A lot of changes have been made
Since first the world began.
But changes that affect our thought
Have all been made by man.
Yet change must ever plague our mind
Lest dull should be the path.
Our feet must find, so I'm resigned
To learn this "modern math."

My child came home from school one day
And brought with her a book,
I picked it up from where it lay
To have a casual look.
Before two pages I had read
I turned a paler shade,
I gazed in awe at what I saw,
Some changes had been made!

The pages pictured many things
Like cows, and ships, and sticks --
And circles, crosses, dots, and rings.
Was this Arithmetic?
"So George's mother put some salt
Upon her grocery list."
While George, it seemed, put salt on beans.
Somehow, the point I missed.

And then the thought occurred to me,
Here's something I should know.
I'll "do" the form, I'll pay the fee,
And back to school I'll go.
So I sat down with other folks
And listened close to Ron
And Sarah too.   The next I knew,
Two pleasant hours had gone.

I never really paid much mind
That six was less than eight,
But now we have a special sign
This point to illustrate.
In fact the symbols we now see
Outdo the alphabet.
There's two or three that baffle me,
And some I'll never get.

There's such a thing as change of base
Just like they have on Mars.
On base of two we use more space
Than if we counted stars.
That there's an art in taking sticks
We learned a lesson, too.
By subtle tricks, I stop on six
And force the last on you!

And then I learned in one short hour
That half of "eight" is three
And "zero" has a special power;
"One" gives identity.
And rules we always thought we knew
Or somehow took for granted
Now need a clue to show what's true:
Signs round, and sharp, and slanted.

No longer do we have quartettes,
And gone are gangs and clubs,
They now are elements of sets,
And all of these have subs.
We have no further need for teams
Or squads or pairs or herds,
And flocks are dreams, for now it seems,
That sets are for the birds.

You, too, are members of a set
And no doubt intersect,
And form a union, too, I'll bet,
In ways you don't suspect.
I'm in a bracket now with you
Whom ne're I knew before.
I'm less than you, or equal to,
Or maybe even more.

I'm going to do my level best
To give my brain a bath;
I'll try to keep up with the rest
And learn this "modern math."
I'll try to get into the mood,
But I'm afraid that yet
I'll sit and brood -- and then conclude
My head's the empty set!