Curiosidades Fibonacci

Multiplicao usuando os nmeros de Fibonacci

Os nmeros de Fibonacci tem sua origem no problema da
reproduo de coelhos, descrito no Liber Abaci, escrito
por Leonardo de Pisa, o Fibonacci, em 1202. Eles so os
termos da famosa sequncia de nmeros inteiros positivos,
1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144...
No artigo da prof. Mrcia Cerioli(UFRJ) para a revista da
SBM (SOCIEDADE BRASILEIRA DE
MATEMTICA), usando o teorema de Zeckendorf ela
mostra que todo nmero inteiro positivo tem uma
representao em nmeros de Fibonacci.

Por exemplo, o nmero 18 pode ser obtido pela soma 5 +
13 , nmeros de Fibonacci distintos e no consecutivos. A
decomposio de nmeros como soma de nmeros de
Fibonacci pode ser usada em um mtodo que permite
multiplicar dois nmeros inteiros usando adies.

Vamos multiplicar 16 por 63. A ideia construir uma
tabela onde a primeira coluna formada por 1 e um dos
nmeros, 16. A segunda coluna obtida da primeira
dobrando-se os nmeros e ,a partir da, toda coluna da
tabela obtida pela soma das duas anteriores.



1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 34 55 89 144
16 16 32 48 80 128 208 336 544 880 1424 2304

A seguir considera-se uma decomposio de 63 em
nmeros de Fibonacci. Temos 55 + 8.
Para obter o produto 16 x 63 basta tomar os nmeros
correspondentes a 8 e 55 na tabela. Assim , temos 16 x 63
= 128 + 880 = 1008.
Vamos brincar com essa decomposio de inteiros?
Aplique o mtodo nas multiplicaes:

a) 32 x 15
b) 47 x 18
c) 29 x 21
d) 51 x 37






FRACOES DECIMAIS

Frao decimal toda frao ordinria cujo denominador 10,
ou 100, ou 1000, ou outra potncia (inteira) positiva de 10.
Em notao algbrica: frao decimal toda frao ordinria
que pode ser escrita na forma m/10
n
, onde m inteiro e n
inteiro positivo.


USO das FRACOES DECIMAIS

Podemos estender a ideia de sistema posicional decimal,
originalmente aplicada somente aos nmeros inteiros, para
representar nmeros reais quaisquer como uma "soma" (de
uma quantidade finita ou infinita) de fraes decimais. Por
exemplo:
PI = 3 + 1/10 + 4/100 + 1/1000 + 5/10.000 + etc.
Essa extenso constitui a grande utilidade das fraes
decimais.

Nunca demais lembrar que existem nmeros racionais que
no podem ser representados por uma nica frao decimal; o
mais simples destes exemplos o do nmero racional dado
por 1/3. Contudo, todo nmero racional, e mesmo todo nmero
real, pode ser representado por uma soma de fraes
decimais. Um dos maiores objetivos de nosso curso
demonstrar esse fato, e explicar as nuances associadas.

oportuno mencionar que perfeitamente possvel
representar nmeros reais irracionais como soma de fraes
ordinrias que no so decimais, e nem esto associadas a
um sistema de numerao posicional. Isso j era conhecido h
milhares de anos. Com efeito, por exemplo no Sulba-Sutras de
Baudhayayana (manuais da matemtica vdica, escritos entre
2500 e 500 AC), mostra-se a seguinte representao para a
raiz quadrada de 2:
V2 = 1 + 1/3 + 1/3x4 - 1/3x4x34 + etc. = 1,41421...





ORIGEM DAS FRAES DECIMAIS

O mais antigo uso cientfico que se conhece das fraes
decimais remonta aos matemticos e astrnomos chineses de
c. 200 dC. Uns 100 anos depois, foram reintroduzidas por al
Kashi, e passaram a ser usadas por vrios outros matemticos
islamitas do Oriente Mdio e do norte da Africa.

No Mundo Cristo, foram introduzidas por Fibonacci c. 1200,
que havia tomado contato com elas durante suas viagens pelo
norte da Africa. Fibonacci deu, ademais, os primeiros passos
na construo de uma aritmtica dessas fraes. Assim, ele
representa o nmero 0,79 = 7/10+9/100 do seguinte modo:


9 7

10 10
que devemos ler (atente para o sentido com que a leitura
feita) como significando:
7/10 + 1/10 . 9/10

A partir de c. 1350, vrios outros matemticos europeus
passaram a usar fraes decimais, mas de um modo ainda
bem rudimentar. s com Stevin c. 1580 que feito um
estudo sistemtico dessas fraes e de seu uso na
representao dos nmeros reais --dando o que hoje
chamamos de expanso decimal dos nmeros reais, ou
representao dos reais por (meio de soma de) fraes
decimais--, inclusive com algoritmos para as operaes
aritmticas. Suas contribuies foram expostas em seu livro La
Thiende, que foi imediatamente traduzido para o francs (sob
o ttulo La Disme, de onde se originou a expresso dzima) e
outras lnguas europias, tornando-se um elemento
fundamental para o nascimento das cincias e tecnologias
modernas.

O uso popular das fraes decimais e representao decimal
dos nmeros reais tornou-se "obrigatrio" com a Revoluo
Francesa. Com efeito, essa, ao abolir a monarquia, tambm
aboliu vrias prticas daqueles tempos, tais como ps, jardas
e suas fraes exticas.







