One recent fall semester at Moses Brown, math teacher Jeffery Cruzan launched a math haiku contest. The rules were simple: Express your like, love, fear or loathing of math in a haiku.
A haiku is a three-line, free-verse poem with 5 moras (syllables) in the first and last lines, and seven in the second: 5 – 7 – 5 (Note: These are prime numbers).
Haiku
Five in the first line
Seven in the second line
Five in the last line
Here are some samples:
A nice slice of pi
Sharing it with you would be
So irrational
–Jeff Cruzan
Kindergarten math
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7
uh oh I missed one
–Jeff Cruzan and Ellis Seul, age 5
When you’re five years old
Math can seem impossible
It gets easier
–Jeff Cruzan
Gravity Surfing 