Nature’s Numbers by Ian Stewart

Chapter 5:
From Violins to Videos

Submitted by:

FABELLA, JONNALYN, C.
IGNACIO, JOHN PATRICK, M.
IQUIÑA, ANDREA FAYE, P.
LACHICA, CAMILLE JOYCE, D.

AC101

Submitted to:

Prof. Cecilia Montenegro

JANUARY 2020
INTRODUCTION:

This chapter opens up with a story on how applied mathematics and pure
mathematics join together to the creation of something that is more powerful and
compelling than what could have been made by either of the two alone. And it began at
the start of the 16th century, with the problem of the vibrating violin string.

* According to the Greeks,

The ways in which the string of the violin vibrates depends on the manner of how it has
been plucked.
* it has been later on realized that the pitch of the tone of the violin is determined by the
FREQUENCY OF VIBRATION,
* Each frequency corresponds to a different configuration of the moving string,
and the same string can take up many different shapes.
* This idea by the greeks was evidenced through a presentation of how the pitch of the
violin is dependent on the nodes.

* Nodes= places along the length of a string

-finger placed at the center of string =produces a note one octave higher
- finger placed at ⅓ way along the string= produces a higher note
* This indicate that more nodes, the higher the frequency. Moreover, the corresponding
vibrations to it are called = STANDING VIBRATIONS. These vibrations create an up
and down movement but do not travel along the string, which is also known as the
AMPLITUDE OF THE WAVE.
* The AMPLITUDE OF THE WAVE determines the TONE’S LOUDNESS.
An English Mathematician named, Brook Taylor published the fundamental
vibrational frequency of a violin string in terms of its length, tension, and density on the
year 1714.
BROOK TAYLOR
In 1714, he published fundamental vibrational frequency of a violin string in terms
of its length, tension, and density.

On the other hand, Jean Le Rond d’ Alembert have shown that many vibrations
of a violin string are not sinusoidal standing waves. By sinusoidal it means having a
shape like a sine curve. He also proved that the immediate shape of the wave can be
anything you like (Draw shape for visualization)

JEAN LE ROND D’ ALEMBERT

 In 1746, A frenchman which showed that many vibrations of a violin string are not
sinusoidal standing waves.
 proved that the immediate shape of the wave can be anything you like

As a response to Jean, Leonhard Euler, a swiss mathematician developed the

“wave equation” for a string which expresses the idea that acceleration of each tiny
segment of a string is proportional to the tensile forces acting upon that segment. It is
also called as a “partial differential equation” as it involves not only rates of change in
time but also rates of change in space.

LEONHARD EULER
 In 1748, he formulated the “wave equation” as response to d’Alembert’s work.
 The ends of the string remain fixed, and the string can be of any shape.

Daniel Bernoulli arrived with a different solution to the wave equation, from which
according to him, the most general solution can be represented as a superstition of
infinitely many sinusoidal standing waves.

* Euler and Bernoulli’s different methods resulted to a controversy. However they were
both declared correct since it was explained that : Every periodically varying shape can
be represented as a superposition of infinite number of sine curves. The principle of
superposition states that, when two or more waves of the same type cross at some
point, the resultant displacement at that point is equal to the sum of the displacements
due to each individual wave.
* Since there was already a resolution for the mystery of the violin string, mathematics
began hunting for a bigger game. From then, this mathematical quest turned its
attention to another instrument.

With the resolution of the mystery of the violin string, the mathematicians went
hunting for a bigger game. The mathematicians turned their attention to drums. A violin
string is only one-dimensional, so drums became the next obvious musical
instrument for it’s a surface not a straight line making it two dimensional.

Mathematicians understanding of the wave equation grew and later on began to

move out of the musical domain. Wave equation became an absolutely central
feature of mathematical physics. Wave equation made us understand the hidden
unity in nature.

Wave equation is everywhere…

Fluid dynamics: describes the formation and nature of water waves.
Theory of sound: transmission of sound waves-vibrations of air where
molecules become alternately compressed and separated.

