Pythagoras understood the first law of vibrating strings—
pitch is inversely proportional to the length of the string.
Pythagoras also knew that the series of harmonic overtones
were related to the series of whole-number multiples.
Moving right along, it turned out that musicians
knew how to tune their lutes without Pythagoras.
Galileo’s father, Vincenzo, a musician, certainly realized
that pitch also depends on how tight and how thick the string is.
He was the first to describe a natural phenomenon
using a non-linear mathematical equation.
Specifically, he added the second law of vibrating strings—
pitch is proportional to the square root of the tension.
Finally, Marin Mersenne added the third law—
pitch is inversely proportional to the square root of the heaviness of the string.
Acoustics
Vitruvius wrote a treatise
on the acoustics of theaters,
recognizing that sound is a three-dimensional
equivalent of waves on a water’s surface.
Vincenzo Galilei, in addition
to explaining the second law,
noted that pitch depends on the properties
of the space the string vibrates in.
Galileo Galilei said, “Waves are produced by the vibrations
of a sonorous body, which spread through the air,
bringing to the tympanum of the ear a stimulus
which the mind interprets as sound.”
Isaac Newton’s inverse-square law
applies to sound as well as gravity.
In Principia Mathematica, Newton also
derived the relationship for wave velocity in solids.
Noise-to-signal ratio
I can hear you
in this restaurant
but I don’t know what
you’re saying.
A great roar
arises from little mouths
talking louder
to be heard over the roar.
We vibrate
our vocal chords
which vibrate air
in each other’s direction
but our lips
are a better
indicator
of our accord.
Marin Mersenne published L’Harmonie Universelle in 1637.
The work of Pythagoras and Vincenzo Galilei, of course, was earlier.
Pythagoras died around 495 BCE, and Galilei died in 1591.
Some sources say that Galileo Galilei,
independently of Mersenne and about the same time,
discovered all three laws of vibrating strings.
By “a non-linear mathematical equation” we mean that the equation
relates two things that are not merely directly or inversely proportional to each other,
but that depend on the square or square root, cube or cube root.
Marin Mersenne published L’Harmonie Universelle in 1637. The work of Pythagoras and Vincenzo Galilei, of course, was earlier. Pythagoras died around 495 BCE, and Galilei died in 1591. Some sources say that Galileo Galilei, independently of Mersenne and about the same time, discovered all three laws of vibrating strings.
By “a non-linear mathematical equation” we mean that the equation relates two things that are not merely directly or inversely proportional to each other, but that depend on the square or square root, cube or cube root.
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