Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Math carols

In this week's blogpost, I share the intersection between John the Math Guy, music parodies, Christmas, and silly stuff from high school. By popular demand, and just in time for Christmas math caroling of your own, I present the complete collection of John the Math Guy's Math Carols. At least as complete as I can remember from 1974.

Pi to the World (sung to the tune of  "Joy to the World")

Pi to the world,
twenty two over (eight minus one),
Irrational though it be.
Let every round thing
now fit the expounding
with each and every degree,
with each and every degree,
with each, with each, and every degree.

Arcs the Mighty Compasses Bring (sung to the tune of  "Hark the Herald Angels Sing")

Arcs the mighty compasses bring,
constructed with a steady swing.
Geese are worth not twenty Yen,
Shucks! I've torn my diagram of Venn.
A triangle within a semicircle lies.
Incongruent triangles are not the same size.
But, congruent ones are the same.
Geometry drives one insane.
But, congruent ones are the same.
Geometry drives one insane.

We Wish You a Semicircle (sung to the tune of  "We Wish You a Merry Christmas")

We wish you a semicircle,
we wish you a semicircle,
we wish you a semicircle,
and a parallelogram.

We wish you an acute trapezoid,
we wish you an acute trapezoid,
we wish you an acute trapezoid,
and a doggie named Sam.

Constructions we make of geometric figures,
constructions of figures,
and a doggie named Sam.

There's No Place Like Rhombus the Holidays (sung to the tune "There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays")

Oh, there's no place like Rhom.... bus us there today,
cuz division by zero's undefined.
If you set out to graph this maladay,
You will find it's mis-inclined.

Oh Sum, All Ye Mathful (sung to the tune of  "Oh Come, All Ye Faithful")

Oh sum, all ye mathful,
corresponding pupil.
Oh sum ye, oh sum ye to find the total.
Desist your secant,
Archimedes' streak can't
Move the Earth,
Eureka, move the Earth,
A streakah move the Earth,
No can't move disjoint.

Go work Ye Merry Protractors (sung to the tune of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen")

Go work ye merry protractors
make straight lines here today.
Remember every angles not made of just one ray.
Euler was a greaser,
but that's not what textbooks say.
Oh, tangents of circles and spheres,
circles and spheres.
Oh, tangents of circles and spheres.






2 comments:

  1. These are great. Just as good as I remembered them being when our choir sang them to the math and science classes in high school. " Euler was a greaser, but that's not what textbooks say" ... cant get much more more creative than that!

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  2. Thanks Gary. Penning "Euler was a greaser" was one one of my crowning achievements. A proud hour in the history of math carols.

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