Print Price: $52.95

Format:
Paperback
200 pp.
Numerous halftones and line drawings, 189 mm x 246 mm

ISBN-13:
9780199298938

Publication date:
July 2006

Imprint: OUP UK

Music and Mathematics

From Pythagoras to Fractals

John Fauvel, Raymond Flood and Robin Wilson

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 subjects 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 mathematics and music are unfolded and explored with focus on tuning and temperament, the mathematics of sound, bell-ringing and modern compositional techniques.

Readership : Suitable for students of both music and mathematics, as well as the general reader with an interest in music.

Reviews

• `Review from previous edition This is a lucid and stimulating introduction to a many-sided topic, leavened with amusing anecdotes and occasional donnish humour. The writing throughout is wonderfully elegant and clear, so when the mathematical symbolism defeated me I could still follow the gist of the argument.'
  BBC Music Magazine
• `Throughout this well-produced book, the roughly equal measures of mathematical and musical examples never overwhelm the text, which covers the ground at a pace suited to the informed reader who wants to get straight to the concepts without narrative or theoretical clutter. Given the inherently complex nature of the subject matter this seems quite an achievement.'
  London Mathematical Society Newsletter July 2004
• `An ear-opening book for students of mathematics, especially those who plan to teach, whose style will also suit music students keen to think in new ways. Recommended
  '
  Choice
• `It is generally believed that there is a correlation between professional engagement in music and an amateur interest in mathematics, and vice versa. This book should appeal equally to both communities, and it will also appeal to those interested in the history of science.
  '
  Times Higher Education Supplement 14/05/04
• `The book presents a comprehensive look at the connections between music and mathematics ... This nicely written book would be appreciated by all who want to delve deeper into the connections between the two fields.'
  EMS Newsletter September 2005