Pi Day 2022 — three one four: a number of notes — A musical journey into the digits of Pi
On March 14th celebrate `\pi` Day. Hug `\pi`—find a way to do it.
For those who favour `\tau=2\pi` will have to postpone celebrations until July 26th. That's what you get for thinking that `\pi` is wrong. I sympathize with this position and have `\tau` day art too!
If you're not into details, you may opt to party on July 22nd, which is `\pi` approximation day (`\pi` ≈ 22/7). It's 20% more accurate that the official `\pi` day!
Finally, if you believe that `\pi = 3`, you should read why `\pi` is not equal to 3.
3 There you go
1 Straight
4 Number me not
1 Scales
5 There is more of me
9 To forget than you can remember
—Emma Beauxis-Aussalet (314... piku)
Welcome to 2022 Pi Day: a celebration of `\pi` and mathematics (and music).
This year I've done something very different — a surprise for both the ear and eye. Working with Gregory Coles, we've composed an album based on the mathematics of `\pi`.
The album is called “three one four: a number of digits” . It is a sixteen minute musical exploration of the digits of `\pi`. Experience this famous number from its beginning (Track 1 314…) to its very (known) end (Track 6 ...264), as well as the math (Track 3 Wallis Product) and jokes (Track 2 Feynman Point) behind it and aspects of its digits, such as repetition (Track 4 nn) and zeroes (Track 5 null).
The album is scored for solo piano in the style of 20th century classical music – each piece has a distinct personality, drawn from styles of Boulez and Stockhausen (314…), Ligeti (Feynman Point), Reich and Glass (Wallis Product), Satie (nn), Feldman (null), Powell and Monk (...264).
Each piece is accompanied by a piku (or πku), a poem whose syllable count is determined by a specific sequence of digits from π. I came up with the concept of a piku for 2020 Pi Day.
9 We know we can never have it all
2 Never
4 But yet can we
2 Ever
6 In endless scarcity
4 Have just enough?
—Emma Beauxis-Aussalet (...264 piku)
The piku collection were written by Emma Beauxis-Aussalet set of piku and each piku follows a syllable count that closely matches the theme of its track.
Our album was the theme of a Numberphile Podcast “The First and Last Digits of Pi” and appeared in Nature Briefing for March 14, 2022.
I sit down with the composer of the album, Gregory Coles, and start the conversation about turning mathematics into music. Our attempt was to find a compelling balance between `\pi` and the heart of a musician.
We go through the list of tracks on the album and give you a sense of what to expect.
what to listen to first?
geek out on music theory and scores
If you're a music geek, you'll love our detailed discussion of the music theory behind each track and a thorough score analysis.
download score
The entire album is arranged for solo piano and lovingly engraved. You can download the full score.
Neural network primer
Nature is often hidden, sometimes overcome, seldom extinguished. —Francis Bacon
In the first of a series of columns about neural networks, we introduce them with an intuitive approach that draws from our discussion about logistic regression.
Simple neural networks are just a chain of linear regressions. And, although neural network models can get very complicated, their essence can be understood in terms of relatively basic principles.
We show how neural network components (neurons) can be arranged in the network and discuss the ideas of hidden layers. Using a simple data set we show how even a 3-neuron neural network can already model relatively complicated data patterns.
Derry, A., Krzywinski, M & Altman, N. (2023) Points of significance: Neural network primer. Nature Methods 20.
Background reading
Lever, J., Krzywinski, M. & Altman, N. (2016) Points of significance: Logistic regression. Nature Methods 13:541–542.
Cell Genomics cover
Our cover on the 11 January 2023 Cell Genomics issue depicts the process of determining the parent-of-origin using differential methylation of alleles at imprinted regions (iDMRs) is imagined as a circuit.
Designed in collaboration with with Carlos Urzua.
Akbari, V. et al. Parent-of-origin detection and chromosome-scale haplotyping using long-read DNA methylation sequencing and Strand-seq (2023) Cell Genomics 3(1).
Browse my gallery of cover designs.
Science Advances cover
My cover design on the 6 January 2023 Science Advances issue depicts DNA sequencing read translation in high-dimensional space. The image showss 672 bases of sequencing barcodes generated by three different single-cell RNA sequencing platforms were encoded as oriented triangles on the faces of three 7-dimensional cubes.
More details about the design.
Kijima, Y. et al. A universal sequencing read interpreter (2023) Science Advances 9.
Browse my gallery of cover designs.
Regression modeling of time-to-event data with censoring
If you sit on the sofa for your entire life, you’re running a higher risk of getting heart disease and cancer. —Alex Honnold, American rock climber
In a follow-up to our Survival analysis — time-to-event data and censoring article, we look at how regression can be used to account for additional risk factors in survival analysis.
We explore accelerated failure time regression (AFTR) and the Cox Proportional Hazards model (Cox PH).
Dey, T., Lipsitz, S.R., Cooper, Z., Trinh, Q., Krzywinski, M & Altman, N. (2022) Points of significance: Regression modeling of time-to-event data with censoring. Nature Methods 19.
Music video for Max Cooper's Ascent
My 5-dimensional animation sets the visual stage for Max Cooper's Ascent from the album Unspoken Words. I have previously collaborated with Max on telling a story about infinity for his Yearning for the Infinite album.
I provide a walkthrough the video, describe the animation system I created to generate the frames, and show you all the keyframes
The video recently premiered on YouTube.
Renders of the full scene are available as NFTs.
Gene Cultures exhibit — art at the MIT Museum
I am more than my genome and my genome is more than me.
The MIT Museum reopened at its new location on 2nd October 2022. The new Gene Cultures exhibit featured my visualization of the human genome, which walks through the size and organization of the genome and some of the important structures.
