Intervals of Significance
We are waiting at Delta Airlines.
My husband says his work project
has reached its delta.
He tells me the capital letter Δ
means an interval of significance
that can be used to calculate area,
and its smaller brother δ
refers to an infinitesimal interval,
sometimes diminishing to its end
sometimes constant,
depending on the function described.
On the brink of this journey,
I wonder how the Δ of my life
will be measured.
When people ask what I do,
my answer is a series of
δ
s:
I tell them I teach the formula
for the area of a square: s2;
for a rectangle: lw;
for a triangle: ½ bh;
for a circle: πr2;
for a sphere, a rhombus, a parallelogram;
and for a prism or a pyramid,
areas lateral and surface.
I can describe my life as δn,
and in this math
there is a Δ at the end,
or a null set.
Both answers are correct.
Elaine Mintzer
Elaine Mintzer found the secret of Geometry was stating
what you see, a skill she had developed writing poems. Her
email address is 1emintzer@gmail.com,
and her website is www.mintzer.org.
