Physicist Geoffrey West has found that simple, mathematical laws govern the properties of cities - that wealth, crime rate, walking speed and many other aspects of a city can be deduced from a single number: the city's population. Watch these TED Talks to learn how math is not only magical, but incredibly necessary: And another wonderful thing about this talk: the mathematical theory they used to make this possible was all centered around multiplying by the number 3.Math is important to every human that has ever walked the face of the planet (and to every human that ever will). All in all, the music was pretty rough (which it was meant to be), but I found the talk to fascinating, and it was certainly something I wouldn’t have thought of myself. I do enjoy listening to music (I have no shame in admitting that I blast classical music while I’m studying), and I found that the live performance allowed me to better connect with the piece. In addition, while it might not be entirely relevant for our TED Talks, I enjoyed how the ugliest music piece was played in person on the piano, and not recorded or played on an automated sound system. Again, it might only be me, and some of you might fall asleep during the ten minutes of the talk, but I found that the duel aspects of the presentation (liberal arts and analytical thinking) invited and supported a wider audience. I’m not sure if it’s because I am interested in both Math and Music, but I found the concepts and research to be fascinating. On the other hand, I really enjoyed the topic. I also felt that perhaps a bit more background was given then was necessary, but if he was given a certain time that he had to fill, then I feel like the information added a nice storyline to his presentation. For one thing the speaker, Rickard, was obviously nervous, which is understandable, but after watching other Ted Talks I found that others were better able to hide their insecurities. Looking deeper into the TED Talk, I found some things that I thought were done very well, and others that weren’t. But after hearing it played, I have to agree with the musicologists when they say that repetition is necessary in any beautiful piece of music (it was almost as bad as a Katy Perry song, almost). It was performed on stage by an accomplished pianist. Using sonar and a 200-year-old mathematical concept dealing with prime numbers, he and his crew were able to create what they call “The Perfect Ping” (aka the world’s ugliest song). So in this TED Talk, Rickard explains the research he has done with other mathematicians and engineers regarding the subject. Over and over for nearly an hour (while my Chem homework sat undone, but anyways) I tried to play without repeating anything. Don’t trust me? Sit down in front of a piano, whether you play or not, and try to play for only 30 seconds without repeating anything the entire time. But believe it or not, avoiding repetition in a piece of music is nearly impossible without advanced mathematical concepts. What exactly constitutes ugly? Well, according to people that study music for a living, a piece of music that has repetition can be considered beautiful. This TED Talk, given by mathematician Scott Rickard, was about mathematically designing the world’s ugliest piece of music. Scott Rickard giving his TED Talk: The Beautiful Math Behind The Ugliest Music.Īfter watching this TED Talk I can honestly say I have never heard anything like it, but it held my attention for a whole ten minutes at 11:30 at night, so I definitely found it interesting.
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