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Maths and Music

Chris Budd, University of Bath [read Chris's biography]

Summary

Would you like to find out about the connection between maths and music? Or would you prefer to get involved in practical activities about maths, music and dancing? The talks and accompanying tasks on this page are designed to take you through some of the connections between maths, music and dancing.

This material is aimed at students in the later stages of KS4, and particularly at gifted and talented students wanting to find out more about the practical applications of the maths they learn, or to enrich their curriculum studies.

The material linked to this page was originally used in a one-day master class with students from Essex, London, and Norfolk. Any student or teacher is now welcome to use it. Comments or requests for help should be sent to Jenny Gage (jag55@cam.ac.uk).

Talk

  • First part. of Chris Budd's talk. Rational and irrational numbers.
  • Second part. of Chris Budd's talk. The rationality of music.
  • Third part. of Chris Budd's talk. Dancing with mathematics. The content of this session is drawn from Chapter 2: "Dancing with Mathematics" from 'Mathematics Galore!' by Chris Budd and Chris Sangwin (published by Oxford University Press, 2001, ISBN no. 0 19 850770 4)

Project work

  • Task 1. Project work associated with the first part of Chris Budd's talk - rational and irrational numbers
  • Task 2a. Project work associated with the second part of Chris Budd's talk - the just scale
  • Task 2b. Project work associated with the second part of Chris Budd's talk - the well-tempered scale
  • Task 3a. Project work associated with the third part of Chris Budd's talk - symmetries of the square
  • Task 3b. Project work associated with the third part of Chris Budd's talk - combining symmetries of the square
  • Task 3c. Project work associated with the third part of Chris Budd's talk - linking symmetries of the square with dancing

Additional material