Matemáticas y canciones

Más de una y dos veces habrá escuchado aquello de que las matemáticas están en todas partes. Sin embargo, incluso a los matemáticos todavía nos sorpende cuando aparecen, de manera inesperada, en contenidos en principio totalmente alejados de la disciplina. Por ejemplo, en la letra de una canción del grupo inglés Radiohead. Manuel de León rescata canciones de esta y otras bandas en las que encontramos matemáticas.

Escuchando a Radiohead me he encontrado con una canción titulada 2+2=5, lo que encendió mis “alarmas matemáticas”. 

 Pero, ¿qué dice la canción?

Are you such a dreamer
To put the world to rights?
I’ll stay home forever
Where two & two always makes up five

I’ll lay down the tracks
Sandbag & hide
January has April’s showers
And two & two always makes up five

It’s the devil’s way now
There is no way out
You can scream & you can shout
It is too late now

Because

You have not been
Paying attention

La suma equivocada es una manera de ir contra la lógica, como pedía el Gran Hermano en el régimen tiránico de 1984 de George Orwell.

Y puestos a buscar canciones que hablen de matemáticas, hasta One direction se ha atrevido con una: Math Song

You’re insecure, so half of four,
Your old brains are not what they were before,
Add two threes, it’s fine for us,
‘Cause we’re young and we can still remember stuff

Everyone else can multiply by 60,
Everyone else can add two

And Now take off one hundred and add on 24,
Then divide by two and add on seven more
And if you’re struggling now it’s not hard to tell
You don’t know, (o oh) your maths skills are terrible

If only you had a mind like me
You’d understand how to divide the sum by three,
And then just add on the age of this OAP
You don’t know, (o oh) your maths skills are terrible (o oh)

It’s really kinda pitiful

Pero todos recordamos como se aprendía la tabla de multiplicar: cantando. Y buscando en internet hay muchas canciones para que los niños (y no tan niños) aprendan matemáticas. Esta es una de las varias páginas webs donde se pueden encontrar muchas canciones: Songs for teaching http://www.songsforteaching.com/mathsongs.htm

¡Y hay muchas más!

Por supuesto que podemos recordar esa joya humorística de El Teorema de Tales de Les Luthiers, o el Piero della Francesca de Javier Krahe. O el Teorema de Pitágoras http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5HUFxfiR2w, o el recitado de los decimales del número pi en http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDiSYp_51iY (hay varias versiones en español). O versiones del American Pie de Don Mclean adaptadas a pi como esta

A long, long time ago   I can still remember

How that   mathematics made me smile.

And   I knew   if I    had my chance,    I would ace   geometry class

And make my parents happy for a while.

 

But some math books made me shiver–

Facts on tablets, all delivered:

Nothing past the rational,

And nothing transcendental.

 

I can’t remember if I cried,

Reading    3 point 1 4   1 5 9…..

But something touched me deep inside

The day   I learned of pi…so:

Find, find the value of pi,   

 Starts  3  point 1 4 1 5 9.

 Good ol’ boys gave it a try, 

But the decimal never dies,   the decimal never dies………

Y se pueden encontrar muchas más canciones matemáticas en http://www.math.utep.edu/Faculty/lesser/GreatestLESSERhits.html 

En cualquier caso, me quedaré siempre con el clásico de Sam Cook, «Wonderful World», escrita por el propio Sam Cooke, con Herp Albert y Lou Adler in 1958:

 

Don’t know much about history

Don’t know much biology

Don’t know much about a science book

Don’t know much about the French I took

But I do know that I love you

And I know that if you love me, too

What a wonderful world this would be

Don’t know much about geography

Don’t know much trigonometry

Don’t know much about algebra

Don’t know what a slide rule is for

But I do know one and one is two

And if this one could be with you

What a wonderful world this would be

Now, I don’t claim to be an A student

But I’m trying to be

For maybe by being an A student, baby

I can win your love for me

Don’t know much about history

Don’t know much biology

Don’t know much about a science book

Don’t know much about the French I took

But I do know that I love you

And I know that if you love me, too

What a wonderful world this would be

La ta ta ta ta ta ta (History)

Hmm-mm-mm (Biology)

La ta ta ta ta ta ta (Science book)

Hmm-mm-mm (French I took)

Yeah, but I do know that I love you

And I know that if you love me, too

What a wonderful world this would be

Manuel de León (CSIC, Real Academia de Ciencias y Academia Canaria de Ciencias) es Director del Instituto de Ciencias Matemáticas (ICMAT) y vocal del Comité Ejecutivo de IMU.


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8 comentarios

  1. La canción Lateralus del grupo Tool sigue la secuencia de sílabas en su cuerpo de una secuencia de Fibonacci, además de tener varias relaciones simbólicas con ella.

  2. gracias por vuestros comentarios! enviad mas casos y los compartimos en este blog.

  3. Una mas:

    Será mas divertido
    cuando no me toque perder,
    sigo apostando al 5
    y cada 2 por 3 sale 6.

    Me equivocaria otra vez, Fito y los Fitipaldis.

    Alguien mas se apunta?

  4. Una mas de Bob Dylan: «2 x 2»

    OOne by one, they followed the sun
    One by one, until there were none
    Two by two, to their lovers they flew
    Two by two, into the foggy dew
    Three by three, they danced on the sea
    Four by four, they danced on the shore
    Five by five, they tried to survive
    Six by six, they were playing with tricks

    How many paths did they try and fail?
    How many of their brothers and sisters lingered in jail?
    How much poison did they inhale?
    How many black cats crossed their trail?

    Seven by seven, they headed for heaven
    Eight by eight, they got to the gate
    Nine by nine, they drank the wine
    Ten by ten, they drank it again

    How many tomorrows have they given away?
    How many compared to yesterday?
    How many more without any reward?
    How many more can they afford?

    Two by two, they stepped into the ark
    Two by two, they step in the dark
    Three by three, they’re turning the key
    Four by four, they turn it some more

    One by one, they follow the sun
    Two by two, to another rendezvou

    «Under the Red Sky, 1990»

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