Maths Madness written by Rithika Nadipalli (and edited by Ishita Nadipalli)

Our opinions will never be maths,

they’ll always be odd and somewhat biased.

So, let’s stop ticking them all as facts.

Let’s spot and subtract some wrong ones.

 

Let’s face it, everything else is so subjective.

There’ll always be greys and that’s fine for me.

At least maths solutions are always objective,

If not nought, it’ll be one, it’s binary.

 

People often apply thoughts to real lives,

but this view is only half-true.

Facts of life can expire like pies,

but maths stays true, for every issue.

 

Though people preach they’re always straight,

in some contexts, they may not stack up.

Some people may just not relate,

but in all pages, maths problems add up.

 

Math’s textbook formats can vary.

Their pages can be A3 or A4,

but their sayings are always stationary.

We all know that 3 plus 1 is 4.

 

In this world, everything is mutating,

I always navigate an uneven grid.

It's mixed messages feel so grating.

At least maths is as lucid as liquid.

 

It’s awesome how maths never alters,

I can accept it without any falter.

Hello everyone and I hope you enjoyed this short poem about how reliable and rigorous maths is, and how it provides some security to those confused by a world with its dynamic and diverse politics, contexts, cultures, views and messages. 

I just want to give a big thank you to my awesome sister, Ishita for editing my poem. She helped me make this poem clean, concise, coherent and more celebratory of the fascinating field of Mathematics. 

In line 11, Ishita chose to compare 'facts of life' to 'expiring pies' in line, to highlight the SIGNIFICANT PI SIGN, I overlooked in my draft calculations. Without her additions of other symbols (e.g., pie signs), my poem would have been cluttered with redundant PLUSES and MINUSES. Plus, Ishita's line 11 describing how 'facts of life can expire like pies' is tastier, funnier and more fitting than my duller and more irrelevant line 14: 'fickle facts of life flapping like bats'.

Plus, in line 14, Ishita changed my redundant 'adding' verb with 'stacking' to describe people's arguments as NOT STACKING up instead of my cliched NOT ADDING UP. 'STACK UP' also avoids repeating line 16 where I state that maths problems 'ADD UP' in every media so I am grateful for her great suggestion. 

Thank you Ishita for your ingenious inputs :) You are one of the finest editors I can ask for and this poem would not be the same without your comical ideas :). You are such an awesome writer too, and I hope you get inspired to write some of your own poems someday. I for one would love to read them.