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Math talk: mathematical ideas in poems for two voices by Theoni Pappas

Gail Z.’s review for the 510 Club | September 2025

 

"We like to think
	of ourselves as perfectly
	round
Not egg shaped
	nor elliptical"

(from "Circles")

 

As a poet interested in maths, this book grabbed my attention. And it is not just poems on some mathematical concepts, it’s poems in two voices. This is worth remembering as you read this book as the poems do really work better read aloud with someone. On the page, they might seem repetitive in sound and form over the length of this very slim volume of 75 pages, with each poem in fairly large print and every alternate page illustrated. But finding a friend and reading the poems aloud, there’s a magic to them as the voices work singly and in unison to create a special synergy between maths and poetry.

The author writes that ‘learning takes place via our senses’ and: ‘Mathematical ideas can be learned through art, reading, conversations, lectures. Therefore, why not link mathematical ideas and poetic dialogues.’ Given Aotearoa New Zealand’s track record in encouraging children to learn and be inspired by mathematics, I couldn’t agree more! This book would make a great companion for a maths teacher to introduce conceptual maths (rather than education’s heavy reliance on methodology). Poetry, like song, is memorable when read aloud and with someone, and I could see younger children as well as adults enjoying what a googol, a tesselation or a radical number is. Each poem takes a concept like ‘zero’ or ‘triangle’ and defines it in a playful way. The illustrations by the author in black and white also add life to the meaning. 

The author is committed to ‘demystifying mathematics and helping eliminate the elitism and fear often associated with it’. The same, of course, could be said of poetry. This book takes the first step in tackling this demystification. As a poet, I was pretty chuffed to learn a few more maths terms myself. However, it would also be great to see another book that takes the links between poetry and maths beyond the definitions, to use poems beyond the dialogue form in order to illustrate further what maths can do (and does) in a language context.

 

 

WHAT IS THE 510 CLUB?

The 510 Club is named after the Dewey Decimal classification for Mathematics. It is a book recommendation project facilitated by Mathateca in collaboration with Christchurch MathsJam. Each month we feature a mathematical book recommendation, whether that’s a novel, articles / essays, a puzzle book, textbook, biography... just as long as it features maths in some way. Read the above book at your leisure then feel free to comment your thoughts below, or come along to the following Christchurch MathsJam sessions to join in an informal maths/book chat with the reviewer.

We're always looking for suggestions! If you're interested in contributing a book rec one month, please email christchurch@mathsjam.com to sign up.