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mathematics and music |

At first sight, music and mathematics are two completely different disciplines. Many mathematicians feel, however, that there are some close relations. Music often has mathematical structures and characteristics and, even more importantly, there are also many artistic aspects in mathematics. Bringing music and mathematics together could therefore increase the understanding of both disciplines.

At the end of my ten week English for Academic Purposes course from August to October 1998 at East Coast College of English in Brisbane (Australia), I wrote an essay entitled `How do mathematics and music relate to each other?’. This paper provides a short overview of the interesting connections between these two topics.

The article was slightly reworked in summer 2005 for a publication in in Mathematical Spectrum (vol. 41, no. 1), a magazine for students and teachers of mathematics in universities, colleges and schools worldwide.

michael beer | dr. rer. pol. | dipl. math. | bern | switzerland | 05.02.2011 |