The Sound of Math

1
The Sound of Math

• The Interaction Between Math and Music
• By Shanna Brown, Jonathon London and Myra Hester

2
References

• Golden Ratio http//mathworld.wolfram.com/GoldenRa
  tio.html
  
• Mathematics and Music.4th. Berlin Springer,
  2002.
  
• Can You Hum Your Way to Math Genius? Forbes
  2002
  
• Gordon Shaw Study
• Pythagoras and music www.edu-cyberpg.com/Music/sha
  w.html
  
• Music Notation http//www.lessontutor.com/eesMusic
  1.html
  
• Neuroscience Letters, Issue 3, 16 January 2004,
  Pages 193-196
  
• Mozart Effect http//coe.sdsu.edu/eet/articles/moz
  arteffect/start.htm
  

3
Pictures

• Pythagoras www.epsilones.com
• Pythagoras and Lyre www.hypatia-lovers.com
• Music of the Spheres www.invinciblemusic.com
• Mozart ww.jwilson.edu
• Sheet music www.virtualsheetmusic.com
• Brain www.pbs.org
• Students playing music www.bc.com

4
The Sound of Math

• Historical Connection
• Musical Notation
• Studies on the music/math correlation.

5
The Historical Connection

• Pythagoras (6th century BC) observed that when
  the blacksmith struck his anvil, different notes
  were produced according to the weight of the
  hammer

6
Historical Connection Continued

• He then experimented with his lyre. He discovered
  that if the length of the two strings are
  compared at a ratio of 23, the difference in the
  pitch was one octave higher. This is known as a
  fifth. This fifth is the basis for the 12 major
  scales.
• Having established the relationship between music
  and the space/number fired the imaginations of
  the Pythagoreans and was taken up especially by
  the School of Plato and the subsequent
  Neo-Platonists

7
Modern Music Notation

• Notes are like numbers in the sense that they all
  contain a certain value. Notes and rests have a
  certain duration. A half note lasts for 2 beats,
  a quarter notes note last one beat.
• The division a pace of these beats are determined
  by the meter as indicated by the 4/4. This states
  that there are 4 beats to a measure

8
Music Notation

• Regular meter has notes that are subdivided into
  2 beats. Examples of regular meter are 2/4, ¾,
  and 4/4.
  
• Compound meter has notes that are subdivided into
  three beats. Examples of compound meter are 6/8,
  9/8, and 12/8

9
Music and Math Students The Mozart Effect

• Is there any actual scientific proof that a
  causal relationship between music and reasoning
  exists?
  
• Gordon Shaw and Frances Rauscher of the
  University of California, Irvine predicted that
  listening to music could causally enhance one's
  ability to do spatial-temporal reasoning.
• Math, science, physics, chess, and music all
  involve this type of reasoning.

10
Shaw Continued

• Results from their 1995 experiment showed that
  listening to the Mozart Sonata for two Pianos in
  D minor did improve spatial temporal reasoning
  abilities among college students.
• The media dubbed Shaws findings the Mozart
  Effect.
  
• Two often overlooked points
• 1) The after- effect (5 min.)
• 2) Only Mozarts K.448 has been proven
  effective.
  
• coe.sdsu.edu/eet/articles/ mozarteffect/start.htm

11
Studies Continued

• Study printed in Neuroscience Letters Vol. 354,
  issue 3, 16 Jan. 2004 by Vincent J. Schmithorst,
  and Scott K. Holland looked at an FMRI scan of 15
  college age adults, seven with music training
  since childhood and eight without, while they
  mentally performed basic fractions.
• 
  

Results The musicians had increased working
memory and abstract representation of numerical
quantities or shape information due to musical
notation and reading. However, decreased activati
on in visual association areas, the areas of the
brain associated with repeated visual stimuli to
new objects.
12
Conclusion

• Its a good idea to begin learning an instrument
  at a young, but its never too late to start.
  Music improves memory, which in turn improves
  math skills and spatial reasoning.
• Listen to Mozart before you study.