Day of Mathematics
06/05/14 05:29
I’m not too good with languages. I studied Latin in high school, French in college and Hebrew in seminary. I took a single class in Greek and can sometimes decode that language with the proper lexicon at my side. I have been through an elementary Spanish course in an audio format and my travels in Costa Rica have given me a bit more of that language. I have taken some lessons in Lakota, but not enough to know more than a few individual words. I would not judge myself to be fluent in any language except English and regular readers of this blog will know that even that language is a challenge for me at times.
I do, however, read a lot and because I read the news from other countries, I get a smattering of foreign language words from the things I read.
I’m no expert in languages, but I’m pretty sure that Ali Iezid Izz-Edim Ibn Salim Hank Maiba Tahan is not a traditional Portuguese name. Even in tis shortened form Maiba Tahan doesn’t have the lilt of the official language of Brazil.
In the headlines of most newspapers Brazil is most noted for sports these days. There are numerous articles about Brazil hosting the 2014 FIFA World Cup for fans of Soccer and Brazil will host the 2016 Summer Olympics. If you press folks for what they know about Brazil they might remark about Rio de Janeiro’s Christ the Redeemer statue. They might speak of Samba and parties and the reputation of the country as a place to go on vacation.
I’m not sure how many people realize that today, May 6, is the National Day of Mathematics in Brazil - a holiday that begins with a story set in 13th Century Persia: “"In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, The Most Merciful! I was on the Baghdad road, returning at my camel's slow pace from an excursion to the famous city of Samarra, on the banks of the Tigris, when I saw a modestly dressed traveller, sitting on a rock, who looked like he was recuperating from a voyage.”
The traveller is Beremiz Samir - a Persian mathematician - who joins the narrator on a journey that involves dozens of episodes in which he solves problems using his skill with numbers. Thus begins the second book by Maiba Tahan. The first, published in 1925, was written in Arbic and translated into Portuguese for the Brazilian market. The book was a huge success and was followed up in 1932 by one of the most successful books ever published in Brazil: “O Homem que Calculava” (The Man Who Counted).
The rest, as we say, is history. The tales of the travels of Persian mathematician Beremiz Samir are to the Portuguese like One Thousand and One Nights (known also as the Arabian Nights) are to readers of English. The somewhat exotic tales of adventures with viziers and camels, sheiks and princes and kings and traveling Bedouins captured the imaginations of Brazilians.
In one tale the mathematician impresses a Vizier with an unusual way of counting camels - he counts the number of hooves and ears, then divides by six. The camels are to be a gift for the father of the Vizieer’s 16-year-old wife-to-be. The mathematician notices that one camel is missing one ear and suggests that the camel be culled from the herd. That would leave a herd of 256 animals, a far better gift, noted the mathematician. 257 is a prime number whereas 256 is the square of 16 - the square of the age of the beloved - a mathematical perfection as a gift to the father.
In another tale, he solves “magic boxes” prepared by a calligrapher. We would recognize the magic boxes as Sudoko puzzles requiring simple arithmetic to solve.
The stories made Maiba Tahan famous in Brazil. There was just one problem. Maiba Tahan never existed. The books had never been written in Arabic and translated. They had been written in Portuguese in the first place by a Rio de Janeiro math teacher named Julio Cesar de Melio e Souza, who never set foot in the Middle East. The book was, in a sense, a literary hoax. Only the publisher knew the identity of the author for years and by then his books were so popular that it didn’t make any difference.
He went on to write more than 100 books that sold more than a million copies. Most of his books had an arithmetic or mathematical theme and most were set in Islamic Middle East, though he also wrote stories about rabbis, Greeks, Chinese and Babylonians. The Man Who Counted is the most famous and was translated (for real this time) into Spanish, English, and German. The book is still in print and available worldwide.
Melio e Souza died in 1974. He was called the “Brazilian of Arabia” and the “Pele of numbers.” He never became a fan of soccer, or football as it is known in Brazil. He found it “a bit boring.” Maths, islam and collecting ceramic toy frogs were his passion.
And now his birthday, May 6, is the National Day of Mathematics in Brazil. It is an annual celebration of mathematics and those who teach math to students. It seems an appropriate honor for the man who arguably became the most successful math teacher of his generation. By using a pseudonym and tales of an exotic foreign land he inspired countless people to solve mathematical puzzels.
His greatest asset, however, wasn’t his ability to solve mathematical problems and to craft ingenious mathematical games and puzzles. His greatest asset was his imagination. A man who can write eloquently about a place he has never visited deserves to be remembered long beyond the span of his life. He didn’t travel much. He left Brazil only twice, once to visit Portugal and another time to visit Argentina.