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gioved 12 maggio 2011

La matematica vedica # 2

Il metodo di moltiplicazione della matematica vedica funziona anche con numeri a
due cifre. Per esempio con questa moltiplicazione 99x67

99
67



Chiaramente, questa volta, anzich sottrarre da 10 si dovr sottrarre da 100, per cui
99 - 100 = - 1 e 67 - 100 = -33 da scrivere a fianco dei numeri da moltiplicare

99 - 1
67 - 33
a questo punto, utilizzando le diagonali, si ottengono le prime due cifre della
soluzione 99 - 33 = 67 - 1 = 66, che si scriveranno sotto la matrice

99 - 1
67 - 33
________
66

mentre le ultime due cifre si otterranno dalla moltiplicazione semplice -1 x - 33 =
33, e quindi la soluzione sar 6633

99 - 1
67 - 33
________
66 33

Tirthaji dimostr che questa tecnica poteva essere
usata anche per moltiplicazioni di numeri a tre cifre.
Ma non l'unica tecnica che si pu utilizzare dalla matematica vedica per
moltiplicare due numeri. La predilezione per la soluzione elementare delle
moltiplicazioni si comprende con la difficolt di eseguire queste operazioni da parte
di soggetti senza scolarizzazione o come puro divertimento nel trovare varianti
nell'esecuzione di un'operazione aritmetica.


Il metodo classico insegnato a scuola (almeno quando ci sono andato io) per
risolvere una moltiplicazione di due numeri a due cifre questo: si prenda, per
esempio, 61 x 37 e si moltiplichi di seguito entrambe le cifre del primo numero per
la cifra pi a destra del secondo numero e poi per l'altra, cos 1x7 e 6x7, e poi 1x3
e 6x3, e il risultato 2257

61x
37=
____
-427
183-
_____
2257

Con il sistema dell'aforisma numero 3, In verticale e in diagonale, si procede in
questo modo

6 1
3 7

si moltiplica in verticale 1 x 7 e poi si moltiplicano le diagonali e si sommano (6x7) +
(1x3)=45 e si scrive cos, con il riporto
6 1
3 7
_______
45 7
infine moltiplicate in verticale i due numeri della prima colonna a sinistra 6x3 ai
quali si aggiunger il riporto di 4: il totale sar il nostro 2257
6 1


3 7
_______
2 2 5 7


Il sistema si applica anche a moltiplicazioni di numeri di tre o pi cifre,
scomponendo la tecnica per due colonne di numeri partendo da destra e
riportando.
Alex Bellos, il giornalista del Guardian con laurea in matematica e filosofia autore
del Meraviglioso mondo dei numeri, sostiene che questo metodo e, in genere le
altre tecniche della matematica vedica, siano pi veloci e pratiche nell'eseguire
queste elementari operazioni aritmetiche, in ci confortato da alcuni
insegnanti che hanno utilizzato il metodo osservando come gli studenti
apprendessero pi facilmente. La loro tesi : vero che con il sistema classico si ha, o
si dovrebbe avere, un controllo costante di quello che si sta facendo, mentre la
tecnica vedica pi oscura, per i ragazzi riescono ad eseguire le moltiplicazioni pi
velocemente. Quindi, si chiedono, perch continuare a insegnare il metodo classico
agli alunni che non riescono a comprenderlo e non uno alternativo, magari
insegnando quello classico pi avanti? La matematica rigorosa ma anche
creativa: non esiste, spesso, un solo metodo per ottenere un risultato.

Incuriosito dalla semplicit di alcune delle tecniche della matematica vedica, Bellos
compie una ricerca e scopre che il sistema delle diagonali (In verticale e in
diagonale, aforisma 3) segnalato anche da Leonardo Fibonacci nel suo Liber
abaci, in pi l'aforisma Tutti da 9 e l'ultimo da 10 era un sistema usato nel 1500 in
molti manuali di aritmetica. Inoltre, ipotizzabile che da questi due predecessori
dei trucchi vedici derivasse l'uso di una X nelle moltiplicazioni, ad indicare appunto
le diagonali.
La matematica vedica un insieme di tecniche scoperte e riscoperte da un profondo
pensatore con l'ottica di insegnare l'aritmetica, e di stimolare l'aspetto creativo,
fondamentale anche nella matematica. La matematica indiana ha fornito altri


importanti contributi alla matematica, e anche queste tecniche di calcolo, seppure
spesso conosciute e usate precedentemente, dimostrano l'importanza dell'influsso
indiano in questa materia, nonch l'importanza della fantasia nella soluzione dei
problemi, stimolando la curiosit e fornendo strumenti di calcolo veloci.
Vi segnalo anche un sito con tutorial dei 16 aforismi: vedic mathematics.
Questo articolo, per quanto interessante di per s, lo abbiamo scritto per attirare
lattenzione su due aspetti che andrebbero sempre tenuti in considerazione: il primo che
esiste sempre un modo alternativo per fare le cose; il secondo, che ci che conosciamo
nella nostra epoca, non esaurisce la scienza e la conoscenza del nostro mondo.
In epoche remote, in India, stato creato un sistema matematico di unaccuratezza
straordinaria, sintetizzato su uno dei libri vedici. In questo articolo naturalmente non
vogliamo scrivere un saggio sulla matematica vedica, ma fornire abbastanza informazioni
per incuriosire e spingere chi interessato ad approfondire largomento.
Il sistema di numerazione decimale che comunemente usiamo detto numerazione araba
ma in realt la sua origine risale al concetto Ind di creazione e vuoto, conosciuto come
Bindu o il punto zero.
interessante osservare che il concetto dello zero e lutilizzo del punto decimale, sono alla
base di tutta la moderna tecnologia dei chip al silicio.
La matematica vedica basata sulla comprensione del principio di Unit e usa
fondamenti numerici corrispondenti a 0, 10, 100, 1.000, 10.000, etc., ognuno dei quali
equivale a 1.
Per lungo tempo nascosta tra le pagine dei testi sacri in lingua sanscrita, la matematica
vedica molto diversa da quella conosciuta in Occidente; essa parte da una visione
differente della realt e da un diverso modo di usare la mente. Oggi pu essere studiata e
apprezzata per la straordinaria efficacia e la semplicit di applicazione.
La matematica ind stata diffusa ai giorni nostri grazie ad uno studioso indiano: Bharati
Krishna Tirthaji, che lha riscoperta nei Veda. Allinizio del 900, in Europa, esisteva un
grande interesse verso le conoscenze provenienti dalloriente e molti testi sanscriti erano
tradotti e studiati alla ricerca di un sapere nascosto.
Tra le varie parti dei Veda furono tradotti anche i Ganita Sutra (termine che noi possiamo
interpretare come matematica). Gli studiosi occidentali che li analizzarono allinizio non
furono in grado di riconoscere tracce di concetti matematici, e non comprendendoli li
sottovalutarono cestinandoli.
Bharati Krishna invece studi a fondo i Ganita Sutra e riusc a ricostruire la matematica dei
Veda. Nato nel 1884 nella provincia di Madras, Bharati si rivel un bambino prodigio e
consegu molte lauree: sanscrito, inglese, filosofia, matematica, scienze e storia.
Mentre perfezionava gli studi si avvicin anche alla via spirituale attraverso la meditazione
Yoga, che pratic intensamente.
Nel 1925 divenne Shankaracharya, cio capo di un monastero tradizionale ind a Puri,
citt santa dello stato dellOrissa.


