Fibs - Fibonacci-based Poetry

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Fibs - Fibonacci-based Poetry

Posted by ryuzaki0 on Thursday April 6, 2006 @07:17PM from the nerdy-haiku dept.

Gregory K. writes "April is National Poetry Month (and, it turns out, Math Awareness Month), and on my blog, I decided to get people writing poetry based on the Fibonacci sequence. The poems are six lines, 20 syllables long with the syllable pattern 1/1/2/3/5/8, though they can go longer, obviously. I've been calling 'em Fibs, and people have been writing them on pop culture, politics, math, and more."

23 of 276 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

First Post! by afaik_ianal · 2006-04-06 19:18 · Score: 5, Funny

First
Post!
I bet
nobody
can beat me to it
with a Fibonacci poem!
1. Re:First Post! by abscissa · 2006-04-06 19:22 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Some
  troll
  you are.
  First posting
  is such a bad thing
  But, I will say, yours was funny.
2. Re:First Post! by afaik_ianal · 2006-04-06 19:26 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  I
  hope
  the mods
  can have fun,
  or I'll get modded
  as a troll for my "first post" gag
Too Cool Even for Geeks! by under_score · 2006-04-06 19:33 · Score: 5, Interesting

Some of the Fibs in the comments are astounding. So what about Prime's
A short Poem with Prime syllables is Just as beautiful as the Fib. But don't hold your breath for more in this one!
... or pi's
I eat pie . Please... Blueberry Pie... It's my favorite.

--
Helping with organizational effectiveness is our job.
1. Re:Too Cool Even for Geeks! by stymyx · 2006-04-06 20:12 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  That would be great, if PI were 3.1315...
Re:nice! by archeopterix · 2006-04-06 19:35 · Score: 5, Insightful

Yeah.
Right.
Breaking
A sentence
Into syllables
Does not a poem make - how pointless
Obligatory... by Perdo · 2006-04-06 19:39 · Score: 5, Funny

aich
tee
tee pee
colon slash slash
slash dot dot org poem

I
Wait
For The
Beowulf Hot
Natalie Grits Goatse
Signal Eleven Penis Bird

--
If voting were effective, it would be illegal by now.
Poem by neoshroom · 2006-04-06 19:45 · Score: 5, Funny

Math,
Makes,
My head,
Quake with pain.
Writing a poem based
On Fibonacci does the same.

--
Big apple, new Yorik, undig it, something's unrotting in Edenmark.
1. Re:Poem by Anonymous Coward · 2006-04-07 00:14 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Is it just me, or are all these fibs a little Shatneresque?
Damn by abscissa · 2006-04-06 19:50 · Score: 5, Funny

Damn!
This
Will be
Tough for the
Mods, if they count all
the syllables in every post!
Fibonacci by Zog+The+Undeniable · 2006-04-06 19:57 · Score: 5, Informative

Did
You
Know That
The Sequence
Originally
Described The Humping Of Rabbits?

--
When I am king, you will be first against the wall.
Re:Mandatory (with HTML this time) by rewinn · 2006-04-06 19:59 · Score: 5, Funny

Well
I
For One
Will Welcome
(It's Mandatory)
Our Fibonacci Overlords!

--
--- Attorneys Assisting Citizen-Soldiers & Families -
Re:Seen elsewhere... by CRCulver · 2006-04-06 19:59 · Score: 4, Informative

Tool is rather late on the bandwagon. The composer Sofia Gubaidulina made wide use of the Fibbonaci sequence in the 1980s, happy to find a way of systemization that still allowed the form to "breathe". Her 1986 symphony "Stimmen... Verstummen..." is a notable example: the length of its movements grow ever shorter according to the sequence. In the 9th movement is a conductor's "solo", where he motions before a silent orchestra, the distance between his hands growing ever larger according to the sequence. In the 1990s she began using the Lucas and Evanglist series as well, whose aesthetic imperfection alongside the divine harmony of the Fibonacci sequence makes tantalizing listening. See V. Tsenova's thesis Zahlenmystik in der Music von Sofia Gubaidulina for a musicological analysis.
That's only one example. Per Norgard may be mentioned as well, his third symphony abounds in Golden Section references. And, as others is well known, Bartok used the sequence heavily in his work.
Re:Tool- Lateralus already does this. by CRCulver · 2006-04-06 20:02 · Score: 4, Informative

