Real Mathematics

 

 

One and one is two

And two and two is six,

If you were my teacher

I’d be getting “licks”,

 

But yet you can read

That is what you’d say

And particularly so

Especially in this day.

 

I was a teacher too

And still in my right mind

But now I’m getting old

This happens all the time.

 

I am assuming

You understand English

So that what is in verse one

Is not simply my wish.

 

Hence we’ll move on a little

In our Mathematics

And hopefully as you read

I’ll get you out this fix.

 

No doubt you are thinking

I am kind of mixed up,

I am old but not that old

So you are out of luck.

 

 

One and two is three

And three and three is nine,

If you add correctly

It will be right each time.

 

No I am not mad

And neither am I blind

And neither is new mathematics

Messing with my mind.

 

If verses one and seven

Were taken just as written

I assure you my friend

You’d see your problem.

 

Take lines one and two

Of verses one and seven,

Write them down in figures

And easily do the problem.

 

 

One from two leaves two

And five from six leaves six,

Depending on what you mean

This could be a fix.

 

If it were a case of eating

That might work out well

But in another case

It may be difficult to sell.

 

The items may be around

But in a different form,

Five dead sheep and one alive

Six is still that norm.

 

Remove the dead sheep

And the answer would be one

But if the opposite were true

Not a sheep would be gone.

 

 

I hope you are not confused

Or even experiencing strife,

This is real mathematics

And you have to factor in life.

 

They tell me I am mad

And my thing is so weird

But if you still don’t understand

Your thinking is impaired.

 

Stewart Russell © November 2018