Si dice che abbia scritto ben sedici volumi spiegando la matematica vedica, testi che in
seguito andarono persi. Di fatto, giunto fino a noi un unico libro: Vedic Mathematics,
pubblicato postumo nel 1965, cinque anni dopo la sua morte.
Bharati Krishna sostiene che tutta la matematica vedica si basa su sedici sutra, semplici
formule di parole sanscrite, che risolvono tutti i problemi matematici conosciuti nelle
branche dellaritmetica, algebra, geometria e calcolo.
Formule facili da ricordare e da capire; semplici da applicare.
I 16 sutra
1. Per uno pi delluno precedente
2. Tutti dal 9 e lultimo dal 10
3. In Verticale e in Diagonale
4. Trasponi e Applica
5. Se la Samuccaya la Stessa, Zero
6. Se Uno in Rapporto, lAltro Zero
7. Per Addizione e per Sottrazione
8. Per Completamento o Non-Completamento
9. Calcolo Differenziale
10. Per Difetto
11. Specifico e Generale
12. I resti per lUltima Cifra
13. LUltimo e Due Volte il Penultimo
14. Per Uno Meno dellUno Precedente
15. Il Prodotto della Somma
16. Tutti i Moltiplicatori
Questi aforismi sembrano pi formule magiche che regole per fare calcoli. A tal proposito
Bharati Krishna raccontava: Guardando lapplicazione di questo genere di calcoli che
riescono ad eseguire anche i bambini Dottori, Professori ed altri pezzi grossi della
matematica rimangono trasecolati ed esclamano: Ma matematica o magia? . Noi
invariabilmente rispondiamo dicendo: E entrambe le cose. E magia finch non la
comprendi, dopo di che matematica.
Bharati Krishna fu una persona speciale e non fece segreto del fatto che per tutta la vita
studi e am la matematica, la metafisica e la spiritualit, senza alcun conflitto.
Era un grande oratore e durante le conferenze affascinava le persone con affermazioni a
dir poco sbalorditive. Sosteneva ad esempio che la matematica ordinaria, che richiedeva
15 anni di studio, col metodo vedico poteva essere acquisita in soli 8 mesi.
Un postulato base della matematica vedica la semplificazione, cio la riduzione dei
calcoli complessi a calcoli semplici, facili da eseguire anche mentalmente.
interessante losservazione di Alex Bellos, giornalista del Guardian, con laurea in
matematica e filosofia, autore del Meraviglioso mondo dei numeri, il quale riscontra che il
sistema delle diagonali (segnalato nel sutra 3 della matematica vedica: In verticale e in
diagonale), indicato anche da Leonardo Fibonacci nel suo Liber abaci.
E inoltre ipotizzabile che luso del X nelle moltiplicazioni stesse ad indicare proprio le
diagonali della matematica vedica. Infine, anche laforisma Tutti dal 9 e lultimo dal 10 era
un sistema usato nel 1500, in molti manuali di aritmetica.


Le seguenti, sono alcune delle caratteristiche della matematica vedica, che la rendono
molto interessante ed attuale:
E coerente. E un sistema interrelato e unificato.
E flessibile. Nellinsegnamento tradizionale esiste un solo modo di fare un calcolo, e ci
rende la matematica, specie per le giovani menti, qualcosa di rigido e noioso.
Nel sistema vedico invece, oltre alle leggi generali, esistono metodi speciali che possono
essere utilizzati per trovare sistemi di calcolo pi veloci e semplici, come se ci fossero pi
vie, strade maestre o scorciatoie per risolvere un calcolo, tutte da scoprire.
Ogni studente. in base alla sua abilit, pu sviluppare creativit e intuizione e questo
genera leggerezza, curiosit e ricerca spontanea; proprio in un campo cos ostico quale la
matematica.
Migliora la memoria. I calcoli sono basati su cifre piccole per cui possono essere eseguiti
mentalmente senza luso di calcolatrici.
Promuove la creativit. Stimola a trovare propri metodi di soluzione.
Trova linteresse di tutti, dai bambini agli esperti del settore
Incrementa lagilit mentale. E una vera e propria ginnastica mentale e questo tipo di
elasticit porta ad una mente molto fertile in tutti i settori, non solo in quello matematico.
E efficiente e veloce.
Ed ora qualche esempio:
Per risolvere 96 al quadrato:
1. stabilire in che base siamo. Essendo il 96 vicino al 100, diremo che siamo su
base 100.
2. identificare quale sutra usare: n 10 Per difetto (qualunque sia il difetto lo si
diminuisce ulteriormente di altrettanto e si imposta il quadrato di questo).
3. 100 96 = 4
4. 96 4 = 92
5. 4 al quadrato = 16
6. la soluzione sta nellaffiancare al 92 il 16 e cos otteniamo 9216
controllate!
per precisare : essendo su base 100 (cio due zeri oltre l1, dopo il numero dovremo
sempre avere due cifre; quando ne otteniamo solo una con il quadrato dovremo usare lo
zero).
Proviamo con un numero pi grande
Per risolvere 996 al quadrato
1. la base pi vicina in questo caso 1000.
2. 1000 996 = 4


