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So says Princeton University mathematics professor Manjul Bhargava.
“It’s not about memorizing formulas,” Bhargava said. “It’s about the creativity involved in figuring out what’s happening behind those formulas.”
Bhargava will give a free lecture and performance showing the connection between music and math at 7:30 p.m. tonight at Winona State University’s Performing Arts Center. His visit, which is part of the Lyceum Series, will also include more detailed lectures on mathematics today and Wednesday.
Bhargava, 32, was born in Canada and grew up in Long Island, New York. His earliest mathematical memory — coming up with formulas to stack oranges into pyramids. His earliest musical memory — his mother playing tabla, a classical Indian percussion instrument that he now plays.
“I’ve always loved both subjects,” Bhargava said.
He got into math through music, wanting to figure out the patterns between notes and rhythms.
“There’s a lot of mathematical thinking in music,” Bhargava said.
Bhargava graduated from Harvard University in 1996 and got his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 2001. He started teaching at Princeton when he was 28 with his former professors now his colleagues.
He’s received numerous honors and prizes, including the Hasse Prize for Exposition from the Mathematical Association of America and the AMS Blumenthal Award for the Advancement of Research in Pure Mathematics. In 2002, Popular Science magazine named him to its “Brilliant 10” list of scientists who are shaking up their fields.
Still, he gets the most satisfaction out of teaching.
“Seeing those expressions of understanding on students’ faces — it’s very rewarding,” Bhargava said.
He teaches math at all levels, going beyond formulas and rote memorization.
“Math is usually taught in a robotic way,” Bhargava said. “We all learn in school that it’s a very fundamental science, but it’s also connected to art.”
Many artists have made important mathematical discoveries, he said. Part of Bhargava’s goal is to bridge the gap between math and art.
“All mathematicians who work in pure mathematics believe the subject is so beautiful that they approach it as an art rather than a science,” Bhargava said.
Contact Käri Knutson at kknutson@winonadailynews.com or (507) 453-3523.
If you go
What: “Linguistics, Drumming, Poetry and Mathematics,” discussion and performance by Manjul Bhargava
When: 7:30 p.m. today
Where: Winona State University’s Performing Arts Center Main Stage
Cost: Free
Other lectures, workshops
Today: 12:30 to 1:50 p.m., workshop and presentation with Rich MacDonald’s percussion ensemble students, WSU Performing Arts Center, Room 156; 3 to 4 p.m., “The Mathematics of Secret Codes: From Ancient Times to the Modern Era,” Kryzsko Commons, East Hall.
Wednesday: 10 to 11 a.m., “Fenceposts and Euler’s Theorem,” WSU’s Kryzsko
Commons, East Hall; noon to 12:50 p.m., “Rhythm and Tabla Drumming,” Performing Arts Center Recital Hall; 3 to 4 p.m., “The Representation of Integers by Quadratic Forms,” Kryzsko Commons, East Hall
The Ultimate Hustler wrote on Oct 16, 2007 4:44 PM: