Many of us are familiar with Charles Babbage - father of the idea of programmable computers, and those who has some interest in English poetry may also know Alfred Tennyson . It is ineresting to note that they were invloved in a debate on poetry and maths. It is well known that mathematicians think in their own circle, they critically analyze everthing and need mathemtical proof for everything.
The stories goes as following....
After reading the following lines from Tennyson famous poem "The Vision of Sin",
"Every moment dies a man
every moment a man is born"
Our mathematician fellow was not impressed. He was not convinced that this is possible in real world, so he decided to write a letter to Tennyson.
Sir,
In your otherwise beautiful poem “The Vision of Sin”, there is a verse which reads,
“Every moment dies a man,
Every moment one is born.”
It must be manifest that if this were true, the population of the world would be at a standstill.
In truth, the rate of birth is slightly in excess of that of death.
I would suggest that in the next edition of your poem you have it read:
“Every moment dies a man,
Every moment 1,1/16th is born"
Strictly speaking, the actual figure is so long I cannot get it into a line, but I believe the figure 1, 1/16 will be sufficiently accurate for poetry.
I am, Sir
Yours
And as the poets are normally very sensitive about their creation, so was the case with Lord Tennyson, he replied in the following manner.
Dear Mr Babbage,
If I had sucked several thousand pounds out of the government teat, by telling them that I was building an automatic calculator, without delivering so much as a pile of rusty cogs, I would be a bit more conscious of my own foibles and a bit less ready to poke fun at the works of others. Particularly as vacuum tubes won’t be invented until 1906. So stick that in your big red engine and take the difference of it.
Your most humble and obedient servant,
Lord Tennyson.
The stories goes as following....
After reading the following lines from Tennyson famous poem "The Vision of Sin",
"Every moment dies a man
every moment a man is born"
Our mathematician fellow was not impressed. He was not convinced that this is possible in real world, so he decided to write a letter to Tennyson.
Sir,
In your otherwise beautiful poem “The Vision of Sin”, there is a verse which reads,
“Every moment dies a man,
Every moment one is born.”
It must be manifest that if this were true, the population of the world would be at a standstill.
In truth, the rate of birth is slightly in excess of that of death.
I would suggest that in the next edition of your poem you have it read:
“Every moment dies a man,
Every moment 1,1/16th is born"
Strictly speaking, the actual figure is so long I cannot get it into a line, but I believe the figure 1, 1/16 will be sufficiently accurate for poetry.
I am, Sir
Yours
And as the poets are normally very sensitive about their creation, so was the case with Lord Tennyson, he replied in the following manner.
Dear Mr Babbage,
If I had sucked several thousand pounds out of the government teat, by telling them that I was building an automatic calculator, without delivering so much as a pile of rusty cogs, I would be a bit more conscious of my own foibles and a bit less ready to poke fun at the works of others. Particularly as vacuum tubes won’t be invented until 1906. So stick that in your big red engine and take the difference of it.
Your most humble and obedient servant,
Lord Tennyson.
2 comments:
The story is good, infact, Mathematicians are always correct, because they have everything calculated and no imagination dominates their minds, but poets always are non-practical, and just speak from no where.
interesting article but what was the point behind all that
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