Building a Band With Famous Mathematicians
In honor of #WorldMusicDay, let’s explore some musical connections in math, as shared by math consultant and musicologist David Sword, during his “Seven for Seven” presentation at the 2019 Teachers Teaching with Technology™ International Conference (T3IC).
While it’s generally known that math and music are closely intertwined — chords in all keys are numbered in a standard pattern, for instance — Sword went deeper into the topic by introducing an imaginary band comprised of historical mathematicians.
Envision the Euclidean Fibonacci Pythagorean Sword-Play Band (or EFPSPB for short) …
Pythagorean ratios not only define the 13 notes of the chromatic scale, those same intervals define the placement of the frets (the small bars of metal across the fingerboard) on a guitar.
“So I imagine it as Pythagoras was the very first rock ’n’ roll guitar hero,” Sword said.
Euclid lays down the band’s beat because his algorithm for distributing a certain number of objects over a certain number of spaces creates rhythmic patterns, as found in Elvis Presley’s American rockabilly standard, “Hound Dog.”
And the Fibonacci sequence shows up in the keys of a piano, so the Italian mathematician “is not only on keyboards, he’s ‘in’ the keyboard,” Sword explained.
Our imaginary band of famous mathematicians features:
- Euclid on drums
- Fibonacci on keyboard
- Pythagoras on lead guitar
- And Sword out front as lead singer, of course
Check out Sword’s entertaining presentation to hear how the Euclidean Fibonacci Pythagorean Sword-Play Band might sound.
T³™ National Instructor David Sword shares why “music is math with feelings” at T³IC.
The “Seven for Seven” conference session features seven motivating speakers presenting seven inspiring topics for seven minutes each. You can find additional “Seven for Seven” thought-leadership talks on the T³IC website
About the author: Erica Schiller is a Marketing Programs Manager at Texas Instruments Education Technology. In this role, she promotes professional development opportunities using TI technology to educators to support student success. Schiller has over 25 years of experience in marketing, public relations and event planning in technology and education markets.
Tagcloud
Archive
- 2024
-
2023
- January (3)
- February (3)
- March (5)
- April (3)
- May (3)
- June (3)
- July (2)
-
August (6)
- 5 Ways to Spruce Up Your Classroom for Back to School
- Day of the Dog: Which Dog Is Roundest?
- Women Who Code: A TI Intern’s Fascinating STEM Journey
- 6 Sensational TI Resources to Jump-Start Your School Year
- 3 Back-to-School Math Activities to Reenergize Your Students
- A New School Year — A New You(Tube)!
- September (2)
- October (3)
- November (2)
- 2022
-
2021
- January (2)
- February (3)
- March (5)
-
April (7)
- Top Tips for Tackling the SAT® with the TI-84 Plus CE
- Monday Night Calculus With Steve Kokoska and Tom Dick
- Which TI Calculator for the SAT® and Why?
- Top Tips From a Math Teacher for Taking the Online AP® Exam
- Celebrate National Robotics Week With Supervised Teardowns
- How To Use the TI-84 Plus Family of Graphing Calculators To Succeed on the ACT®
- AP® Statistics: 6 Math Functions You Must Know for the TI-84 Plus
- May (1)
- June (3)
- July (2)
- August (5)
- September (2)
-
October (4)
- Transformation Graphing — the Families of Functions Modular Video Series to the Rescue!
- Top 3 Halloween-Themed Classroom Activities
- In Honor of National Chemistry Week, 5 “Organic” Ways to Incorporate TI Technology Into Chemistry Class
- 5 Spook-tacular Ways to Bring the Halloween “Spirits” Into Your Classroom
- November (4)
- December (1)
-
2020
- January (2)
- February (1)
- March (3)
- April (1)
- May (2)
- July (1)
- August (2)
- September (3)
-
October (7)
- Tips for Teachers in the time of COVID-19
- Top 10 Features of TI-84 Plus for Taking the ACT®
- TI Codes Contest Winners Revealed
- Best of Chemistry Activities for the Fall Semester
- Best of Biology Activities for the Fall Semester
- Best of Physics Activities for the Fall Semester
- Best of Middle Grades Science Activities
- November (1)
- December (2)
- 2019
-
2018
- January (1)
- February (5)
- March (4)
- April (5)
- May (4)
- June (4)
- July (4)
- August (4)
- September (5)
-
October (9)
- Art in Chemistry
- Which Texas Instruments (TI) Calculator for the ACT® and Why?
- Meet TI Teacher of the Month: Jessica Kohout
- Innovation in Biology
- Learning With Your Students
- A first-of-its-kind STEM strategy charts path to help educators
- #NCTMregionals Hartford 2018 Recap
- The Math Behind “Going Viral”
- Real-World Applications of Chemistry
-
November (8)
- Testing Tips: Using Calculators on Class Assessments
- Girls in STEM: A Personal Perspective
- 5 Teachers You Should Be Following on Instagram Right Now
- Meet TI Teacher of the Month: Katie England
- End-of-Marking Period Feedback Is a Two-Way Street
- #NCTMregionals Kansas City 2018 Recap
- Slope: It Shouldn’t Just Be a Formula
- Hit a high note exploring the math behind music
- December (5)
- 2017
- 2016
- 2015