3. 996 4 = 992
4. 4 al quadrato = 16
5. Essendo su base 1000, dopo il nostro numero dovremo avere 3 cifre; se il
quadrato del difetto ne da solo due, metteremo prima lo zero.
6. Affianchiamo il 992 al 16 e mettiamo lo zero in mezzo ed ecco 992016.
Guardiamo ora il quadrato dei numeri che finiscono con il 5
Per esempio 35 X 35
Il sutra utilizzato : per Uno pi che lUno prima
1. 35 un numero di due cifre.
2. 3 il numero prima e 5 la seconda cifra.
3. Uno pi che il numero prima > quindi 1 + 3 = 4
4. Per uno pi che il numero prima significa che dobbiamo letteralmente moltiplicare
questo numero cio il 4 con il 3
5. quindi 3 X 4 = 12
6. A questo 12 mettiamo di fianco il quadrato di 5 cio 25 > quindi 1225
controllate!
Guardate ora la moltiplicazione di un numero per 11. Di straordinaria facilit.
Per esempio 34x 11
Il sutra utilizzato compressione digitale ovvero se la Samuccaya la Stessa, essa
zero
1. Sommare semplicemente le due cifre 3 e 4 = 7
2. Mettere il 7 tra il 3 e il 4 e si ottiene 374
3. Se la somma dovesse superare il 10 la cifra 1 va aggiunta al primo numero e
poi proseguire come sopra.
4. Per esempio 56 x 11
5. 5 + 6 = 11
6. 5 + 1 = 6 quindi mettiamo questo 6 accanto alluno e al 6 e risulter 616
A parte lutilit di un apprendimento di questo genere, che si sta sempre pi diffondendo in
molte scuole avanzate in Occidente, la considerazione che possiamo trarne che la
matematica da noi conosciuta e quella vedica, sono due mondi distinti e paralleli. Che la
matematica ind sia pi avanzata non il fatto pi rilevante; invece di estremo interesse
la creazione di due mondi tanto diversi, tramite i quali possibile giungere alla scoperta
delle medesime verit oggettive dei numeri celati nel DNA di questo immenso universo. Ci
dovrebbe indurci, nella vita, a non cessare mai di cercare nuove e alternative vie a ci che
gi conosciamo.
Per saperne di pi: www.vedicmaths.org


Sul sito troverete esaurienti spiegazioni e anche un tutorial che vi consentir di capire
meglio come applicare la matematica vedica, mettendovi direttamente alla prova con il
mondo dei numeri.
http://translate.google.it/translate?hl=it&sl=en&u=http://vedicmaths.org/introduction/tutorial/t
utorial.asp&ei=f24uT6WPM8egOsS4pYkO&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=
0CDEQ7gEwAA&prev=/search%3Fq%3DMathematics%2Bvedic%26hl%3Dit%26client%3
Dsafari%26rls%3Den%26prmd%3Dimvns


4 Commenti for Matematica vedica


sasuke
Ciao,
molto interessante.
Se il calcolo vedico pi veloce e semplice di quello occidentale, applicandolo alle
operazioni matematiche fatte al computer, dovremmo ottenere tempi di elaborazione pi
veloci.
Su slideshare ho trovato una slide che spiega questa applicazione:
http://www.slideshare.net/gtekriwal/vedic-mathematics-for-faster-mental-presentation
Rispondi

A.D.
Grazie mille per averci segnalato il link per accedere a quella slide
Rispondi

benedetta
bellissimo !!!
lho fatto e funziona perfettamente, solo utilizzandolo come metodo di calcolo, senza che


uno ci capisca di matematica in modo particolare
la sensazione che ho avuto provando a fare i calcoli con questo sistema di non essere
costretti in quella rigidit tipica della matematica, ma di sentirsi stimolati e pi attivi
molto interessante )
Rispondi

Cristina
Mi venuto da battere le mani come i bambini quando sono contenti, per la gioia di
scoprire che persino io potevo fare un calcolo con questo sistema! Sembrer
unesagerazione, ma mi sento riscattata dalle frustrazioni che ho vissuto con la matematica
occidentale. Un immenso grazie!
Rispondi


Vuoi lasciare un commento?



Composing with the Vedic numeric table
by Manuel Rocha Iturbide

In 1989, the Mexican artist Juan Luis Daz asked me if I could compose music
with a numeric grid that he had been using for almost fifteen years to make his
sculptures. I was immediately interested in this project because the
relationships between numbers have always fascinated me. It is well known that
many composers have used numbers to structure their music and that there has
been always an interest in their beauty. The ancient Greeks attributed to the
association of music and numbers a predominant place in the philosophy of the
cosmos and it was perhaps Pythagoras one of the first mathematicians to study
the relationship between sounds and numbers. From there on there have been
different philosophers, scientists and musicians that have worked on this
subject with different points of emphasis. Some researchers have studied the
physical relationships between sound and numbers, for example, the theory of
the generation of the overtones, which the Pythagorean School developed. On
the other hand, composers have used numbers in a free and creative way to
generate musical compositions.
Before presenting this numeric grid and explaining my research towards being
able to compose with it, I will describe some ways that have been used in the
past to do music with numbers and the reasons for which so many composers
have been interested in the relationships between numbers and why have they
used them to make their music.
May be one of the principal concerns thorough history about numbers is that
they can make beauty out of chaos, and bring order into our minds. The school
of researchers that followed Pythagoras theories taught the mathematics of
music not only as a science but also as part of a philosophical moral code.
For Leonard B. Meyer music stands somewhere in between the two extremes of
chance and total order. This happens in general with other artistic disciplines,
the creator needs to structure his work in a coherent way, but he is also free to
brake the rules and to bring the unexpected. Nonetheless, in this century we
have had composers that explored the extremes as a way to brake up with
tradition, and to liberate them selves from their own cultural chains. The most
curious thing is that composers that went into complete chance disagreed
conceptually from the ones that went into total
serialism and viceversa. I think that their music as well as their attitude towards
creativity was very similar. What both were doing was to explore new musical
dimensions that could not be found in the past. They really broke up completely
with tradition using systems either too rational or irrational where there is little
room for personal taste and emotion. The composers that went into the total
ordered space chose many times numeric systems or structures to determine