His imagination took him much farther than his physical travels. And his imagination continues to carry us beyond the confines of our own geography.
Happy Day of Mathematics. If you aren’t in Brazil, use your imagination!
I do, however, read a lot and because I read the news from other countries, I get a smattering of foreign language words from the things I read.
I’m no expert in languages, but I’m pretty sure that Ali Iezid Izz-Edim Ibn Salim Hank Maiba Tahan is not a traditional Portuguese name. Even in tis shortened form Maiba Tahan doesn’t have the lilt of the official language of Brazil.
In the headlines of most newspapers Brazil is most noted for sports these days. There are numerous articles about Brazil hosting the 2014 FIFA World Cup for fans of Soccer and Brazil will host the 2016 Summer Olympics. If you press folks for what they know about Brazil they might remark about Rio de Janeiro’s Christ the Redeemer statue. They might speak of Samba and parties and the reputation of the country as a place to go on vacation.
I’m not sure how many people realize that today, May 6, is the National Day of Mathematics in Brazil - a holiday that begins with a story set in 13th Century Persia: “"In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, The Most Merciful! I was on the Baghdad road, returning at my camel's slow pace from an excursion to the famous city of Samarra, on the banks of the Tigris, when I saw a modestly dressed traveller, sitting on a rock, who looked like he was recuperating from a voyage.”
The traveller is Beremiz Samir - a Persian mathematician - who joins the narrator on a journey that involves dozens of episodes in which he solves problems using his skill with numbers. Thus begins the second book by Maiba Tahan. The first, published in 1925, was written in Arbic and translated into Portuguese for the Brazilian market. The book was a huge success and was followed up in 1932 by one of the most successful books ever published in Brazil: “O Homem que Calculava” (The Man Who Counted).
The rest, as we say, is history. The tales of the travels of Persian mathematician Beremiz Samir are to the Portuguese like One Thousand and One Nights (known also as the Arabian Nights) are to readers of English. The somewhat exotic tales of adventures with viziers and camels, sheiks and princes and kings and traveling Bedouins captured the imaginations of Brazilians.
In one tale the mathematician impresses a Vizier with an unusual way of counting camels - he counts the number of hooves and ears, then divides by six. The camels are to be a gift for the father of the Vizieer’s 16-year-old wife-to-be. The mathematician notices that one camel is missing one ear and suggests that the camel be culled from the herd. That would leave a herd of 256 animals, a far better gift, noted the mathematician. 257 is a prime number whereas 256 is the square of 16 - the square of the age of the beloved - a mathematical perfection as a gift to the father.
In another tale, he solves “magic boxes” prepared by a calligrapher. We would recognize the magic boxes as Sudoko puzzles requiring simple arithmetic to solve.
The stories made Maiba Tahan famous in Brazil. There was just one problem. Maiba Tahan never existed. The books had never been written in Arabic and translated. They had been written in Portuguese in the first place by a Rio de Janeiro math teacher named Julio Cesar de Melio e Souza, who never set foot in the Middle East. The book was, in a sense, a literary hoax. Only the publisher knew the identity of the author for years and by then his books were so popular that it didn’t make any difference.
He went on to write more than 100 books that sold more than a million copies. Most of his books had an arithmetic or mathematical theme and most were set in Islamic Middle East, though he also wrote stories about rabbis, Greeks, Chinese and Babylonians. The Man Who Counted is the most famous and was translated (for real this time) into Spanish, English, and German. The book is still in print and available worldwide.
Melio e Souza died in 1974. He was called the “Brazilian of Arabia” and the “Pele of numbers.” He never became a fan of soccer, or football as it is known in Brazil. He found it “a bit boring.” Maths, islam and collecting ceramic toy frogs were his passion.
And now his birthday, May 6, is the National Day of Mathematics in Brazil. It is an annual celebration of mathematics and those who teach math to students. It seems an appropriate honor for the man who arguably became the most successful math teacher of his generation. By using a pseudonym and tales of an exotic foreign land he inspired countless people to solve mathematical puzzels.
His greatest asset, however, wasn’t his ability to solve mathematical problems and to craft ingenious mathematical games and puzzles. His greatest asset was his imagination. A man who can write eloquently about a place he has never visited deserves to be remembered long beyond the span of his life. He didn’t travel much. He left Brazil only twice, once to visit Portugal and another time to visit Argentina.
His imagination took him much farther than his physical travels. And his imagination continues to carry us beyond the confines of our own geography.
Happy Day of Mathematics. If you aren’t in Brazil, use your imagination!