Maths....

Caused a few problems last year, mainly with the muso community who had not used the maths for some time. I don't pretend to be an expert in maths but there are others who are! Here are some links which may help.

The Mathematics of Electronic Music is useful for explaining the maths behind the music. If you follow the strange, slug-like link at the bottom of the page, you'll find more resources. The link to decibels may be useful, especially for sorting out the difference in dBj, dBk, dBm and dBv.

Decibels are explained in more detail on the NSW site. There is a problem here because the explaination is in terms of power. This corresponds to a 3dB increase for each doubling which is different to the 6dB doubling you have been reading about in block 1. Confused, you should be. So, to help read through Paul White's article in Sound on Sound before you work thorugh the NSW site. A further site from Stanford University with some maths examples may be useful. There are many other useful pages on this subject.

Tontechnik Rechner is a useful tool for checking your nanoseconds from your milliseconds. Certainly a useful tool for those unfamiliar with the conventions of time, power, etc.

For most of you, the maths will present no problem because you have come from a technical or science background. The main difficulty is for musicians or other arts students combining this module with others. From past experience there are two important things to think about. The first is to think carefully about the layout of the answers you give: work through things logically. The second is to ask for help if there is a problem, once you get over the basics hurdle, all becomes clear(ish).