The Origins of Trigonometry: AULD LANG's SINE

POST #66
PARODY-LYRICS

ORIGINAL SONG: "Auld Lang Syne", by Robert Burns, 1788.

Robert Burns

PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, January, 2015.

KEYWORDS: traditional, math-and-science, multicultural

AULD LANG’S SINE

(to the tune of "Auld Lang Syne")

A clever Scot, Auld Simon Lang

Rests in a box o’ pine;

His contributions near-forgot -

‘E invented Auld Lang’s Sine.

Dreamed up the trig’s big Sine, and its

Gude cos’n bright an’ fine;

[One minus (Lang’s-Sine)squared], my dear,

Its square-root – Auld Lang’s Cosine.

And though his mind did grow less clear,   

His concept’s been refined –

One o’er t’other – Tangent, dear

Derived frae Auld Lang’s Sine.

And at the end, his sight grown dim

Ideas still implant –

Turned on its head, Auld Lang’s Cosine,

We know as Auld Lang’s Secant.

His final word, “Cotangent”,

Then his soul was carried up;

So kindly pass the pi, my dear,

And to Lang we’ll drink a cup.


Related Palindromes

T. set stats test.

Crazy Z-arc.

I-pen is rotator: sine pi.


Performing Notes

A [C]clever [Am] Scot, Auld [Dm] Simon [G7] Lang

Rests [C] in a [C7] box o’ [F] pine;

His [C] contri[Am]butions [Dm] near-for[G#dim7]got -

‘E in[Am]vented [Dm] Auld [G7] Lang’s [C] Sine.