If you are going to laugh at the article just because some rock band did something similar six years ago, then by your own standards Tool would have to be a laughingstock as well. Composers of art music have been using the Fibonacci sequence for decades. Bartok back in the 1930s and 1940s, Iannis Xenakis in the 1950s, Per Norgard in the 1970s, Sofia Gubaidulina in the 1980s. What took Tool so long?
Re:nice! by illuminatedwax · 2006-04-06 20:22 · Score: 4, Insightful

If
you
restrict
your options,
you may be surprised.
You might become more creative.

--
Did you ever notice that *nix doesn't even cover Linux?
Cutting it off at the pass by BinaryOpty · 2006-04-06 21:12 · Score: 5, Informative

Before anyone else does a "OMG Tool did it first!!" and then someone responds to them with "No, [insert older reference here] did it first!", the blog author acknowledges this in his post (linked to in the first, longer link). I quote:
and, as much as I'd like to say I invented a new form of poetry, these sequences have been part of various poetic structures since before Fibonacci's time.
As such, now anyone who brings up the Tool/etc thing in such a way that they're implying the blog author is claiming credit for inventing this can be marked a troll.
Palindrome version by Chapter80 · 2006-04-06 23:19 · Score: 5, Insightful

Palindrome version. (It's early, best I could do...)

God,
all!
It's fib,
version A.
Edit idea...
No! Is rev B, if still a dog.
Must... stop... fibbing by mrogers · 2006-04-06 23:28 · Score: 4, Funny

Unfortunately no matter what the subject matter, the poems sound like they're being spoken by a superhero through gritted teeth.
Must...
stop...
fibbing!
Got to get...
back to my haikus!
So many syllables... wasted!
For You Tool Fans by ras_b · 2006-04-07 01:09 · Score: 4, Interesting

I copied the following directly from this website which has an interesting analysis of tool's lateralus album.
There's a Fibonacci in Maynard's lyrics, specifically the syllables:

black [1]
then [1]
white are [2]
all I see [3]
in my infancy [5]
red and yellow then came to be [8]
reaching out to me [5]
lets me see [3]
there is [2]
so [1]
much [1]
more and [2]
beckons me [3]
to look through to these [5]
infinite possibilities [8]
as below so above and beyond I imagine [13]
drawn outside the lines of reason [8]
push the envelope [5]
watch it bend [3]

I suppose it's not actually a true Fibonacci, since it does reverse itself.
Conformity by Limbo+Socrates · 2006-04-07 01:09 · Score: 4, Funny

Ugh.
Rules.
Structure.
Makes me wince.
Perhaps I should try...
Running around naked with my hair on fire screaming, "ANARCHY! ANARCHY! Take that Fibonacci, you wiper of other peoples bottoms! go away and I shall taunt you no more!"
Surprised no one came up with this: by Chapter80 · 2006-04-07 01:12 · Score: 5, Interesting

Here's a Python program written in a fib...

try:
....foo
except:
....print "Display"
....print "Fibonacci"
....count = prevcount = 1
....while prevcount <= 7000:
........print prevcount ; count, prevcount = count + prevcount, count
The way *I* read the program (pronouncing each special character except for the quotes and colons), it's a fib. AND it does something useful. It displays the first twenty Fibonacci numbers!
Pronounced:
(1) try
(1) foo
(2) ex cept
(3) print dis play
(5) print fib on ac ci
(8) count e quals prev count e quals one
(13) while prev count less than or e qual to sev en thou sand
(21) print prev count sem i col on count com ma prev count e quals count plus prev count com ma count
Now that's *real* nerdy. Geeks should be proud.
Another try... by Chapter80 · 2006-04-07 01:32 · Score: 5, Funny

OK, now I am addicted.

One.
One.
Then Two.
Three is next.
Five, of course, comes next.
Then Eight. It's getting hard to do.
Next is 1D. We're counting in Hex - this is slashdot!
Gotta love the surprise ending!
Re:Oh no... by vandon · 2006-04-07 03:46 · Score: 5, Funny

We
Get
Signal
All your base
Are belong to us
Somebody set up us the bomb.