Re: [HM] Poetry and Mathematics
Michele Fanelli (michele.fanelli@icenet.it)
Wed, 15 Dec 1999 16:44:32 +0100
I would like to add a different way of looking at possible relationships
between M. and P., namely the fact that some poets quoted in their
literary works concepts or results taken either from the mathematical
world or from physics.
Having recently completed a translation into English of Dante's "Divina
Commedia" I can quote with certainty Dante (1265-1321) as having
mentioned in his verses at least the following mathematical concepts:
-that no triangle can contain two obtuse angles;
-that a right triangle fits exactly into a semicircle;
-that the sum of the angles of a triangle is equal to two right angles;
-that the ratio of the circumference to the radius cannot be found among
rational numbers;
-that in reflection of light rays the reflection and the incidence
angles are equal (this last fact is mentioned more than one time).
I cannot give on memory the location of these statements in the Divine
Comedy, but they are there. Other remarks which denote a keen
(intuitive) understanding of physics can also be found (example
concerning relative motion: when, in Hell, Dante and Virgil are taken in
downward flight through the darkness, Dante describes his sensation of
flight in these terms: "I am not conscious of movement if not for the
blowing of air on my face from forward and below").
That Dante was versed in the mathematical and physical sciences can be
ascribed to the fact that in his times mathematics and geometry formed
part of the standard curriculum of the so-called "liberal arts" together
with the more humanistic disciplines such as grammar, rhetorics, etc. No
separation of the "two cultures" existed in Dante's times!
Greetings from chilly, damp Milano
Michele Fanelli