THE MYTH
Jupiter had given Venus in marriage to the lame smith-god Vulcan, but the true father of her three children was impetuous Mars, the drunken and quarrelsome god of war. Vulcan knew nothing of the deception until one night they lingered too long in bed ; Helios saw them at their sport and told tales to Vulcan. He angrily retired to his forge and hammered out a bronze hunting-net as fine as gossamer but quite unbreakable, which he attached to the sides of his marriage bed. He told Venus that he must be away and soon after Mars and Venus went merrily to bed. At dawn they found themselves entangled in the net, naked and unable to escape. Vulcan, returning, suprised them and summoned all the gods and goddesses to witness their dishonor.

THE MATH
Karl Friedrich Gauss (1777-1855)
Gauss is considered the prince of mathematicians, ubiquitous in his machinations of all branches of math. In his masterpiece, Disquisition, he weaves together arithmetic, algebra and geometry into one perfect pattern. He made significant advances in geometry and the application of mathematics to geodesy and electromagnetism.

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