# Relation between math and piano music

What, if any, is the relation between Cantor's function and Ligeti studio: Devil's Staircase?

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This is not an appropriate forum for your question. I've voted to close. – Ryan Budney Jul 10 '13 at 0:07
This is a legitimate question since Ligeti's etude seems to be specifically inspired by the mathematical function (see monashcomposers.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/ligeti-13-page1.png for the start, and hear youtube.com/watch?v=1ZTaiDHqs5s for the whole thing). It might even belong on mathoverflow, at least as a reference request for a published exploration of this connection. – Noam D. Elkies Jul 10 '13 at 5:38
A few minutes on Google turn up "On Musical Self-Similarity" by Di Gabriel Pareyón, which reports on p.359 that the piece was written "under the advice of mathmeatician Heinz-Otto Peitgen" and "exhibits recursive qualities, whilst its hemiola rhythmic cells of 2 to 3 recall the binary-ternary geometry of the devil's staircase." That's a start, and maybe there's a more thorough exploration to be found. – Noam D. Elkies Jul 10 '13 at 5:42
[Oops, I didn't notice that this had already been answered $-$ I might have noticed that the scroll bar indicated an extension below the "put on hold as off-topic" block] – Noam D. Elkies Jul 10 '13 at 5:58