Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

Like mathematics, music has been an integral aspect of cultures throughout history.

An argument that support its interconnection that Restivo (2013) found is in some sense of

the flux of history and culture and it is still exist into modern times. While Vikas Sha Mbe

(2017, para. 1) stated that, “This may seem like undue hyperbole, but the fact is that music is

one of the most primal and fundamental aspects of human culture with many researchers even

arguing that music (at least in a primitive form) pre-dates the emergence of language itself…

A fact (ironically) not lost on some of the greatest writers in history.”

Actually mathematics and music are different in definitions. Restivo (2013) argued,

that generally mathematics and music are distinctifly different in definition, he continued

“mathematics is a scientific study, full of order, countability and calculability. Music, on the

other hand, is thought to be artistic and expressive” (p. 10). As well as defined in (Merriam

Webster's collegiate dictionary, n.d), “ Music is the science or art of ordering tones or

sounds in succession, in combination, and in temporal relationships to produce a

composition having unity and continuity.” While in the other hand “ mathematics

is the science of numbers and their operations, interrelations, combinations,

generalizations, and abstractions and of space configurations and their structure,

measurement, transformations, and generalizations.”

The study of these two disciplines, though seemingly different, however, is linked and has

been for over two thousand years as David Wright (2009), explained that it has been observed

that mathematics is the most abstract of the sciences, music the most abstract of the arts.

Mathematics attempts to understand conceptual and logical truth and appreciates the intrinsic
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beauty of such” . Russell (2010) argued that mathematical reasoning is not strictly formal, but

always uses intuitions. As well as in music, intuition plays vital role.

Music evokes mood and emotion by the audio medium of tones and rhythms without

appealing to circumstantial means of eliciting such innate human reactions. Therefore it is not

surprising that the symbiosis of the two disciplines is an age old story said. As the researcher

learn more about mathematics and its relationship to other disiplines, it is found how

important it is to study and understand how mathematics relates to other disciplines.

Furthermore, researcher wants to implement mathematics in other fields. In this term paper

the researcher trying to get more information about the relationship between mathematics and

music. The relationship between mathematics and music was exist for long time ago as Lanzo

& Scarvo (2015) stated that based on books about Ancient Greek origin, it is found that there

is relationship between mathematics and music. The relationship between mathematics and

music has been existed for two thousand years, and spans different cultures and civilizations.

According to Olson (as cited in Shah, 2010), “in the case of European music, from the

eleventh century, the diagrams used in music are similar to mathematical graphs of discrete

functions in twodimensional Cartesian coordinates” (p.17).

Since the young age, children need to learn mathematics in new and exciting ways.

Teachers should show to students that mathematics has many applications to real life, and it

can be a challenging subject to learn. By studying this term paper people will know the strong

relationship between mathematics and music.