their music, but they used them in different ways and with different degrees of
liberty. It is at the beginning of the XXth century that some composers got
interested in numbers and used them freely as a tool to generate musical
motives and to vary them.
One of the simplest ways to expand a musical theme and that was used very
much in post-tonal music is permutation. This is the variation of the order of a
series implying usually rational and not haphazard variation. Alvan Berg devised
some of the first twelve-note permutations for his opera "Lulu". The following is
an example of gradual permutation of a twelve note series.

(a) 1 3 5 7 9 11 2 4 6 8 10 12
(b) 1 5 9 2 6 10 3 7 11 4 8 12
(c) 1 9 6 3 11 8 5 2 10 7 4 12
(d) 1 6 11 5 10 4 9 3 8 2 7 12
(e) 1 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 12 12
(f) 1 10 8 6 4 2 11 9 7 5 3 12
(g) 1 8 4 11 7 3 10 6 2 9 5 12
(h) 1 4 7 10 2 5 8 11 3 6 9 12
(i) 1 7 2 8 3 9 etc.

Other composers have worked with numeric series to generate melodic rows or
rhythm. The Italian composer Luigi Nono used the Fibonacci series in "Il canto
sospeso", and Stockhausen in "Mixtur" and "Zyklus."
Another devise to generate series of notes or rhythmical values is the Pascal
triangle, which has been used by Iannis Xenakis. This triangle is an infinite
array and provides much information that can be used in different ways.


1 1
1 2 1


1 3 3 1
1 4 6 4 1
1 5 10 10 5 1
1 6 15 20 15 6 1
1 7 21 35 35 21 7 1

The Pascal triangle

James Tenney uses the numbers of the overtone series to generate the rhythm
of a piece. C for example is the fundamental and has the value of one, then
comes the octave which is in the ratio of 2/1, then the twelfth (the fifth above the
octave) which is 3/1, then the double octave which is 4/1 and so on. So in this
case, every partial has its specific rhythm derived from its relation with the
fundamental. When you have combinations of overtones like the double octave
with the twelfth you have a rhythm of four against three, and when you have all
the overtones going on at the same time you have a very complex rhythmical
texture.



We can find another way to use numbers in John Cages early composition
works when he structured whole pieces based on a number of measures having
a square root so that large lengths of the piece were related to small phrases


which use the same number. With this system, the structure of the whole piece
is done beforehand.
It is clear that there are many different ways to relate music with numbers, we
have seen how numbers can be traduced into rhythm, melody and how they
can even predetermine the form of a piece.
After doing some research about the numeric system in which I am working
now, I discovered that it had nothing to do with any of the methods explained
before, but I found out that it was closely related to serial music, and more
particularly to Integral Serialism. I will talk now about the origin of serialism and
then I will present my system and compare my research with what has been
done with other systems.
It was Shoenberg perhaps the first composer to structure a completely new
musical system that had enough logic to be established after his death and
which many composers use these days. Shoenberg moved out from the tonal
system and entered the world of atonality where there are no strong points of
gravity, and after working for a while in this new musical environment, he came
up with a coherent system to organize his music which is called serial music.
This system is any succession of the twelve tones of the chromatic scale
without repetition. This row is expanded using its inversion, retrograde, and
retrograde inversion. Numbers have to do with this technique because the
octave in the western tempered scale is divided by twelve pitches which are a
half tone apart. Thus, this scale is completely symmetrical while the diatonic
scale is not symmetrical. Also, there is no strong hierarchy between pitches in
the serial system while there is in tonality. Being able to number the twelve
tones of the scale, it was easy to come up with different mathematical equations
that tells us very fast what is the level of transposition of a given row, its
inversion and its retrograde inversion.
Composers like Webern and Berg were interested in symmetry and they chose
symmetrical rows for their music. In the first movement of Webern String
Quartet Op. 28 he uses a row to generate his music which is arranged in
retrograde symmetrical order, those limiting the 48 usual orderings of a row to
only 24 (example no 1). This interest in symmetry was very strong even before
the solidification of the serial system, and in the beginning of atonal music many
symmetrical pitch class sets were used.


Example 1. Anton Webern series for the first movement of his string quartet Op. 28



