2004-01-23 - 2:45 p.m.

(Sung to the tune of "Home, Home on the Range")

Oh give me a rule,

Multivariable,

For a multi-dimension display,

Where we'll optimize,

Surfaces in disguise,

In a general, spherical way...

Home, Home on Lagrange,

Where the multi-coordinates play,

Where tangent and sine,

In a system combine,

In a trigonometrical way....

How often at night,

Intellectual fright,

With a problem set due in the morn,

We're driven insane,

By cartesian pain,

And we rue the day Euclid was born...

Home, Home on Lagrange,

Where solutions have prices to pay,

Where seldom is heard an encouraging word,

And equations can ruin your day!