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    Exploring Combinations and The Pascal Triangle Through Music

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    Wayne Pedranti
    The document discusses the connections between mathematics and music, exploring rhythmic patterns and structures found in music. It introduces the clave rhythm and explores ways to notate and count rhythms mathematically. Students investigate the number of possible rhythmic patterns for a given number of notes and counts, leading to the discovery of Pascal's triangle and its underlying patterns.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Exploring Combinations and The Pascal Triangle Through Music

    Uploaded by

    Wayne Pedranti
    141 views17 pages
    The document discusses the connections between mathematics and music, exploring rhythmic patterns and structures found in music. It introduces the clave rhythm and explores ways to notate and count rhythms mathematically. Students investigate the number of possible rhythmic patterns for a given number of notes and counts, leading to the discovery of Pascal's triangle and its underlying patterns.

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    Exploring Combinations and the Pascal Triangle Through Music

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    The document discusses the connections between mathematics and music, exploring rhythmic patterns and structures found in music. It introduces the clave rhythm and explores ways to notate and count rhythms mathematically. Students investigate the number of possible rhythmic patterns for a given number of notes and counts, leading to the discovery of Pascal's triangle and its underlying patterns.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    141 views17 pages

    Exploring Combinations and The Pascal Triangle Through Music

    Uploaded by

    Wayne Pedranti
    The document discusses the connections between mathematics and music, exploring rhythmic patterns and structures found in music. It introduces the clave rhythm and explores ways to notate and count rhythms mathematically. Students investigate the number of possible rhythmic patterns for a given number of notes and counts, leading to the discovery of Pascal's triangle and its underlying patterns.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 17

    Music

    Discovering the art of


    Mathematics
    Introduction
    Mathematics is music for the mind; music is
    mathematics for the soul.
    1. What is mathematics? Find a good definition.

    2. What is music? Find a good definition.

    3. What is art? Do you think mathematics is an art? Why or why not?

    4. Classroom Discussion: Compare your definitions with your classmates and


    your professor and agree on definitions for mathematics, music, dance and
    art.
    Exploration of Rhythms
    A mathematician, like a painter or a poet, is a maker of
    patterns. If his patterns are more permanent than theirs, it is
    because they are made of ideas. His patterns, like the
    painter’s or the poet’s must be beautiful; the ideas, like the
    colors or the words, must fit together in a harmonious way.

    G.H. Hardy (English Mathematician; 1877 - 1947)


    Looking for Patterns
    How often do you listen to music?

    Why do you think music is so important for you? For humans in general?

    What is your favorite piece of music? Why?

    Analyze your piece of music: can you find any structure? Consider rhythm,
    melody, general format, chords, lyrics, loudness, …

    Classroom Discussion: Share the structure that you found in your piece with
    your classmates. Are there any common structures? Any common themes? Do
    you see any mathematics yet?
    SON or Clave
    Latin Beats
    The Clave
    Counting Rhythms
    ● The one we just heard is called SON or 3/2 Clave.

    ● Basic Salsa Rhythm

    ● It is one of the most famous rhythms in the world. In Cuba it goes by the
    name tresillo and in the USA it is often called Habanera. It is also found
    widely in West African traditional music.
    Binary Rhythm Notation
    Write a 1 for a note (when we play a note or clap)

    write a 0 for a rest (when we do nothing)

    Son rhythm looks like (first 8 counts)

    10010010
    Investigate in Pairs
    The first part of Son consists of 3 notes and 5 rests on a total of
    8 counts. We first would like to know how many possible
    rhythms there are given 3 notes (and 5 rests) on 8 counts. This
    will be our first mathematical exploration. Work in groups and
    take your time. Document your work, reason why attempts
    worked or didn’t work. Consider for instance the patterns if you
    have 1,2 or 3 notes on 3 counts, and 1,2,3 or 4 notes on 4
    counts. Have fun!
    Independent Investigation
    Take your notebook and write the above numbers
    in a triangle (pyramid), the rows corresponding to
    the number of counts and the “columns”
    corresponding to the number of notes. Can you see
    a pattern now? Describe the symmetries you
    observe. Think about what happens if you have no
    notes at all, how many rhythms are there?
    Pascals Triangle
    Additional Cases to Complete the Triangle
    It becomes a full symmetric triangle when you add on the left side of the
    triangle the following numbers:

    ● Given 2 counts, how many ways are there to have a rhythm with 0 notes?
    ● Given 3 counts, how many ways are there to have a rhythm with 0 notes?
    ● Given 4 counts, how many ways are there to have a rhythm with 0 notes?
    ● Given 5 counts, how many ways are there to have a rhythm with 0 notes?
    Pascals Triangle

    1
    1 1
    1 2 1
    1 3 3 1
    1 4 6 4 1
    1 5 10 10 5 1
    1 6 15 20 15 6 1
    1 7 21 35 35 21 7 1
    1 8 28 56 70 56 28 8 1
    1 9 36 84 126 126 84 36 9 1
    Classroom Discussion
    What are the patterns you find in
    Pascal’s triangle? How can you use
    patterns to find the next rows without
    having to count rhythms?
    Pascal’s Triangle

    Blaise Pascal Yanghui Omar Khayyam


    French Mathematician Chinese Mathematician Persian Astronomer & Poet
    1623 - 1662 1238 - 1298 1048 - 1131

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