Download the PDF of Music, part 6: Pitch In
The way in which mathematics has traditionally been taught often makes it difficult to think of it as a creative or aesthetic subject. Few of us would link it to poetry, but Albert Einstein described mathematics as ‘the poetry of logical ideas’. Henry David Thoreau, the 19th century American poet and philosopher, wrote, ‘We have heard much about the poetry of mathematics, but very little of it has yet been sung.’
Mathematics, like music, fills our everyday lives. It’s central to shopping, to travel, decorating, knitting, carpentry, sport and politics. Mathematician Keith Devlin (2000) goes so far as to say that ‘mathematics is not about number but about life’. And he is right in so far as mathematics is also about problem-solving, reasoning, logic and intuition, as well as pattern and comparison – all of which can be found in musical activity.
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