Professional Documents
Culture Documents
and Music
Our Goal
To understand some of the mathematics
found in music
To make mathematical functions and
geometric transformations better understood
through music
To be able to differentiate the curriculum for
the auditory learners and/or the musicallyinclined.
Overview
Historical Connections
Obvious Connections
Functional Connections
Geometric Connections
Pythagorean music
Identified music with numbers
Music was defined and restricted by the math that
dictated its theory
Pythagoras used only whole number ratios of
string length and the frequencies of notes
If you divide an octave into 12 equal parts, we get
the irrational number 2 1/12
Pythagorean music
Proved the existence of irrational numbers but
chose to ignore numbers that could not be written
as a fraction
The omission of irrational numbers resulted in
scale known as a minor scale
Speculations arise about the effect on Greek play
(tragedies) since the music is much more sinister
Cultural Differences
Cultures have developed their music in various ways,
among them differences in the ways they divided an
octave into notes.
Western music uses a pattern of 5 - 7 notes in a scale.
African cultures also use 7 notes with the 3rd and 7th
notes slightly flattened, these are now known as blue
notes
Most Asian music uses a pattern of 12 notes in a
scale.
Measures of Time
Time signature is a fraction whose numerator tells us
how many beats make up a measure and whose
denominator tells what note is assigned to that beat.
GCD in Music
The concept of Greatest Common Denominator
and Addition of Fractions can be used to
determine if a musician is working within the
given time signature or rhythm.
LCM in Music
The math concept of Least Common Multiple can be
used to determine where the second note will fall in
relation to the three-note rhythmic scale.
Functional Connections
y = f(x)
y = f(x) + 2
y = 2 f(x)
y = -f(x)
y = 2 f(x) + 4
Geometric Connections
Many geometric transformations have musical
counterpart
Music
Math
repeat
horizontal translation
transposition
Math
inversion
vertical reflection
retrogression
horizontal reflection
retrograde inversion
180 rotation
Bibliography
Garland, Trudi Hammel and Kahn, Charity Vaughan. Math and Music: Harmonious
Connections. Palo Alto: Dale Seymour Pulbications, 1995.
Beall, Scott. Functional Melodies. Key Curriculum Press, 2000.
Peterson, Ivars. Circles of Dissonance" MAA Online. November 24, 1997. June
15, 2005 <http://www.maa.org/mathland/mathtrek_11_24.html>.
Peterson, Ivars. Medieval Harmony" MAA Online. 1999. June 15, 2005
<http://www.maa.org/mathland/mathtrek_1_25_99.html>.
Mathematics and Music. Rusin, David.2004. June 15, 2005.
<http://www.math.niu.edu/~rusin/uses-math/music/>