[Alexander Givental]

This post is inspired by Ralph's previous one - I haven't found my double, but there will be mirrors.
Here is a math challenge for Sphereans which I sometimes use with little kids as well as with college math majors (all fail at their first try):

Walking with an iPhone in my hand through a modern art museum, I come to an installation at the corner of the hall: the floor and both walls are made of mirror. How many iPhones will I see?

A hint for the Sphereans is in the following poem, by Russian poet and translator Dmitry Usov (1896-1943), and in its English translation (by Elysée Wilson-Egolf and myself):

Translator

A peaceful evening with a book in hand.
The clock's tick tocks do not resemble racing.
Before me, figments from a poet's head
Lie represented in their author's phrasing:

“At dusk, the silence is more vibrant yet,
And streets before the night are growing quiet,
The moon puts on its windowpane lorgnettes,
But greets me through the looking-glass in private.”

From these four lines, I pull a guiding thread;
They're given – neither narrower, nor wider,
I cannot say directly what they said,
And nonetheless all four will be recited:

“In evening hours, utterings reverb,
And city noises, fading, disappear.
I'm facing – not the shining lunar orb,
But its representation in the mirror.”


Переводчик

Недвижный вечер с книгою в руках,
И ход часов так непохож на бегство.
Передо мною в четырех строках
Расположенье подлинного текста:

«В час сумерек звучнее тишина,
И город перед ночью затихает.
Глядится в окна полная луна,
Но мне она из зеркала сияет».

От этих строк протягиваю нить;
Они даны — не уже и не шире:
Я не могу их прямо повторить,
Но все-таки их будет лишь четыре:

«В вечерний час яснее каждый звук,
И затихает в городе движенье.
Передо мной — не лунный полный круг,
А в зеркале его отображенье».

15 февраля 1928

[Allen Tice]

One, only one, forever just one iPhone, because ....

[RCL]

Eggsactly! It's one of the few numbers I can count on. But there are innumerable reflections of the phone?

[Alexander Givental]

The first attempted answers by Allen and Ralph are wrong (expectedly, as I said). But the correct one is indeed in the poems (and your answers are not even related to them).

[Carl Copeland]

Alexander, your solution may be convincing to the exclusion of all else, but right now it seems to me that Allen and Ralph have a valid alternative. And it is in the poem: the translator sees a representation of the moon, not the moon itself. “Four” is another answer suggested by the poem, but that’s too easy, so as usual I’m at a loss.

[Roger Slater]

Zero. You have a very large hand, so the iPhone is entirely blocked from sight. Besides, your eyes are closed.

[Ann Drysdale]

With all those mirrors, would not even one iPhone be travelling at the speed of light into infinity?

[Orwn Acra]

If you are going to tell us a poem with the line "represented in their author's phrasing" is a hint, then you can't dismiss my answer, which follows the train of thought you laid down the tracks for. The iPhone is represented twice in your word-problem. If you don't want it turned into a word problem, don't tell us a poem about linguistic reference is a clue–or better yet, acknowledge that the poem opens up the possibility for other answers. (I suspect you do not also give the poem to your math students).

[Alexander Givental]

Originally Posted by Orwn Acra

If you are going to tell us a poem with the line "represented in their author's phrasing" is a hint, then you can't dismiss my answer, which follows the train of thought you laid down the tracks for. The iPhone is represented twice in your word-problem. If you don't want it turned into a word problem, don't tell us a poem about linguistic reference is a clue–or better yet, acknowledge that the poem opens up the possibility for other answers. (I suspect you do not also give the poem to your math students).

Orwn, in another reply I mentioned an article of Gasparov about this poem, where he praises it for the coherence between form and content. So, the hint is not in some subtle connotations hidden in the poem but in the very essence of it: the quatrain being mock-translated in it is about a mirror reflection of the Moon, which serves at the same time as a metaphor for the very act of translating.

[Matt Q]

[Hadn't read the whole thread.]