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Music is math: ten songs about mathematics.

Just for fun, here are ten songs about mathematics. Am I missing any good ones? Post them in the comments.

1. Finite Simple Group (of Order 2) by the Klein Four Group ( lyrics ). This excellent song was written and performed by graduate students at Northwestern University, where I did my graduate work. I think it is funny that I noticed the familiar stairwell before I noticed the familiar professors (in the background).

2. Nonagon by They Might be Giants (which I posted in  this blog post ). Of course, they have a full CD/DVD of math songs: Here Come the 123’s .

3. A Song About Pi by Irving Kaplansky, sung by Lucy Kaplansky ( my blog post about the song )

4. Pi by Kate Bush ( lyrics ). This is a surprisingly nice song in which Kate Bush sings the digits of pi (too bad she made some mistakes —artistic license wins over mathematical rigor?)

5. One Geometry (rapped to the tune of Snoop Dogg and Pharrell William’s “Drop it Like it’s Hot”) by Steve Sawin (AKA Slim Dorky) ( lyrics ). I posted this video about the Poincare conjecture on the day that Perelman was chosen as a Clay Millennium prize winner—an award that he famously turned down.

6. Down With That (Bolzano Weierstrauss Rap) by Steve Sawin (AKA Slim Dorky) (a  previous blog post has links to the lyrics)

7. Lobachevsky by Tom Lehrer (I gave links to other math songs by Tom Lehrer in a previous blog post )

8. I Will Derive (to the tune of Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive”) ( lyrics )

9. Mathematical Pi (sung to the tune of Don McLean’s “American Pie”) by Ken Ferrier and Antoni Chan ( lyrics )

10. Calculus Rhapsody (to the tune of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”) by Mike Gospel and Phil Kirk ( lyrics )

[Edit] OK, I said 10, but I forgot to add this one when I made the post live. Thanks to Blair for reminding me…

11. The twelve days of Christmath by Vi Hart (be sure to check out all of Vi Hart’s videos )

Bonus video. This isn’t a song, and it isn’t really about math. It is just a hilarious video about numbers.

24 is the highest number from Mr. Show

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21 comments.

I’m sharing this with every math teacher I know. Great list! You wouldn’t happen to have a playlist of these I could subscribe to do you?

I can’t believe you missed “Pi”, by Hard and Phirm !

Great list Dave. Thanks for sharing. Here are a couple recommendations though not so strictly

Vi Hart’s (Doodling in Math) – 12 Days of Christmath – take out the commentary in between & you have a great Christmath carole

Vi Hart’s – Mobius Music Box – instrumental version of the Harry Potter theme, but mathematical in the approach taken to play it. She also arranged Pachelbel’s Canon to be played on 4 music boxes at one time

John Sims – Rhythm of Structure: Math Graffiti Wall Project – more spoken word/mixed media, but entertaining & interesting

Lose Yourself in the Digits – Song for Pi Day – take off on Eminem’s “Lose Yourself (in the Music)” from his film 8 mile

Mathmaticious – parody of Fergie’s Fergilicious – light on depth of math concepts, but good parody

And, of course, there’s a verse in Dylan’s Tangled Up In Blue:

Now I’m headed back again, I’ve got to get to her somehow But all the people we used to know are an illusion to me now Some are mathematicians, some are carpenters’ wives Don’t know how it all got started, don’t know what they’re doing with their lives.

Thanks for the song suggestions. Keep them coming.

Blair—thanks for reminding me about Vi Hart’s Christmath video. I had that written on my post-it note to put on this list, but somehow forgot. I added it as #11.

Our Signal Processing teacher gave us a sample of Lehrer’s Lobachevsky to use for testing with frequency and amplitude modulation (and Nikolaï Ivanovich Lobachevsky was his name!). Really fun song (although the poor guy is innocent of all that!).

These are some excellent tunes! This was my attempt at this topic (with some overlap) http://mathhombre.blogspot.com/2010/05/sing-song-for-making-sense.html More elementary songs.

I also have to share my class’ video from the fall, with two original math songs! http://mathhombre.blogspot.com/2010/12/change-channel.html

In case people are interested, I’ve compiled a YouTube playlist with Dave’s suggestions and some of the others in the comments. I will add to it when I get a chance or as I come across new material. @John Golden, Thanks for sharing your list, I will add some of those.

Here’s a link to the playlist: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=21FFD07E37238222

Thanks, all, for your suggestions and your links. Very cool. I also got a few by email that I’ll add here:

A song in Spanish about Thales’ Theorem ( lyrics )

And teachers at Lane Tech College Prep are putting together some songs about math. They call themselves The Postulates. The music hasn’t been released yet, but they have one performance online. The song is “Check Your Solutions” and is sung to the tune of The Raconteur’s “Salute Your Solution” (music starts at 1:30).

You forgot my favorite Math song! Mandelbrot Set by Jonathan Coulton

Finite Simple Group (of order 2) is part of the English classes that the new international TAs go through in the Georgia Tech School of Mathematics. The ESL instructor (yes, GT’s math department employs an ESL instructor, which helps a lot) has the lyrics typed out and uses it to teach the ITAs about words having more than one meaning, etc.

I liked this one by Deidre Flint about the metric system. What ever happened to that?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83e3n83Re5s

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The calculus song “I will derive” is hilarious. In all seriousness, though, it is excellent for a learning tool because it helps people remember key mathematical concepts.

