It began as the GODFATHER OF MATH, evolved into the GOODFATHER OF MATH. Now this. Go figure...

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The kind of humor I like is the thing that makes me laugh for five seconds and think for ten minutes = G. CARLIN...Stain glass, engraved glass, frosted glass
–give me plain glass = JOHN FOWLES ... Music is the mathematics of the gods=PYTHAGORAS ... Nothing is more fluid than language = R. L. SWIHART
I cannot live without the oxygen of laughter = DAWN POWELL ... !!! ... But laughter cannot survive without the hydrogen of gravitas = PAUL OLIVERIO
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Saturday, January 23, 2021

The Difference Between Letters Of The Alphabet ... And Numbers

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There are useless letters
and letters which could be
dispensed with

What separate functions do 
d and t perform?
 They have almost the same sound
 The same goes for b and p
...
They are calligraphic folderol
 
Look at the digits:
there are no two which serve
the same function: 
 4 is 4 and 7 is 7
 
And consider the beauty
with which the 4 and the 7 form 
this thing which is represented by 11
Now double and you have 22
Multiply it by itself. It makes 484,
and so on
 
But where the perfection is greatest
is in the use of zero
The value of zero is, in itself, nothing
But what is the function 
of this negative symbol?
To augment
 
A 5 alone is a 5
Place 00 with it, it is 500
 
Thus, that which has no value 
makes great value  
 something which doubled letters don't do,
for I approve as much 
with one p as with two p's
 
***
 
Dom Casmurro 

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4 comments:

  1. I think Machado de Assis
    is a direct descendent of your Godfather:
    Lewis Carroll

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aren't we all?
      But Machado de Assis
      is a duplication of
      the author of Alice in Wonderland
      who landed on a continent
      south of the equator.

      Machado de Assis is only seven years
      younger than Lewis Carroll

      Delete
    2. Maybe Machado is the missing brother
      of the Carroll [nee Dodgson family
      who had to escape the strictures
      of life in England.

      Delete
    3. Maybe we need to let
      everyone else know this.

      Delete