Euroscience Open Forum 2012

There are many interesting connections between mathematics and music, and in this lecture some of these connections will be explored. For example, it is not widely known that our European musical scales are built up by using mathematical principles. There are many hidden symmetries in all kinds of music and many modern composers employ mathematical ideas in their compositions.
How 'simple' sounds are used to construct almost arbitrary ones is discussed. This 'Fourier analysis' is of great importance in many applied sciences. The most complex part of our talk will be the discussion of a rather recent mathematical problem; 'Can you hear the shape of a drum?' The question is whether or not it is possible to deduce the shape of a plane figure by merely listening to the sounds it can produce.