Education Technology


NUMB3RS - Season 2 - "The Running Man" - An Irrational Approach to Music

Activity Overview

In "The Running Man," Charlie discusses a pentatonic flute. He indicates that a simple continued fraction is used to approximate the irrational number needed to ensure the flute has an equal temperament. An equal temperament means that the ratio of the frequencies of any two adjacent notes is constant.

Before the Activity

Download the attached PDF and look over the Teacher Page.

During the Activity

Discuss the materials from the Student Page with your class.

After the Activity

Encourage students to explore web sites and questions from the Extensions page.