If we number the twelve pitches of the chromatic scale from zero to eleven
beginning in C, we can see how the pitch class set
0, 3, 6, 9 (diminished chord) and any of its transpositions or permutations
makes it always symmetrical. It is also interesting to see that there are only
three transpositions of this PCS which use different notes (1, 4, 7, 10 and 2, 5,
8, 11 being the other two). In all other transpositions this PCS maps into itself. A
similar situation happens with PCS 0, 4, 8, (Augmented chord) PCS 0, 2, 4, 6,
8, 10, 12 (whole tone scale), PCS 0,1,3,4,6,7,9,11 (octatonic scale) and with the
chromatic scale itself. So the most symmetrical PCS which map more times into
themselves are the ones that have less variety. I bring all this up because the
system that i use is a perfect symmetrical system, and many of these things will
help to explain how it works.
In Serial music the twelve note series are often subdivided into small PCS
which are related one to each other. Serial music is just an extension of the
compositional techniques used in atonality but here the ordering of the pitches
is fundamental while in atonal music the order is not so important as long as we
use the same collections through all the piece. What is important in serial music
is to come up with an interesting twelve-note row, and symmetry is very often a
quality chosen by the composer. In example one, Webern's series can be
subdivided in small dyads which are always minor seconds, and it can also be
divided in two hexacords which are the same collection of notes. Adding the
notes from the center to the extremes can prove the symmetry of the row. This
addition is always eleven. So the two central notes of the row (C# and Bb) are
the symmetrical axis. This series is very economical and you can actually divide
it also in three tetrachords which are members of the same set class, so it is
easy to see how important are the choices of the composer concerning the
twelve note row.
Having talked enough for the moment about serial music, I will now present the
numeric table I use and describe its properties.
This is a numeric grid of 64 numbers which is the result of multiplying 2x1, 2x2,
2x3, 2x4, 2x5, 2x6......up to 9, then 3x1, 3x2, 3x3...... up to nine, and so on until
we multiply 9x1, 9x2, 9x3, ...... until 9x9. The table is shown in example 2.

Example 2.




However, in this table, when we have a number higher than nine we reduce it
by adding the two digits, so the table has only single digits as in example 3.


1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
2 4 6 8 1 3 5 7 9
3 6 9 3 6 9 3 6 9
4 8 3 7 2 6 1 5 9
5 1 6 2 7 3 8 4 9
6 3 9 6 3 9 6 3 9
7 5 3 1 8 6 4 2 9
8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 9
9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9
Example 3

As you can see, the outer numbers of the grid are always nine. This is because
number nine is the number, which includes all the other numbers, and if you
notice, the product of the addition of any line in any direction is always nine.
This table was used by the Sumerians and later by the Vedic culture, and it has
to do a lot with Pythagorean mathematics.
Pythagoras thought that number nine was the transcendent number and it is
believed that he divided everything in cycles of nine. Number zero is the
complementary of nine, so zero, nine are the same, and as nine repeats itself
before the new cycle begins, it is excluded from this table. So we end up with
our table of sixty-four digits which curiously is a cabalistic number and a number
of great balance (example 4). Sixty four is the number of squares in the game of
chess, and it's the number of the hexagrams of the
"I Ching".
The "Vedic Table" is in a way the representation of the complementary, of the
"Ying" and "Yang", and it is symmetrical with itself in any direction. No wonder
that it is a square, a symmetrical geometric figure (Notice in example four that
the only four nines that appear in the table form a square).




Example 4

In the Vedic table, the horizontal rows of numbers are equal to the vertical rows,
and you can see how there are only four different rows of numbers because the
others are the retrograde of the first. You can also see how the rows that begin
with number one and number eight are complementary (the numbers add
always up to nine), as well as two and seven, three and six, and four and five.



Example 5. complamentarity of numbers in the Vedic table.



It is clear now how the main characteristic of this table is complementarity of
numbers that added together are nine. The Artist J.L Daz studied these
relationships and he found out that putting complementary numbers together,
there were geometric figures which were the same but projected in a mirror.


Example six. Two's and sevens.



Example seven. Threes and sixes.



When Daz asked me to do music with this grid, he was concerned about
expressing the qualities of the system in the most objective way. He's approach
was not to transgress the rules or laws of the system, but simply to discover its
relationships and to show them through geometric designs. When he got tired of
dealing with two dimensions, he had the intelligent idea of expanding this
system to three dimensions by making a cube that has 512 numbers and is the
result of the multiplication of the numbers in different layers. He dragged
imaginary lines between the numbers in the cube and came up with three-
dimensional geometric figures. The number relationships in this cube are very
complex, and i am planning to work with it once i do enough research with the
original table.
The problem of trying to keep with Daz approach was that he was drawing lines
between the same number, and then of its complementary number to create
forms or structures which are fixed in time. How would one deal with that in
music where time is the first element? I decided that the easiest way to interpret
the grid was to use the numeric rows which it includes, but i thought that every
time i wanted to use one of the rows, i had to use at the same time its
complementary row because this is a game of dualities. Therefore, my method
of traducing this system into music became something similar to the procedures
used in integral serialism.
Since this is a table of eight elements, i decided to use a scale of eight notes.
The logic thing would be to divide the octave in eight different tones but i did not
have the proper devices to do that, and it would be difficult for instrumentalists
to play with such a scale. I thought that i could use instead the octatonic scale
which is a sequence of halved and whole tones (Example 8).


Example 8. Two Octatonic scales. One starts with halve tone and
the second one starts with a whole tone.

This scale does not correspond to an equal sequence of eight tones but it is a
symmetrical collection. In his book "Introduction to post-tonal theory", Strauss
shows an example of the four axes of symmetry in the octatonic scale (Example
9).




Example 9. For Axes of symmetry in the octatonic scale.


This scale works very well because I am dealing with symmetrical tetrachords.
I also decided to have eight different rhythmical values having an eight note as
my basic unit. Therefore, I assigned a value to every number.


