CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM Ilima Intermediate School teacher Cory Bennett has put mathematics into Valentine's Day, as shown yesterday by eighth-grader Jenny Amita. She would read this equation as "My love for you is like the real numbers. It never ends."

Love computes

Ilima students add math to romance for Valentine's

"Our love is like a fraction -- if you multiply by the reciprocal, we can become one."

Ah, romance, expressed in terms of mathematical certainty. What valentine could resist?

"The love between us is an equation of our life ... you + me = us 4ever."

The common denominator among these congruent enumerations? All the Cupids are eighth-grade algebra students at Ilima Intermediate School, students of Cory Bennett, who has been assigning math valentines for three years as a way of teaching a couple of lessons.

First: knowledge of the vocabulary of mathematics and the double meanings that can attach. To wit, "Your heart is bigger than my polyhedra." Read that any way you want.

Second: "People don't realize mathematicians can have a sense of humor," Bennett said. The subject need not be boring. "Mathematics is a rich, complex and intricately beautiful aspect of our world," he said.

To wit, again, "Ladies first, my lovely coefficient."

Me + You = ?

» Our love is parallel; no matter where we go, we are beside each other.
» I can be the x and you can be the y, and let's intercept at 1.
» Valentine, let's add our love and subtract our hate and love to infinity.
» You're a2 and I'm b2; let's go and make our c.
» You are the solution to my equation.
» Our love is like a hypotenuse; we are the edges, and love connects us with the longest segment.