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MATHEMATICAL LOVE STORY

Love stories abound, even in the world of Mathematics. Mathematics may not be the first thing that springs to mind when you think of romance, but it does boast its fair share of romantic dramas. Norton Juster took the time to document one such love story in “The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics“.

As in all love stories, there are well constructed characters, although these particular characters cannot claim to be multi-facetted. Meet the “him”: a boring, straight line. There is the “her”: a gorgeous dot. And then there is “the competition”: the bad-boy squiggle. Line falls for dot, but squiggle gets in the way. What is line to do when dot gets tangled up with squiggle? Mathematics holds the key, and line is determined to unlock the solution to his problem.

OLD FASHIONED LOVE MOVIE

“The Dot and the Line” was published in 1963, and turned into a short film (shown below) in 1965. Apparently, Norton Juster found inspiration in the mathematics fiction classic “Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions” (1884).

FLATLAND and EINSTEIN

“Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions” was written by an English school teacher named Dr Edwin Abbott. The story plays out in a two-dimensional world where women are simple line segments and men are the more complicated polygons. It may sound like the kind of geometry lesson that will put hairs on the chest of any women’s libber, but you won’t know for sure until you read it. “Flatland” is a lot more than mathematics in an easy-to-read, story format, yet it remains best known for how it opens up the concept of dimensions and challenges us to explore new perspectives.

Sadly, this quaint book went largely unnoticed until Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity (in which the fourth dimension of time plays a significant role) was published in 1915. Thankfully, someone mentioned this extraordinary book in the same Nature article as Einstein was mentioned (1920), and “Flatland” rose to join other mathematical works of note. I discovered “Flatland” many years ago in the basement of a university library, and hope many more students had the curiosity to pull this book from the dusty shelf after me. If you have not read “Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions“, do yourself a favor and borrow or buy a copy.

Fountains. Waterfalls. Gurgling streams. Barefoot walks on dew-wet grass. Crickets chirping at dusk. The sun setting behind distant mountains. These images and more spring to mind as I listen to the music for the “Healing Patterns: A Coloring Book for Adults” promotional video. The soothing background music you will hear in this video is a commissioned piece by composer, Eddie Lewis. Written in a borderline minimalist composition style, the piece features flute, recorder, marimba and clarinet. The music was created to match the organic style of the artwork included in the video, while also encouraging relaxation and a sense of well-being.

Eddie Lewis is an accomplished composer, having written over three hundred original works for various trumpet, brass, and jazz ensemble instrumentations. His compositions are performed world wide. Various of his pieces have been recorded by the Tom Borling BeBop Band, Texas Brass, and the Calvin Owens Blues Orchestra. A selection of Eddie’s brass compositions are available from the Tiger Music Store. Eddie is also an accomplished arranger for a variety of different music styles. His arrangements are performed by bands, orchestras, and individual musicians such as Jazz Forever, David Caceres, Maria Williams, Quail Valley Church Praise Band, Wynn Hudson, Norma Williams, Mark Towns, Carlos Puig, Fellowship of the Woodlands, and Marsha Sterling.