Maths

      I might be a little distracted while writing this, I'm also watching Return of the Jedi. I'm writing a blog on maths while watching Star Wars; aren't I just the pinnacle of cool? Also I rewrote that sentence just so I could include a semi-colon. On the subject of my coolness many people think I'm uncool because of my love of maths. This is not true, I'm actually uncool because of my personality. But that's not the point, my point is most people enjoy maths, even if they can't stand numeracy.

      You may have heard that music is connected to maths, but you might not understand exactly how. The tuning used today in the West is known as equal temperament (as opposed to the outdated Pythagorean tuning, which is also interesting but a bit off topic) has a ratio between each note of 1:, which means if you do it 12 times (the number of notes in a Western octave) you get the 12th  root of 2 to the power of 12, which equals 2. So in a twelve note scale with ratio 1: the 12th note is twice the first note. There are also a bunch of other ratios involved in music. The point is that, unless you are actually tone deaf (which is rare), you can easily distinguish music that follows these ratios and music that does not which is how you know if something is in tune. What's more, you know these scales so well that you anticipate patterns and by either matching those patterns or deviating from them a musician can manipulate you to feel anything from the whole spectrum of human emotions. So really when you feel music you are just responding to a mathematical sequence.

      There are many other examples of the extraordinary everyday uses of maths, such as the complex trigonometry used to catch a ball, but my point is that just because you might not enjoy numeracy does not mean you do not enjoy maths, it might just mean you enjoy it in a different way.

The draw of the arts

I have mentioned in previous posts my wish to pursue the arts as a career and it was then suggested that I could do a blog post on what it is about the arts that attracts me. So for once I am actually going to do a suggested post.
Having thought about it for the last few days I realised why I like the arts so much. Because they are the closest thing to magic we have.
Let me explain. My view of the world is essentially a very literal one, where emotions are merely chemicals and their only significance is to the person who experiences them, the rest of the universe remains the same. It is also a universe where everything is understandable through science. Things are researched, we learn why they work, then we implement them.
The arts ignore these obstacles. They manipulate control emotions and they do so in ways which are poorly understood. Although we know that the major scale can be used to create positive music and the minor scale can be used to create sadder music, very few people can actually explain why they affect our brains in these ways. No doubt there is a reason, but the thing is it's not important. People who paint, or act or play guitar are for the most part not concerned with the exact dynamics of what effect they are creating on the audiences' mind, they are too busy making sure it is the right effect.
The arts also create something that is less fallible than other industries. It is less real, as its only importance is to affect emotions and make people think.
I feel I haven't fully explained my fascination with the arts, but perhaps that's because it is not something that is easily explained. It has an effect on peoples' worlds that cannot be explained. Just like magic.

Music

As well as being an autistic who should be obsessed with order, timetables, rules, peace, calm and tranquility, I am also a anarchist punk rocker. My favorite bands are Pink Floyd, Guns 'n' Roses and Motörhead. I am going to see Motörhead in November with my sister. I listen to rock in school as a kind of escape. That's all I can think of writing about at the moment.
Also if people could start leaving comments, even if you have no reason to, that would be good. In fact the most imaginative reason wins this pointless and lame competition.

Edit Note: I have now got a radio station on yahoo with bands I like and similar artists. Here's the link. (May not work on Mac's)