My presentation today will combine two of my favorite things: music and math. While looking for articles I stumbled upon an article titled “Tuning with Triangles” by Leon Harkleroad published in The College Mathematics Journal, Vol. 39, No. 5 (Nov.,2008).
Harkleroad’s article covered the basics of tuning, focusing on centuries-old methods of tuning instruments with geometry. The article mentions Galilei, Moshaqah, and Strahle and their respective mathematical methods to tuning instruments. I choose to use Galilei’s method of right triangles and his approximation using exponentials. My presentation will cover his methodology and error.
It was very interesting to see the mathematics behind the tuning of instruments. As someone who played an instrument for a few years, it was greatly relevant.