East Midlands Branch

THE INSTITUTE OF MATHEMATICS

AND ITS APPLICATIONS

a talk by

Kevin Jones

School of Music, Kingston University

on

Friday 20 October, 2000

starting at 7.30 pm

at

Loughborough University

Edward Herbert Building, Room G006

Professor Kevin Jones will develop some of the ideas in his prize-winning article, which won last year's THES/OUP Science Writing Prize.

The interesting symmetries shared by the Limerick, ragtime and jazz can be observed and heard in the family groups of stressed and unstressed syllables or beats which give these forms their characteristic structure or feel. Their self-similar qualities relate to fractal models used by contemporary scientists. Using examples from the music of Scott Joplin, Gershwin, Bartok and others, Kevin Jones will explain how this fascinating relationship provides a keen insight into important links between music, mathematics and science, and discuss some of the broader cultural and social implications.