New Books in Mathematics Eli Maor, “Music by the Numbers: From Pythagoras to Schoenberg” (Princeton UP, 2018)
Jul 18, 2018
Eli Maor explains the math-music connection from Pythagoras to Schoenberg. Topics include parallel crises in physics and music, acoustic principles demonstrated with a slinky, comparison of ear and eye perception of vibrations, Stravinsky's revolutionary music, and the crucial role of reference systems in art and music.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Mersenne: Primes And Musical Treatises
- Maor highlights Marin Mersenne as both a number theorist and the author of a massive early music-theory compendium.
- Mersenne documented instruments, tunings, and computations that shaped baroque music theory.
Sauveur's Overtone Discoveries
- Maor recounts Joseph Sauveur's work on overtones despite hearing impairment and assistants acting as his ears.
- Sauveur demonstrated that vibrating strings produce independent overtones that determine timbre.
Vibrating String Sparked Major Math Debate
- The vibrating-string problem catalyzed a 50-year mathematical debate involving Bernoulli and others.
- Maor argues music's cultural weight pushed mathematicians to tackle this physical problem early with calculus.