David Wright - Mathematics & Music Course

Home

Academic Biography

Research Interests

Mathematical Publications

Schedule

Courses I'm Now Teaching

The Mathematics & Music Course

Department Activities

Other Interests

Family

THE MATH AND MUSIC COURSE

For many years, each spring I taught the course Mathematics 109/Music 109M, Mathematics & Music, a course I designed. It was first taught in the spring of 2002 (which was the first time such a course was offered at Washington University - click here to download the flyer that was used to advertise the course).

The notes from this course were developed into a book called Mathematics and Music, published by the American Mathematical Society in 2009, which is now the textbook for the course. Click here for information on the book from the AMS website.

As I retired in July, 2018, the course is not taught regularly. However the department asks me to teach the class from time to time, and I have agreed to do so as Professor Emeritus. The course will be taught in the fall of 2022.

The course syllabus for 2022 can be seen by clicking here, or you can download the syllabus as a pdf file by clicking below. It gives a description of the course, homework policy, exam dates, and office hours. Below that you will find some of the downloads for the course, as well as homework, homework solutions, exams, and exam solutions. These will appear as the course progresses.

At the bottom of this page you will find exams and exam solutions from the 2018 course.

Prospectus for Math 109/Music 109M

Textbook: Mathematics and Music, by David Wright. Published 2009 by the American Mathematical Society as Volume 28 of the series Mathematical World. A list of errata for the book can be seen by clicking here.

Handouts:

Math 109/Music 109M Questionnaire

Entering Notes Via Musical Keyboard

Carolina In the Morning

Maple Leaf Rag

Moonlight Sonata

Guide for the Project

Links:

Fourier Analysis Site

Homework:

Homework 1

Homework 2