Thread: The Mathematician's Song - Tom Lehrer

If you give me your attention, I will tell you what I am.
I'm a brilliant math'matician - also something of a ham.
I have tried for numerous degrees, in fact I've one of each;
Of course that makes me eminently qualified to teach.
I understand the subject matter thoroughly, it's true,
And I can't see why it isn't all as obvious to you.
Each lecture is a masterpiece, meticulously planned,
Yet everybody tells me that I'm hard to understand,
And I can't think why.

My diagrams are models of true art, you must agree,
And my handwriting is famous for its legibility.
Take a word like mmmmmm (minimum) to choose a random word,
For anyone to say he cannot read that, is absurd.
The anecdotes I tell get more amusing every year,
Though frankly, what they go to prove is sometimes less than clear,
And all my explanations are quite lucid, I am sure,
Yet everybody tells me that my lectures are obscure,
And I can't think why.

To generalize special relativity is as simple as can be,
Just eliminate unnecessary assumptions like linearity,
The consequences are equations for all dimensions I see –
Physicists understanding physics is such a rarity.
They need to study science from a mathematician like me.

It's difficult to appreciate the intricacies of quantum parity,
General covariance is easy to construct in special relativity.

My derivation of spacetime is important, of that there is no doubt.
All these formulas are trivial if you only think them out.
Yet students tell me, "I have memorized the whole course through
Ev'rything that you've written, but the problems I can't do."
And I can't think why!

He can't think why!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6it_kQeOnU
http://www.everythingimportant.org/r...ty/special.pdf