Numbers Frightened Me Robin Michel __________ Not the shapes, colors and textures decorating the classroom walls,but what to do after writing each problem in pencil on lined paperknowing my erasures would rub holes into the once smooth surface. When no one looked, I counted on my fingers, needing more digits…

An Ode to Shakuntala Devi, or Puzzles to Frustrate You A set of five gogyoshi Gargi Mehra __________ If your friend is twice as old as youwere when he was three years youngerthan you, how many candles would you blowbefore you unravelled the mysteriesof the woman who humbled calculators When…

Calculation with Women as Birds in Post-Roe America Stefanie Kirby __________ An egg in the hand is worth more than an egg in the tree,which is worth more than the basket of shattered eggs.There are no birds in this problem. No birds laying eggs.No birds inside eggs that were laid.…

The Cost to Benefit Ratio of Grief Linea Jantz __________ you taught methe logarithm of lossis infinite to the power of n+1, where n=love the next number in the series iszero you can divide griefamong a thousand empty plates and still havenothing to quote Mean Girls:the limit does not exist…

Zeno’s Arrow Steve Harrison __________ Zeno said that chopping timeinto an infinite number of bitsproved that nothing could happen:Achilles could not outrun a turtle;an arrow could never reach its mark. Zeno’s paradox baffled the rustics,but pleased his teacher Parmenides,who seemed to have glimpsed eternity,where all things have happened already. Centuries…

A eulogy for the rare-Earth hypothesis & The value of pointless activity: a proof Michael Galko __________ A eulogy for the rare-Earth hypothesis Walking on the beach as a child, trying toestimate the grains of sand underfoot oron the little stretch just next to us, on the whole beach, on…

The Wreck In Numbers Ken Haas __________ __________ Ken Haas lives in San Francisco, where he works in healthcare. His first book, Borrowed Light, won several awards. Ken has been nominated for multiple Pushcart Prizes and serves on the Board of the Community of Writers. His poems have appeared in…