William Gilbert
 Physician to Elizabeth I
 He described the Earth as a huge magnet and observed that electrically charged
bodies can attract or repel each other.

Benjamin Franklin
 1752: proved that lighting is a form of electricity by flying a kite in a thunderstorm
Luigi Galvani
 Noted that electrical sparks caused a dead frog’s muscles to contract.

Alessandro Volta
 Invented the first battery

Michael Faraday
 English physicist and chemist
 He was fascinated of electricity and magnetism.
 He knew that electric current could hold a magnetic force and that a magnet
could produce an electric current. In 1831 he succeeded and shown that
electricity and magnetism are two aspects of electromagnetism.
 King William IV asked him what use his scientific were and he answered: “I do
not know Your Majesty, but I do know that one day you will tax them.” Practical
uses soon followed and the electric motor and electrical generator was invented.
 Faraday also advanced the theory of electromagnetism: magnetic force does
not act “at a distance” but instead propagated through space along curved lines.
The same went for electrical force.

James Clerk Maxwell

 Successor of Faraday, Mathematician
 He expressed Faraday’s ideas in terms of mathematical equationsdistributions of
magnetic and electrical charge throughout space.
 1864: He refined his theory down to four differential equations and these
revealed a curious symmetry between electricity and magnetism, each affecting
the other in a similar manner.
 It is through the elegant symbolism of Maxwell’s equations had humanity made a
leap from violins to videos.
 A series of algebraic manipulations extracted wave equation from Maxwell’s
equations-which implied the existence of electromagnetic waves.
 Moreover, the wave equation implied that these electromagnetic waves traveled
with the speed of light. One immediate deduction is that light itself is an electromagnetic
wave. Just as the violin string can vibrate at many frequencies-so can the
electromagnetic field according to the wave equation.
Strings with different frequencies produce different sounds. Visible
electromagnetic waves with different frequencies produce different colors. Maxwell’s
proposed equations needed to be tested to know if they do apply on the physical
world.

Heinrich Hertz
 German physicist
 Through experimentation he was able to generate electromagnetic waves at the
frequency we now call the radio.

Guglielmo Marconi
 He successfully carried out the first wireless telegraphy in 1895 and received the
first transatlantic radio signal in 1901.

The rest as they say is history. Radar, television and videotape soon came after.
So next time you use your TV and watch a movie, remember that without
mathematicians none of these marvels would have been invented.

SUMMARY:
The Chapter five of Nature’s Numbers by Ian Stewart, is a fascinating historical
recap of how initial investigations into the way a violin string vibrates gave rise to
formulae and equations which turned out to be useful in mapping electricity and
magnetism, which turned out to be aspects of the same fundamental force, the
understanding of which underpinned the invention of radio, radar, TV etc – taking in
descriptions of the contributions from Michael Faraday, James Clerk Maxwell, Heinrich
Hertz and Guglielmo Marconi.
 Stewart makes the point that mathematical theory tends to start with the simple
and immediate and grow ever-more complicated. This is because of a basic principle,
which is that you have to start somewhere.

The chapter titled “From Violin to Videos” showed us that a simple violin string
vibrating would cause a chain of thinking and discoveries that lead to the birth of
television. Everything started in the single violin string which was when plucked, it
produced vibrations. Then, Euler’s and Bernoulli’s works concluded that the basic
vibrational components are the sinusoidal waves. Later on, Euler formulated the wave
equation which was used in the fields of fluid dynamics, theories of sound, and theories
of electricity and magnetism. Years later, it led to the discovery of electromagnetism by
the physicist Michael Faraday. It was Faraday’s successor, James Clerk Maxwell, a
mathematician who used mathematical equations to describe the idea of Faraday about
the distributions of magnetic and electrical charge throughout the space. Finally, this
gave birth to the existence of visible electromagnetic waves (travels with light) with
different frequencies which produce different colors. That’s how mathematical equations
bring the world from simple to complex discovery.
The point is in order to have an epic discovery; it has to start with something
simple. Mathematics reveals the simplicities of nature and allows us to generalize from
simple examples to the complexities of the world.