Here is a math song by tool. Fan made video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wS7CZIJVxFY

Given the title of the post I am surprised that Boards of Canada’s ‘Music is Math’ is missing:

I actually did consider including it. But I don’t know if it is “about math” :-)

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I am crushed that you did not include “Lobachevsky”, by the great mathematician Tom Lehrer.

Lobachevsky is #7.

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Math Mnemonics and Songs For Algebra

In this lesson, we will have mnemonics and songs to help you remember

• how to solve one-step equations
• rules of exponents
• the Simple Interest formula
• the distance formula
• the speed, distance, time and the acceleration formulas
• the slope-intercept form of linear equation
• how to multiply binomials - FOIL
• a word problem solving strategy
• the quadratic formula

Related Topics: More Math Mnemonics

How to solve one-step equations?

What are the rules of exponents?

Simple Interest Formula

Linear Equations (Slope-Intercept Form) B egin, M ove: the use of m and b in y = m x + b

To graph such a line equation , begin at the value of b , then move according to the value (slope) of m .

Multiplying Binomials

Word-Problem Solving Strategy

S-T-A-R S earch the word problem. T ranslate the words into an equation. A nswer the problem. R eview the solution.

Quadratic Formula

A song to remember the quadratic formula sung to the tune of "Pop Goes the Weasel"

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Addition and Subtraction Songs

These addition songs and subtraction songs are available from a variety of albums. Use them for teaching skip counting, place value, word problems, buying and selling.

Songs for Teaching Addition (Including Skip-Counting Songs) 4 Plus Song – Alan Stern 7 Plus Song – Alan Stern The 9 Rule – Jeff Schroeder 10 Silly Monkeys – Jack Hartmann Add and Step On Ones Rap – Music with Mar. The Add and Subtract Body Part Dance – Jack Hartmann Add At a Circus – Music with Mar. Add It On – Jennifer Fixman Add One More – Ron Brown Add One To The Double – Hap Palmer Adding Doubles – Music, Movement & Magination Addition and Subtraction – MindMuzic Addition/Subtraction Word Clues Song – Tim Pacific Alligator 10 More (Adding 10 to Any Number) – Jennifer Fixman Bouncing Kangaroos Adding with Six – Music with Mar. Climbing Ladybugs Adding with Nine – Music with Mar. Columns – Arnold Rosenthal Count-Ons – Jeff Schroeder Counting 2's to 20 – Ron Brown Counting by 1, 2, 5 and 10 – Jennifer Fixman Double It Up – Jennifer Fixman Doubles Facts – Hap Palmer Doubles Plus One – Jeff Schroeder Eight Jumping Adding Puppies – Music with Mar. Five Ate Thirteen – Hap Palmer The Five Seven Twelve Family – Hap Palmer Fact Family – Music with Mar. If You Know How to Count, You Can Add by One! – Marla Lewis Jumping to Add and Subtract – Hap Palmer Know Those 10's – Jennifer Fixman Make Nine Into Ten – Hap Palmer Numbers With a 1 – Listen & Learn One More Please – Music, Movement & Magination The Pizza Eating Alligator – Jennifer Fixman Random Addition Quiz – Alan Stern Round it Off – Arnold Rosenthal Solving "Real Life" Problems – Jeff Schroeder Switcheroo (Commutative Property) – Hap Palmer Ten Adding, Swinging Monkeys – Music with Mar. Ten Plus – Hap Palmer Ways to Get to Ten – Hap Palmer When You're Adding Boxes – Kathleen Wiley You Carry Over – Arnold Rosenthal Zero the Hero Exercise and Count – Jack Hartmann

Songs for Teaching Subtraction 13 Minus Song – Alan Stern Addition and Subtraction – MindMuzic All Aboard to Add and Subtract – Hap Palmer Bluesy Subtraction – Music with Mar. Fact Family – Music with Mar. Five Fish (Subtraction) – Ron Brown Five Hopping Subtracting Frogs – Music with Mar. It's A Party (Subtraction) – MindMuzic Long Subtraction – Learning By Song/Barbara Speicher The One-Less-Penny Blues (Subtraction) –Music, Movement & Magination The Pizza Eating Alligator – Jennifer Fixman Random Subtraction Quiz – Alan Stern Step Back: Counting Back to Subtract – Carl M. Sherrill Subtract and Step On Ones Rap – Music with Mar. Subtract with an Addition Fact – Jennifer Fixman Subtracting by One: One Less Penny – It All Adds Up Subtraction – Jeff Schroeder Twelve Flying Subtracting Bees – Music with Mar. Two More, Two Less – Hap Palmer Two Subtracting Marching Ants – Music with Mar. When the Box is in the Front – Kathleen Wiley When You Are Subtracting – Learning Math by Song

Money and Coin Songs that Teach Addition and Subtraction Facts and Concepts 15 Cents – Music, Math and Money It Starts with a Penny – Music with Mar. Money Counts – It All Adds Up Subtracting by One: One Less Penny – It All Adds Up The U.S. Money Song – Tim Pacific

Teaching the Concept of Place Value in Addition and Subtraction Columns – Arnold Rosenthal What Place? – Learning Math by Song

Teaching How to Solve Word Problems Adding and Subtracting Vocabulary – Jim Thompson Solving "Real Life" Problems – Jeff Schroeder Solving Word Problems – Learning Math by Song

Math Books & Musical Plays Mastering Math: A Sherlock Holmes Problem Solving Mystery – Bad Wolf Press Math Facts to the MAX! – Carl Sherrill MatheMagical Showtime! – Carl Sherrill RiddleMath – Carl Sherrill