Larry the Mathemusician

Space Cadet, 09/06/2000

When I was at school, I do not recall my maths teacher singing to help teach the class, not even once. (My chemistry teacher once played a trombone to the class, but that's not relevant here.) My maths teacher made do with a blackboard and, occasionally, a big pointy stick. It was a fairly dull subject, as I recall.

However, this week my lack of interest in mathematics was rekindled by self-proclaimed "mathemusician" Larry Lesser of Armstrong State University. He argues that, "although some students do not show inherent interest in mathematics" (note that the interest is in all of us – it's just that not all of us let it out), "most students enjoy songs and appreciate the chance to make mathematical connections." Larry almost lost me right there – I never appreciated the chance to make mathematical connections. And then I found his songs.

Larry is not alone in his twisted beliefs. He introduces us to his Savannah colleague, Jane T. Barnard, who plays  a Three Dog Night tape to help her students remember the only natural number that is neither prime nor composite: "One is the loneliest number..." Don't get me wrong – I like that song  - and I'm no authority on prime and composite numbers. But quite how playing the song "One" helps Jane T. Barnard's students, I cannot begin to imagine. Surely, if you need a tape played to you to remember the number one, you really are going to struggle with, say, 3.14159....

Ah, but Larry is ahead of me here. Don McLean may have winced at Madonna's nauseating cover version of his most famous hit, but he's heard nothing yet. Wait until he gets a load of Larry's very own American pi.

Chorus:

Find, find the value of pi, starts 3 point 1 4 1 5 9
Good ol' boys gave it a try, but the decimal never dies,
the decimal never dies...

In the Hebrew Bible we do see,
The circle ratio appears as three,
And the Rhind Papyrus does report
Four-thirds to the fourth,
And 22 sevenths Archimedes found
With polygons was a good upper bound.
The Chinese got it really keen:
Three-five-five over one thirteen!

I'm going to stop there because I hate it. Rest assured, you can find the whole song translated into mathemusic on Larry's web pages.

Larry also does rap: "Dividin' fractions, easy as pie: Flip the second and multiply!" Larry sounds like the baddest homeboy on the streets. Well, maybe Sesame Street.

And I'll spare you another of Larry's colleagues' songs. It's a cover of Queen's "We will rock you," which, suffice to say, was renamed "We will graph you!". Larry posts the lyrics on the web site then adds his own (advanced) variation, "We will graph you! (quadratic version)".

Give me a blackboard and a pointy stick. I'm going to throw them at Larry.