READING TEST

B- 3
C- 5
D- 2
E- 1
F- 4

B E

ing practice – Level 2

D

Listen by Numbers
A F OUR HUNDRED YEARS AGO, German mathematician Gottfried Leibniz described music as
 “the sensation of counting without being aware you were counting.” He believed there was a close
connection between mathematics and music. However, to many ordinary people, even today, the two
subjects don’t seem to be similar at all. While mathematics seems cold and logical, music is creative and
energizing. How can it be true that the two have such close links?

B A NY MATHEMATICIAN WILL TELL YOU that the rhythms and harmonies of music have
mathematical foundations. We can count the beats in a piece of music, and we can measure the
length or frequency of a note, for example. However, does this really mean that music and mathematics
are connected? We can count the number of words in a sentence or predict the use of at least one verb in a
sentence. However, this does not make Shakespeare’s plays mathematical. Many people argue that since
music is the result of human creativity and inspiration, comparing it with mathematics, which is the result
of rational thought, shows a misunderstanding of what music is really about.

C C ONTEMPORARY MATHEMATICIANS see things differently. They argue that viewing

mathematics as a subject lacking in creativity or inspiration is to misunderstand what their subject is
really about. Just as music isn’t only about beats and rhythms, mathematics isn’t only about arithmetic
and counting. As mathematicians explore the world of numbers, they make discoveries which change the
way they think about numbers and change their understanding of the world. When they solve a problem,
it is comparable to the way composers write a piece of music. Like musicians, they have to make choices:
just as musicians have to choose the most interesting notes, mathematicians have to choose the most
interesting numbers.

D R ECENT RESEARCH HAS SHOWN that the popularity of certain types of music is a result of their
mathematical foundations. Hip-hop music with its rhythmic beats, for example, is popular because we
enjoy hearing mathematically perfect rhythm and patterns. Other research has shown that there is a
direct connection between studying a musical instrument and being good at math. In some fascinating
studies, researchers found that young children who could play an instrument tended to be better at
arithmetic than children who had not learned to play anything. The skills needed to understand fractions
and decimals are similar to the skills needed to understand rhythm. The fact that a person has to do
hours and hours of practice and develop a lot of personal discipline in order to learn an instrument is no
different than the fact that they have to do a lot of practice in order to build strong mathematics skills.

E A NOTHER STRONG ARGUMENT for the direct link between music and mathematics is the fact
that we can use mathematics to explain why we find some combinations of notes pleasant to listen to
and others terrible to listen to. Each note has a unique frequency, but when we combine notes, not all
frequencies will make a beautiful harmony. In fact, some note combinations sound wrong. According to
mathematics, the notes which sound good together tend to have sound waves that have similar patterns.
For example, the frequency of the note E is approximately 3:2 larger than that of the note A. This 3:2
ratio works well both mathematically and musically, and that is why the two notes sound so pleasant
when we hear them together.

F R HYTHM DEPENDS ON ACCURATE COUNTING, and harmony depends on interesting

relationships between numbers. When we get up and dance to music, we follow and respond to
regular mathematical patterns of beat, rhythm, harmony, and melody. In short, the connection between
mathematics and music is both clear to see and a wonderful thing.