Now I assigned the note and rhythmic values to the rows and i did a
counterpoint of two melodic lines that are always complementary between each
other. This means that i start from the top and the bottom of the square so i
have always two juxtaposed rows: 1 and 8, 2 and 7, 3 and 6, 4 and 5 which are
the original and their retrograde version (see composition I in appendix).
There was a little difficulty interpreting the four nines in the square since i used
the number eight as a unit. I decided then to assign the nines a rest of nine
beats (my basic beat is one eight note). It is interesting that the two melodies
have vertical coincidences when they arrive at the same time to number nine in
rows 3 and 6.
I think this is a very close musical representation of the Vedic table but being so
strict, there are be very few possibilities of variety, so i decided to search for
new possibilities of interpreting the table.
Finding out recently that some composers in the fifties were deeply involved
with integral serialism, i decided to find out about their methods so i could have
more ideas. One of the compositions of this period that is quite interesting is


"Structures" for two pianos written in 1952 by Pierre Boulez. This composer was
a pupil of Messiaen who was one of the first European composers to write a
piece with total organization in 1949.
Boulez piece is based on a twelve tone row. In Structure Ia (the first of three
parts) all twelve transpositions of the series and their derived forms (inversions,
retrogrades, and inverted retrogrades) are used once each in a specific order.
From the original and inverted series, Boulez constructed two tables which he
uses to compose many details of the music. These matrices were obtained by
numbering the original series and then transposing it eleven times, starting
every time in the next note (Example 10).

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12



1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
2 8 4 5 6 11 1 9 12 3 7 10
3 4 1 2 8 9 10 5 6 7 12 11
4 5 2 8 9 12 3 6 11 1 10 7
5 6 8 9 12 10 4 11 7 2 3 1
6 11 9 12 10 3 5 7 1 8 4 2
7 1 10 3 4 5 11 2 8 12 6 9
8 9 5 6 11 7 2 12 10 4 1 3
9 12 6 11 7 1 8 10 3 5 2 4
10 3 7 1 2 8 12 4 5 11 9 6
11 7 12 10 3 4 6 1 2 9 5 8
12 10 11 7 1 2 9 3 4 6 8 5



Example 10. Original series and 'O' matrix grid.

The matrices determine all note duration's, dynamics, and modes of attack and
they are used to govern the order in which the note series are used , and to
form an overall plan for note duration's. Boulez uses diagonal rows of the
matrices to determine the dynamics and modes of attack. Therefore, here we
have a composition based completely on the two matrices, although the overall
form structure of the piece is really a free conception. In addition, number and
pitch are not completely integrated. The rhythmic row has as a unit a 32nd, and
the rhythmic value grows proportionally from one to twelve, but the pitches are
not equally ordered from one to twelve.
This is not the place to go into a deep analysis of "Structures", and it is enough
to say that even in total serialism it is difficult to be completely logical. There is
always a degree of liberty that the composer assumes, and it is there where
music becomes a human artistic expression. Nonetheless, i am sill interested in
finding complete degrees of organization as Cage went in the opposite direction
and found a complete degree of chance. In both cases, the composer looks for
a way to make objective decisions and he becomes an observer of the process
that he is generating.
I am now trying to use the information of the "Vedic table" in different ways to
obtain variety but i am trying to respect the essence of its rules. After my
research is finished, i will generate different compositions. Now i will explain the
other possibilities of the table.
Besides the eight rows i worked with the first time, there are also diagonal rows,
which are complementary to each other. These are as follow:



Notice how every row of each triangle is symmetrical and how they are
complementary with each other (the numbers always add up to nine). From
these two triangles, it is possible to make a second musical counterpoint.


I thought that i could expand this grid in order to have diversity but always
keeping complementary rows. Influenced by serial theory I started to investigate
about the tetrachords of the octatonic scale.
The numeric square is made out of eight tone rows with no pitch repetitions
except for rows number three and six where the pitches three and six are
repeated. The other rows can be divided in tetrachords and their
complementary tetrachords. We can find only three different tetrachords in the
table: 1 2 3 4, 2 4 6 8, and
4 8 3 7. Their complementary tetrachords are 5 6 7 8, 1 3 5 7 and 2 6 1 5 but
they are only transpositions of the first.
There are a limited set of serial rows in the octatonic scale which regard the
complementary principle. This is because a tetrachord cannot have two
numbers, which add up to nine, if that happens then the complementary
tetrachord would have the repetition of two numbers of the first tetrachord.
For example, if we make up the tetrachord 1 2 5 7 which does not exist in the
Vedic table, its complementary tetrachord would be 2 4 7 8 and thus we have 2
and 7 repeated. If we have 1 3 6 2 we have the complementary tetrachord 7 3 6
8 and we have three and six repeated. I then discovered that there are only
eight different possible tetrachords in the octatonic scale that goes along with
their complementary tetrachords. In the numeric grid, we have only three of the
eight possible tetrachords.
Here are the eight possible tetrachords and their complementary tetrachords:

Example 11. The eight possible tetrachords and
their complementary tetrachords.

With three of the new rows, it is possible to make a new table:



1 2 6 4 5 3 7 8
2 4 3 8 1 6 5 7
6 3 9 6 3 9 6 3
4 8 6 7 2 3 1 5
5 1 3 2 7 6 8 4
3 6 9 3 6 9 3 6
7 5 6 1 8 3 4 2
8 7 3 5 4 6 2 1

Example 12. New Vedic table.

If you notice, you can generate this new table by just switching around the
threes and the sixes. All the geometric figures remain the same but the
tetrachords are new (except for the tetrachords of rows, three and six which are
the same as in the original table).
We still have two tetrachords left. Lets use
1 7 3 4 : 5 6 2 8 to construct another table:

1 7 3 4 5 6 2 8
7 4 3 1 8 6 5 2
3 3 9 3 6 9 6 6
4 1 3 7 2 6 8 5
5 8 6 2 7 3 1 4
6 6 9 6 3 9 3 3
2 5 6 8 1 3 4 7


8 2 6 5 4 3 7 1

Example 13. Hybrid table 1.

Here i just switched the twos with the sevenths but now all the geometric figures
have changed except the one with fours and fives. I would call this table a
Hybrid table because it only has one tetrachord and it is complementary in
different orders (with the exception of the rows at levels two and seven).
We have one more table that can be generated by the tetrachords 1 7 6 4 : 5 3
2 8.

