Interestingly, many studies have proven that mathematics and music are closely related. Einstein used to play music when he became stuck solving a mathematical problem. Beethoven was deaf for almost his entire life, but somehow made amazing music. Although both math and music are entirely different from each other, the relationship between them extends to many elements, and learning one can

sometimes bring success to the other. It is not uncommon to find that people who excel in music also excel in math, or vice versa. Let’s explore how math and music are connected.

Math and music both use patterns

One strong similarity between math and music is that both involve patterns. Music is about creating patterns and math is about studying those patterns. According to researchers, some renowned pieces of music have a specific mathematical structure. You can use various mathematical phenomena in music, such as geometry, trigonometry, calculus and signal processing.

Rhythms use periodic beats to make up the base of the music. Producing appealing beats includes a combination of notes with changing periodicity and frequencies. The melodies are waves, and an ideal melody makes a sine wave, which is considered a perfect wave in mathematics. Melodies consist of different combinations of musical notes from different sets of pitches, having repetitive intervals called octaves. As one moves higher in the octave, the pitch gets higher.

Listening to music can boost mathematical skills

Researchers have found that listening to music triggers certain areas of the brain that are also triggered are processed in different hemispheres of the brain, which helps create a balance between the two. Listening to music can improve a person’s cognitive ability and math skills. In fact, a study concluded that having music playing during math lessons helped students score up to 40% higher on exams.

Math helps in reading music

Math knowledge can aid in learning music more efficiently. Music is made up of a number of pieces called measures, and each measure has an equal number of beats. This is similar to mathematical division. The time separation between two beats can give rhythmic information, such as the total number of the beats and number of beats in each measure. There is a time signature, which looks like a fraction, with one number above and one below. For a musician, it is important to comprehend the value of these numbers and fractions in order to learn music at a deeper level.

Playing music can improve mathematical learning

While listening to good music can enhance mood and cognitive skills, playing music also has advantages. Learning to play music is similar to learning math in some ways. It’s about beats per minute, time signatures and structured progressions. Hence, playing music activates the same parts of the brain as

when doing math. In fact, there are studies that show children who play musical instruments have better ability to solve complex problems than children who don’t play an instrument, and students who are good at math can learn and play music much faster than children who are weak in math.