Math Prof Uncovers Secret Chord

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday October 30, 2008 @06:09AM from the with-a-little-help-from-my-mathematician dept.

chebucto writes "The opening chord to A Hard Day's Night is famous because for 40 years, no one quite knew exactly what chord Harrison was playing. Musicians, scholars and amateur guitar players alike had all come up with their own theories, but it took a Dalhousie mathematician to figure out the exact formula. Dr. Brown used Fourier transforms to find the notes in the chord, and deduced that another George — George Martin, the Beatles producer — also played on the chord, adding a piano chord that included an F note impossible to play with the other notes on the guitar."

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This Is What "Idle" Should Be Used For. by Pantero+Blanco · 2008-10-30 06:23 · Score: 5, Interesting

Stories like this are actually interesting and have a math/science side to them, instead of being mindless humor that everyone has already seen elsewhere. This is something that a math teacher could show her students to make them interested, more so than all the silly posters and videos they used when I was going through grade school.