1 7 6 4 5 3 2 8
7 4 6 1 8 3 5 2
6 6 9 6 3 9 3 3
4 1 6 7 2 3 8 5
5 8 3 2 7 6 1 4
3 3 9 3 6 9 6 6
2 5 3 8 1 6 4 7
8 2 3 5 4 6 7 1

Example 14. Hybrid table 2.

Notice how the Hybrid table two is equal to number one but with the threes and
sixes switched. They also have the same geometric figures but different
tetrachords.
I have expanded the original Vedic Table to four tables, thus having more
information for compositional purposes.


It is also possible to use permutation with the different tables and in this way to
change the order of the pitches and enrich melodic content. We can permute a
whole row or only the first tetrachord
( the last step changes in automatic way the order of the complementary
tetrachord ). For example, we have the row:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8, if we permute the row in this way:
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1, we brake with the balance of the row
because the numbers doesn't add up to nine (from the center to the outer part).
We would have to use 2 3 4 5 and find the complementary tetrachord 4 5 6 7.
The problem is that in this case, we have the repetition of numbers four and five
and this brakes with the serial principal of no repetition. On the other hand we
could get reed off a 4 and 5 and keep only six pitches:
2 3 4 : 5 6 7. Notice how we have now a hexachord molded
by two symmetrical trichords. The only other possible hexachord in
this row is 1 2 3 : 6 7 8 and of course, the trichords can be
switched in order to have variation: 5 6 7 : 2 3 4
and 6 7 8 : 1 2 3 . This procedure can also be applied to the
tetrachords of the table, so the melodic sequence generated by
row number two, 2 4 6 8 1 3 5 7
could also be 1 3 5 7 2 4 6 8.
To have all the rows switched like this is just a matter of cutting in halve the
numeric grid and changing the two blocks of place (example 13).





Example 13. Halves of Vedic table switched.

The new variation of the Vedic table shown in example 13 is not in the right
order because there is no symmetry in the diagonals. The proper order of the
rows is the following:




Example 14. Switched halves of Vedic table with ordered rows.



To compose with this system, should I regard the sequence of the rows in the
squares or should I use them in pairs (1 and 8,
2 and 7, 3 and 6, 4 and 5) and not respect the order?. I think that one can deal
with different degrees of freedom and express in different ways the guideline of
the system, but it is important at this stage to reveal the infrastructure of this
numeric greed so we understand it better and get more out of it. Once we know
the rules, we can brake them.
There are still more possibilities of permutation. If we take a tetrachord from the
original table levels one, two or four, we can generate 24 permutations for every
one because four numbers can be ordered in twenty-two different ways. As I
mentioned before, there are only three different tetrachords in the Vedic table,
and one more which is the combination of number 3, 6 and 9 (nine is not
considered as a pitch).
Lets take for instance the collection 1 2 3 4 from level one. I discovered that it
was enough to find twelve different permutations of this tetrachord because the
other twelve are the retrograde of the first. These permutations are:


Example 15. Twelve permutations of tetrachord 1 2 3 4 and their retrogrades.

Every one of these twelve permutations generates a new numeric square ,
which also contains permutations of levels two, three and four. Therefore, in
these twelve squares we have all possible permutations of the tetrachords of
the Vedic table and more information to engender new musical material. This
twelve squares can also be splitted in halve to make other twelve squares as in
example 14.
Now i would like to talk more about interpreting this table musically.
As i said before, i want to use a microtonal scale to use this scale, but
somehow, i think that i can still do some research on the octatonic scale.
Besides using this scale i thought about dividing the piano pitch register in eight
parts, using eight different timbers, eight different modes of attack, and eight
different dynamics.


I could also have eight different densities, or rhythmical scales for the notes
although in this case it may be better to have only four densities because the
other four would be the retrograde of the first.
There is no need to assign the pitches of the octatonic scale to the numbers in
abstract way as i did it( example I in Appendix). We can choose whatever eight
note row and then number the notes. However, it would be nice to choose rows,
which are complementary in most ways, as composers do using the serial
technique of combinatoriality. This is a way of choosing twelve tone aggregates
in which their hexacords hold a mutual relationship. One hexachord can have
the following characteristics:
1.- It can map onto its complement under transposition.
2.- It can map onto its complement under inversion.
3.- It can map onto itself under transposition.
4.- It can map onto itself under inversion.
Some of the hexacords in a row have only one of these characteristics and
some of them have all of them. Using rows, which are all combinatorial help, us
to modulate between different rows in a smooth way. This principle can be
applied to the octatonic scale and there is yet need to investigate the different
possibilities of combinatoriality in this system.
Another thing to consider is that there are only three octatonic scales and that
they share common notes. It is then possible to find a way to modulate from one
scale to another in order to expand the use of absolute pitches.


Example 16. The three octatonic scales and their common notes.

See in example 16 how one scale has always four common notes with the other two.
Any two scales we play together will then contain the twelve notes of the chromatic
scale. One more important thing to notice is that in every scale we can begin with a


halve tone or a whole tone. It really does not matter because we keep the symmetry of
the scale but the melodic material will change in color. Using the scale that begins with
a whole step and assigning the numbers of the table to it, i had a different mode (like
major and minor have the same intervalic content but are inverted and sound different).
It is important to consider this as a composer.
There is still much to be said about the possibilities to compose with the Vedic Table
and the eight tone scale but what I've done up to this moment is enough to start being
creative and to explore new possibilities. I now think that to get lost in numbers and
devices that seem not to be musical is very important because it is a way of learning
how to structure something and how to make your music coherent. All composers have
been in a need to do this because dealing with time is a very complex thing. On the
other hand there still remains the question of whether we are being too intellectual when
we make music in this way and if it is possible to decipher the organization of this
music by the listener. I think that it is possible to deal with structural complexity and at
the same time to be very transparent or clear. It is true that this music is difficult to
understand because we don't have the habit of listening to it but i also think that it is
exciting to listen to music that is constructed in ways that we never thought of.