Math

Mmmm Pi

 

Happy pi day everyone!                                                            For those
not mathematically inclined, 3/14 is a day celebrated each year
to celebrate the wonder that is pi. This year we present to you
a short             composition based                on the digits of pi.
This is a brilliant                      and beautiful in-
terpretation of                         the first few dozen
digits but fails                          to capture the full
power of pi. Pi,                          you see, is tranc-
endental. That                           means, in short,
that it is non re-                        peating and non
terminating. A                           consequence of
that fact is that                          it contains every
finite series there                            is. Contained in
the near random                                 infinite sequence
that is pi, is every                                  song every written;
Beethoven’s 9th,                                       Hey Jude and Sexy
Back are all                                                     there. Concealed in
pi is the                                                                         sequence of art.

I challenge our audience to name every instrument appearing in the video.

This song was created by Micheal John Blake. I suspect that this little wonder will quickly become a geek favourite around this time each year. Apparently it’s gotten enough attention that the composer will be appearing on NPR’s Morning Edition on Monday(Which I understand is the natural alternative to sleeping pills for Americans).

Note: This was posted at 1:59

Ryan

Ryan is a professional nerd, teaching engineering in the frozen north. Somewhat less professionally, he is a costumer, author, blacksmith, juggler, gamer, serial enthusiast, and supporter of the Oxford comma. He can be found on twitter and instagram @studentofwhim. If you like what I do here, feel free to leave a tip in my tipjar.

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10 Comments

  1. I challenge our audience to name every instrument appearing in the video.

    Piano, glockenspiel (or just a generic metallophone, can’t tell), accordion, toy piano, melodica (a.k.a. hooter), bowed psaltery, ukulele, claves, handclaps, banjo, autoharp, and of course a guitar.

  2. Well that’s odd. How, praytell, can someone have copyrighted pi?

    Well I appologize to our viewers for the interruption in service.

    Please enjoy some pie while we attempt to solve this issue.

  3. perhaps we could stare at a circle while listening . . . hopefully THAT hasn’t been copyrighted lately ;-p

  4. Apparently Lars Erickson, who’s making the copyright claim, wrote a piece called the “Pi Symphony” that’s based on the same idea of using Pi to generate the music.

    http://www.pisymphony.com/

    He’s charging $15 to hear a synthesized version of it. I think I’ll pass.

    This is kind of off-topic, but can the idea of using Pi as a basis for music really be copyrightable? I guess if they both end up with the same chords and melody then maybe. Still kind of a dick move.

  5. Shouldn’t we call July 22 Pi day as it is a slightly closer approximation? 22/7 = 3.14285…

  6. If the two songs ended up being similar in the arrangement of timing and instruments I suppose I could see the argument. But I somehow doubt that anyone could copyright the use of a mathematical constant for musical purposes.

    That doesn’t stop anyone from making the claim, though, and YouTube seems keen to err on the side of caution whenever formal complaints are made.

    Also, March 3rd at 1:59:26 is a closer approximation than 22/7. However I say go nuts and eat some tarts in August. They’re an approximation of pie. 😀

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