Mental Logic: Two Poems

My submission is comprised of two poems that aim to intertwine mathematical themes with that of creative struggle, a working title for this pairing being “Mental Logic”. The first poem, ‘-ematics’ is a literary work created in the midst of mathematical problem solving. Being an avid writer and a mathematics enthusiast, the theme of this poem struck me while completing the University of Rochester Mathematics Olympiad. There seems to be a belief that literary creativity and mathematics cannot compliment one another, but throughout solving a probability problem on this Olympiad proved to be the ultimate moment of inspiration. This poem couples together the ideas of mathematical innovation and emotional exploration. By coupling these themes together, I aim to challenge readers to analyze their lives through a mathematical lens to gain a new and better understanding of the patterns in life. ‘Finite speculation’ is an additional literary work inspired by the logic formulations of proofs. This poem was formed under the belief that all elements in life are comprised of logic or the lack thereof. Using themes of discrete mathematics as a guide, I comprised this analysis of mental illness. Using these themes and by the fact it was inspired by proofs, I felt that this poem should also take the form of a proof. This proof aims to prove the statement that there exists some subset of individuals within the world that are not ignorant to the implications of mental illness on an individual’s life. This pairing of poems, using different styles in reflections of different elements of math, have the same central goal: to create an analysis of emotional well being through the lens of mathematics and logic