Blog Section
Entries in August
In Search for the notes
Math and Basketball
After the Lecture
Metal Gear
Blog Entry 08.27.07Entries in August
In Search for the notes
Math and Basketball
After the Lecture
Metal Gear
In Search for x
Demystifying the Zeta Function.
This is a continuation of the blog entry "In Search for the notes"
Similarly, don’t be too alarm that something like this happened in the history of mathematics.
Sometime in the early 19th century, while a mathematician called Dirichlet was trying to solve a small puzzle called Gauss’s clock calculator, he introduced a function called the zeta function, denoted by the letter 
which is
This function needed some intense research to decipher for one, it is algebraically tough to manipulate and two, it is an infinite series. Although it looks complicated, the function does suggest its importance in number theory due to the sequence of 1, 2, 3, … contained in the denominators. Mathematicians analyzed the function relentlessly to find that number 
to put inside the function and give it some meaning.
but this simply gave the sum 
which tended to infinite. Not much meaning there. Interest was brewing in this function that caught the eyes of Euler. He spent days playing with it to find that perfect series of numbers. Like a kid twisting around a rubik’s cube to make all side of
the cube a single colour or a musician finding that combination of notes to sooth the ear, Euler looked for that number to make the zeta function harmonious.
Finally the analysis paid off when Euler fed the number 
, which gave him
Dirichlet, creator of the Zeta Function.
. This ranks as one of the most intriguing calculations of all
mathematics but it seamlessly connects a sequence of numbers with the elegant number of 
, which may be regarded as perfect due to its relationship with the circle.
And so my search for that ‘perfect’ combination of notes continues, just like the search for other mathematical formulas. Each day when I hit the studio or the stage, I always think to myself would I play that note which makes everything seem to fit. How wonderful it would be to play, say F#, G, A, Ab, G and in that mist lurks the magic musical version of 
.It is funny how mathematicians and musicians are alike, and trust me I wouldn’t be the first to tell you that.
