In a 2011 article in the New Yorker Burkhard Bilger wrote about neuroscientist David Eagleman and his research into time and the brain especially drummers’ brains.
Some of the drummers he has interviewed and/or tested include William Champion of Cold Play, Brian Eno of Roxy Music and Larry Mullen, Jnr of U2.
Eno, on keyboards (above) who was working on a U2 album, talks about Mullen’s amazing timing. They were using a click-track (computer generated beat) when mMullen complained he couldn’t drum to it. ENO adjusted the beat. Mullen was happy.
Here are some drum beats provided by Justin Alan Cox so you can get your timing right:
60 bpm
80 bpm
100 bpm
120 bpm
Drummer Maths:
How Cool a Drummer are you?
Pick a beat and see how accurate you can beat tempo. Time how long it takes you to beat out 60, 80, 100 or 120 drum beats using a pencil. It should, obviously, take one minute if you are an ENO or a Mullens.
What was the difference in time in seconds?
Calculate your % error = time error (sec)/(60 sec) x 100
Bilger’s conclusion:
‘Like perfect pitch, which dooms the possessor to hear every false note and flat car horn, perfect timing may just make a drummer more sensitive to the world’s arrhythmias and repeated patterns, Eagleman said—to the flicker of computer screens and fluorescent lights. Reality, stripped of an extra beat in which the brain orchestrates its signals, isn’t necessarily a livelier place. It’s just filled with badly dubbed television shows.’
There’s been lots of talk about dumping math. Recently The New York Times ran an article ‘Is Algebra Necessary? and in the Huffington Post a NY junior high student noted that math ‘feels meaningless’.
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But don’t you worry your pretty little head about math America.
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Don’t tell students:
* that every pipeline, powerline, car, building, baseball stadium, sound system, TV, video game, fashion item, food product, phone, hair goo and anything else you buy, wear or plug your ears into needs math.
And don’t let teachers be creative. Make sure they teach math like a dead language. Everyone does.
Make sure teachers grind their students through repetitive exercises to make math boring and irrelevant.
Make sure math is taught simply to pass standardised tests. The math whizz kids will. But as in Australia and the UK those math whizz kids don’t stick with math. Why would they? It’s boring. They get their scores, dump maths and go off to college to do Law or the like.
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But don’t you worry your pretty little head about math, America.
Some folk in some country somewhere will do the math we need. Five letters. Starts with C. Ends with A. Or am I going too fast for you?
This is the FIELD OF NIGHTMARES. Make maths horrible and they won’t come.
Cheerio
Mathspig
By the way, you do have some crazy math mad folk who believe math is really useful, relevant and fun. They get excited about math. And they spread the excitement around.
Here are two of them:
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Kyle Gerrity is Co-Founder of Slader.COM, an interactive math forum providing homework help for students across America.
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Patrick Vennebush, Manager of Online Projects for the National Council for Teachers of Mathematics.
Geometry is a mathematical jigsaw puzzle, except that you have to figure out which pieces you need as well as how to arrange them. But there was always something powerful about combining things I knew to prove things I didn’t.
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Q2: What math topic drove you insane?
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Combinatorics drove me mad. There are a million wrong ways to think about permutation and combination problems, but there’s only one right way to think about them. Even when the required calculations only take a few seconds to complete, the thinking to come to a solution might take hours.
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(Mathspig: Combinatorics? Wha? We just call them Permutations and Combinations in Aussie Land.)
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Q3: Did you ever do anything really exciting in math at school like go on an excursion to some weird math convention?
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No. I mean, this is crazy, but I can’t think of a single reason that I should like math… at least, not based on any great experiences.
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Q4: What math error in the media annoys you the most?
Yep, Bush won, but this makes it look like it was a landslide.
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And I also hate arguments based on “man who” statistics. These are based on statements like “I know a man who…” and from that one example, great generalizations are made. More mathematically, results pulled from small samples are a huge problem, both in the media as well as in much of math education research. I can’t tell you the number of times that a researcher suggests that a particular teaching method is effective because there was a positive impact in just one or two classrooms. Oish.
(Mathspig. I think Oish is an underused word. We need a bring back the Oish Campaign.)
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Q5: Give me 3 reasons why you think students should do math.
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1) To become proficient at problem solving, but more importantly, to understand that the greatest asset in problem solving is perseverance.
2) To think logically. All the computational skills in the world won’t help if you can’t put the pieces together. (Mathspig: Yey!!!! My fav too)
3) To be facile with numbers for daily life. So that when they’re confronted with various loan options or statistics in a newspaper, they can make an informed decision.
4) Most importantly, to understand the jokes in my book. (or ve hit them vith pi.Mathspig)
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Q6: What is wrong with the way math is taught in American schools?
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Educators are too willing to sell kids a bill of goods. The curriculum contains a lot of topics that most students will never use. Honestly, when’s the last time you factored a trinomial? Part of the problem is the standards. Take the Common Core standards, for instance—they contain eight “practices” that artfully describe what a mathematically proficient student should be able to do, but then the practices are followed by a thousand standards that require nothing more than rote skills. Honestly, why are students asked to “derive the formula for the sum of a finite geometric series” to “calculate mortgage payments,” yet they’re never asked to consider the pros and cons of taking an adjustable rate mortgage?
But I’d also blame a lack of passion. The exceptional teachers I’ve met, the ones who are able to get their students excited about learning math, love numbers and shapes. They don’t have to convince their students that math is useful or interesting; their passion makes it obvious.
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Q7: What can teachers do right now to get kids more interested in math?
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I think there are two things they can do. First, be interested in math themselves. Second, keep their eyes open for examples of the usefulness of math in everyday life. (But, please, no more examples about measuring and cooking!)
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Q8: How does your blog/website/book help students with their math?
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Math Jokes 4 Mathy Folks contains 400 jokes, which I think helps to dispel the myth of humorless mathematicians. Teachers can use the jokes in class, and research has shown that humor has physical, psychological, and pedagogical value. Laughing decreases blood pressure, reduces anxiety, increases retention of information, provokes thought, hones prediction and decision-making skills, creates a more open atmosphere, and actually aids with classroom management.
On the MJ4MF blog, I post funny math stories, interesting math problems, and examples of math in the real world. I don’t know that a student would ever become proficient in math simply by reading my blog… but hopefully I can help them see that math can be both fun and useful.
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Q9: Tell us one funny math story/joke.
Just one? Surely, you jest!
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How do you know if a mathematician is an extrovert?
When he talks to you, he looks at your shoes.
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A woman goes to the doctor. The doctor tells her that she only has six weeks left to live.
“Oh, my goodness! Doctor, what should I do?” she asks.
“Are you married?”
“No.”
“Then find an actuary, and marry him!”
“Will that help me live longer?” she asks.
“Well, no,” he says, “but it’ll feel longer.”
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Q10: If you ruled the world what would change to help kids get excited about math?
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Foremost, I’d make Math Jokes 4 Mathy Folks be a required text for all courses.
Seriously, if I ruled the world, then I could do anything, right? I’d make teachers the highest paid professionals in the world, based entirely on merit. Teachers would get a base salary on which they could survive; and then, when their students were old enough to honestly and fairly assess their teachers, the students could provide ratings that would send huge bonuses to their previous teachers. I would never base a teacher’s pay on students’ standardized test scores. And while we’re at it, I’d throw away all standardized tests, period.
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Patrick Vennebush, for services above and beyond the call of math duty and for your outstanding contribution to the field of math humour, you are declared an Honourable Mathspig.
As part of our Mid-year/ End of year madness here are some crazy things to do with Lego.
The idea with these projects is to challenge you, my pretties, by giving you the Lego, the time and the inspiration so you can go, go, go for it and, maybe even, surprise yourself.
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1. Going Loopy
Can you make something round from oblong Lego blocks?
Lego constructions can move. Here is The Blossoming Lotus built by the Brickengineer. If you click on this link you can see the Lotus blossom. Cool! Can you make a Lego flower bloom, mathspigs?
But if you really want to see some Lego flowers bloomin’ get yourself down to the Reiman Gardens @ Iowa State University. They have the Lego flowers, the Lego birds, the Lego butterflies, a Lego Zoo. Perhaps, mathspigs, your class could put your heads together and make a Lego garden or a Lego Zoo.
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3. Going Square
Lego artist Nathan Sawaya’s Lego sculptures are mind boggling. You can find the following sculptures @ sayhi-todesign blog spottoor @ Nathan’s own blog, The Art of the Brick. Maybe, mathspigs, you could build a geometric sculpture out of Lego blocks.
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Or get inspired by Nathan Sawaya’s other sculptures
Wow! That’s just how Mathspig feels when I’m waking up in the morning.
Another way to get your brain wrapped around the idea of symmetry, 2D patterns and 3D image rotations is by building a musical instrument and some of them even play music, um, sort of!
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1. Lego Harpsichord built by a kid
with ordinary Lego that works!!!
2. Lego Electric Guitar that really works
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3. Lego Flute that works
They say it works. Mathspig hasn’t heard it. The kid could be just spending time blowing on a Lego block.
Here is another art work by Lego artist Nathan Sawaya. The cello doesn’t play music, but this is such an awesome video of Nathan building the cello, it is a MUST see, mathspigs.
It doesn’t play music, but think about it mathspigs. It would look soooooo cool sitting in your bedroom. Besides, many a guitar sits in a bedroom without being played.
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6. Lego Saxaphone
Here is another work by Pat Dube. It doesn’t play music but it’s just cool, man. Put on those sunglasses, feel the vibe and chill.
Now mathspigs, let’s get mobile. There is a lot of symmetry and 3D rotations involved in building a Lego ca. You can go low -tech or high tech. Get ready mathspigs here we go:
1. Lego Balloon Car
I don’t think you’ll need instructions for this one. Maybe you could pimp that ride, mathspigs.
