Relearning my love for Math
I enrolled in a five-week mathematics course at the School for Poetic Computation titled "Learning to Love Mathematics: History, Theory, Practice, Poetics." The curriculum covers mathematics history across cultures, infinite varieties, education approaches, logic, category theory, and computational models. Possible topics include probability, programming language theory, information theory, music theory, and fractals.
Why?
To improve my graphics work.
I recently finished reading Music by the Numbers: From Pythagoras to Schoenberg by Eli Maor, which explores how researchers interchange mathematical and musical concepts. Leveraging interdisciplinary knowledge grants access to vast existing research. Mathematics fundamentally supports my artistic practice—strengthening these skills will deepen my work as an artist.
No really, why?
As a child, my mother called me a "human calculator" for my arithmetic aptitude. Math felt practical and enjoyable then. However, abstract theoretical mathematics felt restrictive—like forcing my thinking into predetermined patterns.
The course aims to "rebuild interest in and appreciation for a diverse and beautiful subject too often compromised by elitism, prejudice, and excessive rigidity."
I abandoned higher mathematics because of its inflexibility. Basic arithmetic allowed creative shortcuts and playful number manipulation. Calculus demanded conformity to established methods. Through this course, I hope to rediscover mathematical thinking as something exploratory and dynamic rather than dogmatic.
2nd set of July Patron Postcards
July's second postcard batch is being mailed to Patrons. I'm contemplating Patreon's role in my practice and suspect next week's email will explore this relationship.
goodgraphics.js@0.14.0
goodgraphics.js is my personal coding library powering all graphics. A new version adds helper functions I've been using in the Good Graphics Monorepo that deserve native support.
One last thing
Readers responded enthusiastically to a graphics-only post from two weeks prior. Should I create more? Perhaps mid-week surprises on a bi-weekly schedule. I struggle with imposing structure on this newsletter—there's something valuable about maintaining its spontaneous, unpolished character.
—Mathy Mello
P.S. Mathematical proofs represent the only advanced math concept I genuinely love. The logical structures parallel programming beautifully—like miniature world-building.
P.P.S. Sin Wave Snake remains my favorite mathematically-based graphic.
