland" and similar works by mathematician Charles Dodgson.
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Carroll

[petelamana (OP)]

As an undergrad I studied Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.  It was required reading for completion of my degree.  Why?  Lewis Carroll was/is widely believed to have been a logician, among other things.  Any considered undergrad work in logic, or discrete math, at my university anyway, required we study some of Dodgson's work.

We also studied Abbott's Flatland, in-spite of it being more about Victorian puritanism than mathematics.

[alancalverd]

Dodgson/Carroll's less-known work "Sylvie and Bruno" is sprinkled with mathematical puzzles and he wrote some papers on symbolic logic that almost turned me off mathematics by the age of 16. "Through the Looking Glass" has more than a whiff of relativity. Nowadays his friendship with Alice Liddell would probably be regarded as suspicious if not disgraceful by those of less talent, and none of his work would be published. O tempora, o mores.

[Bored chemist]

Full marks for "The Road Not Taken", without which funerals and prizegivings would be really, really dull. Not sure about maths, but it's the key to innovation in engineering, business and warfare..

Innovations in those fields predate the poem.
Can we leave time travel out of this please?

[syhprum]

In Dodgson/Carroll's time it was perfectly respectable to have a collection of pictures of naked children that today would get you ten years in jail while masturbation was looked upon with horror while today it can be freely discussed.

[alancalverd]

May I remind you that this is a science forum?  Philosophiæ naturalis principia mathematica (Newton,I., 1687) is the key to planetary orbits and the motion of ballistic missiles. AFAIK the solar system is very old indeed, and people had been throwing rocks for half a million years before it was published. The phenomenon usually predates its explanation in science.

"Looked upon with horror" ..... like Scotland rugby? Was selfabuse really a spectator sport in Grandma's day?