After sitting in math class almost everyday, sometimes it's hard to consider the realm of mathematics to extend beyond homework assignments or a test grade simply for the purposes of school. Subconsciously, we all do know that math has real-world applications, but we usually narrow our view to lined-paper and eraser marks. However, after reading Ms. Mariner's blog about the application of sine curves in regards to swimming, I did some research to find other applications of these waves in real life.
The application that I'd like to focus on today would be that of sine waves in music (because who doesn't love music?) It was really interesting to read
this little blurb about sine waves and sound by Professor Rogness at UNM. For instance, apparently the A note above middle C's equation is this:
, which produces a graph like this:
Then, he states that "if we change the period of the sine wave -- then we change the sound,"e.g. the equations and graphs of C# and E.
I always found it interesting that there was such a huge correlation between music and math. One of my favorite Youtubers (ever),
Kurt Schneider, was a math graduate from Yale who is incredibly talented at playing various instruments and arranging music. A lot of interviews from his friends and family (and even his math teacher) said that math was the reason of why he understood the way that music works, so well. This makes me think how cool it would be if we could visualize the sine curves of each note as we listened to different songs and sounds in general! Math is pretty cool, isn't it?
