‘Once Upon a Prime' Review: Poetic Form, Mathematic Formula

Michael Kai/Getty Images

This stereotype of the rumpled math genius, too busy manipulating obscure symbols to deal with everyday life, is one of the most stubborn in modern culture. It's a joke, but the image has serious implications. It feeds a belief that math is an alien world. There are also many normal people in math, just as there are in other fields. Math, interpreted in a broad sense, is woven into all aspects of our lives, as Sarah Hart explains in 'Once Upon a Prime : The Wonderful Connections between Mathematics and Literature'