Get ready mathspigs. You need one Lego Man, Girl, Vampire or Alien each for this exercise. Now we are going to set out the Lego Olympics Athletics track.
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But this story of the Olympics begins with Carl Lewis, one of the greatest athletes of all time who won 9 Olympic Gold medals in 100m, 200m, relay and long jump.
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Carl Lewis
Mathspig needs to find out how big the Lego Olympics track would be. How? Easy.
Carl Lewis will be our standard Lego Man.
I chose Carl Lewis because he kindly gave me his autograph once when I sprinted in high heels across a ballroom floor at a sports dinner in Melbourne and beat all other journalists. It was my personal best in high heels, I think.
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This means everything at the Lego Olympics will be
1:50
of the real Olympics.
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The Lego Bird’s Nest Stadium @ Beijing will be 1/50th of the real Bird’s Nest Stadium. (Not the scale shown here). Pictures by Johor Bahru.
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The Lego Beijing Water Cube Swim Centre will be 1/50th of the Real Water Cube.
EXERCISE 1:
Now mathspiggies over to you. The first thing to do is calculate the Lego Olympic measurements (table below).
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EXERCISE 2:
Then mark out a Lego Olympics 100m sprint to scale and/or
draw a Lego Olympic track (in chalk, perhaps) and/or
step out a Lego Olympic marathon track and/or
make a pole vault pole to scale for your little Lego Man.
Here is the US Army Herald Trumpets playing a rousing fanfare:
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Marching Maths
Three nations are marching one after the other:
Pajamaramas (PJ Boy flag bearer),
The Crytomanians (Mummy’s Boy flag bearer)
and the Berserkers (Olag the Viking flag bearer).
But there is a problem.
They march around the Olympic Track, which is a 400m circuit (inside track).
Lego Olympic Track Circuit = 400/50 = 8 m
But the Pajamaramas, the Cryptomanians and the Beseerkers all walk at different speed. They could just bump into one another and end up in a big heap. So how much time should the officials allow between each country so they don’t collide on the track.
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Speed S1
PJ Boy is a really slow walker
Real life Really Slow walk = 3.0 kph = 3000 m/hr
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Lego really slow walk= 50/50 = 1 m/min
Speed PJ Boy = S1 = 1m/min
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Speed S 2
Mummy’s Boy is a slow walker
Real Life Slow walk = 4.5 kph = 4500 m/hr
…………………………………. = 4500/60 = 75 m/min
Lego slow walk = 75/50 = 1.5 m/min
Speed Mummy’s Boy = S 2= 1.5 m/min
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Speed S3
Olag is a fast walker
Real life fast walk = 6 kph = 6000 m/hr
……………………………… = 6000/60 = 100 m/min
Lego really slow walk = 100/50 = 2 m/min
Speed Olag = S3 = 2m/min
Lego Track Circuit = 8m
Time on circuit (T) in mins:
T = d/S
T = 8.0 /S
The time each nation takes to finish marching around the track will be:
T1 = 8.0/S1 = 8.0/1 = 8 mins
T2 = 8.0/S2 = 8.0/1.5 = 5.3333 = 5 mins 20 secs
T3 = 8.0/S3 = 8.0/2.0 = 4 mins
If you started them all at once there’d be a real pile up.
March Time with 1 min gap between groups:
The Enforcer from the Constellation Obeymia will make sure each marching group leaves exactly on time. He will set the clock ticking at 0 mins then enforce a one minute gap between each group.
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Look at the times each nation finishes marching around the track now:
PJ Boy…………………………………………………………………………..
and the Pajamaramas ……………………………………………..8 mins,
Mummy’s Boy and the Crytomanians ………………. 6 mins 20 secs
and Olag and The Beserkers start 2 minutes after PJ Boy and Co and finish at …………………………………. 6 mins.
They will still collide on the track!!!!!
Here are the results for different gap times:
Nation
March Time
Gap time
0 min
March Time
Gap Time
1 min
March Time
Gap Time
2 min
March Time
Gap Time
3 min
PJ Boy + the Pajamaramas
8
8
8
8
Mummy’s Boy and the Crytomanians
5mins 20 secs
6 mins 20 secs
7mins 20 secs
8 mins 20 secs
Olag and The Beserkers
4
6
8
10
The 3 minute gap works!!!
I think we need a round of applause:
Why not ALGEBRA?
If you had to do this calculation for the entire 205 nations at the 2012 Olympic Games, you can see that your brain might explode.
Da-DA! We can use algebra.
Here is a formulae:
T = d/S + ntg
where
T = time (mins)
from beginning of ceremony.
d= track circuit distance = 8 m
S = speed m/min
n = nation march order number = 0,1,2,3,etc
tg = time gap between nations (mins) = 1, 2, 3, 4 etc
