马里兰大学教授沃夫的一首诗：“新数学”
下面这首小诗是马里兰大学教授彼得·沃夫（Peter Wolfe）发表在一个系刊上的。那是1990年代。从他的诗中可以看到历史的痕迹：升阳计算机、阿波罗电脑和VAX。现在的年轻人可能都没有听说过。但那时是最先进的计算机系统了。那个年代是数学家们大面积地开始使用计算机的时候：“they've just learned to use the computer”。上面的图片就是从同一页上扫描的，它可能反映了当时最先进的技术吧。说明中提到的威廉姆·高德曼（William Goldman）是马里兰大学数学系几何学教授。他的研究生马克·菲利普斯（Mark Phillips）博士目前在伊利诺大学芝加哥分校工作。诗中提到了数值分析和有限元。那时候伊沃·巴布斯卡（Ivo Babuska）教授是那里的大拿，所以队伍很强。没想到他宣布退休后到德州大学去了。再有提到的是动力系统和混沌理论。这当然是詹姆斯·约克（James A. Yorke）教授的领地。好了，提供完本诗的背景之后，请大家欣赏这首诗：“新数学”（The New Mathematics）。
Often people ask me what is new
in mathematics, in your view?
Have mathematicians become astuter?
Not really, they've just learned to use the computer.
We have all kinds of new hardware
to help us with the load we bear
so now when we want to solve an equation
we just head for the nearest workstation.
Whatever the mathematical task,
whatever question you care to ask,
we can give you the answer then and there
if only we have the right software.
We now have Suns, Apollos and VAX's
(all paid for with your taxes)
and the software we receive
can do some things you wouldn't believe.
Inverse a matrix? It's a snap.
Iterate the Henon map.
Any large integer we can factor
or show the world a strange attractor.
In now takes hardly any time
for the number theorists to find a prime.
The topologists program for the purpose
of making pictures of some strange surface.
The numerical analysts are having a ball.
Computing's their business, after all.
They are happy to use what they know
to show the rest of us the way to go.
There's lesson here that's quite instructive.
The finite element group is more productive.
They all do more than they ever did
using a computer generated grid.
Then there are dynamics boys
who are going wild with their new toys.
They use computer graphics to get
color pictures of a Julia set.
Their computations are so exact they'll
reveal patterns which are clearly fractal.
They can now shock and dismay us
with even more exmaples of chaos.
So I would say there's no dispute.
Mathematicians must learn to compute.
Computers have changed the rules of the game
and mathamatics will never be the same.
感谢网友shatan提供了中文翻译：
数学有啥新发现？
有人向我求答案。
我们没变更精明，
学习电脑刚起帆。
拥有各种新硬件，
帮助我们排万难。
方程求解何处去？
只需迈向工作站。
不管题目有多难，
不管问题深与浅，
只要软件选得对，
随时随地给答案。
电脑发展到今天，
VAX, Apollo还有SUN，
装上软件显神威，
昔日你我难预见。
矩阵求逆在瞬间，
和农映射快循环。
分解任何大整数，
奇怪引子显眼前。
数论学家找素数，
几乎不需花时间。
拓扑学家编程序,
绘制流形怪曲面。
数值分析正发展，
原本就是搞计算。
兴致勃勃求新知，
引领方向拓前沿。
有门课程很新鲜，
数值方法有限元。
划分网格用电脑，
高效优质胜从前。
动力学家夜难眠，
新的玩具更好玩。
电脑图形画出啥？
茹利亚集彩图片。
电脑计算多精湛，
分形几何细可见。
更多混沌待探索，
世人兴奋世人赞。
事到如今无悬念，
大家都得学计算。
电脑改变旧规则，
数学又见一片天。
虽然是二十多年前的诗了，但是今天读来仍觉亲切：“电脑改变旧规则，数学又见一片天。”