Music and mathematics : from Pythagoras to fractals / edited by John Fauvel, Raymond Flood and Robin Wilson.
| Other author | Fauvel, John, editor. |
| Other author | Flood, Raymond, editor. |
| Other author | Wilson, Robin J., editor. |
| Format | Book |
| Publication Info | Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2003. |
| Description | 189 pages : illustrations, music ; 26 cm |
| Subjects |
| Contents | Music and mathematics through history. Tuning and temperament: closing the spiral / Neil Bibby -- Musical cosmology: Kepler and his readers / J.V. Field -- Mathematics of musical sound. Science of musical sound / Charles Taylor -- Faggot's fretful fiasco / Ian Stewart -- Helmholtz: combinational tones and consonance / David Fowler -- Mathematical structure in music. Geometry of music / Wilfrid Hodges -- Ringing the changes: bells and mathematics / Dermot Roaf, Arthur White -- Composing with numbers: sets, rows and magic squares / Jonathan Cross -- Composer speaks. Microtones and projective planes / Carlton Gamer, Robin Wilson -- Composing with fractals / Robert Sherlaw Johnson. |
| Abstract | From Ancient Greek times, music has been seen as a mathematical art, and the relationship between mathematics and music has fascinated generations. This collection of wide-ranging, comprehensive and fully illustrated papers, authored by leading scholars, presents the link between these two fields in a lucid manner that is suitable for students of both subjects, as well as the general reader with an interest in music. Physical, theoretical, physiological, acoustic, compositional, and analytical relationships between music and mathematics are unfolded and explored with focus on tuning and temperament, the mathematics of sound, and modern compositional techniques. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 177-182) and index. |
| ISBN | 0198511876 |