The Mystical Mathematics of Rock and Roll

"The Siren," Edward Armitage, 1888. Wikimedia Commons Anyone who has wondered about the mysterious way numbers seem to be woven through the universe will eventually be led to a famous essay by the physicist Eugene Wigner, The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences. Why, Wigner asked, are the laws scientists discover so readily expressed in terms of mathematical constants like π and in precise numerical equations? Wigner isn't really able to answer the question, and pondering it leads down a rabbit hole of other mysteries: Is mathematics invented or discovered? And why is the music that sounds so harmonious to our ears based on simple mathematical proportions? According to legend it was Pythagoras and his mystical cult of number worshippers who first glimpsed the musical connection while plucking the lengths of strings. Tune a string so it plays the note A above middle C, or 440 cycles per ...