ATLAS / MATHS FLOORNumbers
Numbers
with speakers.
28 WORKING EXHIBITS
Change a number. Watch the mechanism. Hear the result. The equation, the diagram and the sound stay connected.
Start with school mathsBAY 01 / SCHOOL MATHS
Nine things to bash, drag and hear.
Ages 9–14 · no questions, marks or gates.
01¼Build a bar out of blocksStack blocks until they fill one bar. ¼ + ¼ + ½ = 1 — then hit play and hear it.FractionsGrades 4–50256How many ways can you make 4 beats?There are 56 different rhythms that fill 4 beats. How many can you find?CombinatoricsGrades 5–603↗Draw a melody, hear the graphDraw a line graph with your finger, press play, and the graph sings back.Line graphsGrades 4–504(x, y)The stave is a gridPlot points on graph paper — except the graph paper is a stave and the points make sound.Coordinate planeGrade 50512Twelve notes on a clockSkip round a clock of twelve notes: 2, 2, 1, 2, 2, 2, 1 — and you have built a major scale.Patterns & skip countingGrades 4–6063+3+23 + 3 + 2Split 8 into 3 + 3 + 2 and the drum starts to dance. Same total, different feel.Partitioning & additionGrades 4–6076⁄8The number on the left is a fraction3/4 and 6/8 last exactly the same time — and sound nothing alike. Hear why.Time signatureGrades 4–60860÷nHow fast is this song?Slide the metronome and watch 60 ÷ BPM do the work. Then tap your own tempo.Rates & divisionGrades 5–709%Turn it up 25%3 hits out of 8 slots = ⅜ = 0.375 = 37.5% of the bar. Toggle them and listen.PercentagesGrades 5–7
BAY 02 / INSIDE THE SOUND
Nine deeper acoustics laboratories.
For older students, teachers and the incorrigibly curious.
01iSee a soundWatch a note wiggle on screen — then sing into the mic and see YOUR voice.Waveswaves · frequency · 1/x02iiThe magic stringSlide a bridge along a string. Half the string sings twice as high. Really.Magic stringfractions · ratios03iiiOne note is a chord in disguiseStack the secret notes hiding inside one note. It's the times tables, but audible.Harmonicsmultiplication · standing waves04ivWhy some notes love each otherTwo notes at once: tidy ratios sound friendly, messy ones argue. Hear it yourself.Intervalsratios · logarithms05vSlicing timeChop one bar of music into halves, quarters, eighths and threes — then make a groove.Rhythmfractions · LCM · polyrhythm06viLoud and soft — the size of a waveMake the wave big and small — and meet the decibel, loudness measured in logs.How loud?amplitude · decibels (a log)07viiHow fast is sound?Count 'one-two-three' between lightning and thunder — that's how you measure a storm.How fast?speed · distance = speed × time08viiiResonance — pushing at the right timePush a swing at the perfect time and it soars. That's resonance — why instruments have bodies.Why it singsresonance · natural frequency09ixCounting music — note values that add upA whole = two halves = four quarters. Add the note-fractions up to fill a bar.Counting musiccounting · adding fractions to 1