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Substance over style. I suddenly think of this as an algebraic expression, and envision myself drawing the consequences of the equation, challenging an open blackboard to yield knowledge as chalk is ground into white lines and dust upon its surface. I am wearing a white labcoat, and spectacles, and stare at the subject of art and creativity with the focus of a laser, my brain moving like a combination of mill machinery and deep ocean dreams. This could be my ticket to tenure.

Substance over style now has the same symbolic meaning as 3/4... except the operation of division is not well defined for the set of aesthetic or artistic values. What would it mean if style divided substance? Does it imply style disrupts the continuity of substance -- that the medium modifies the message? Or does it imply that some portion of the message goes into each factor of style, so that the medium is permeated with the message? And what, dear colleagues, are the consequences of inverting the expression: placing style over substance? Mathemaesthetics is a strange and understructured discipline, and only one aspect of the mystery is clear:

I need a grant.