Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2016 May 30

= May 30 =

how and why is the harmonic curve you see on the neck of a concert or Paraguayan harp, or the treble bridge of a piano is calculated.
I want to know how and why the harmonic curve you see on the neck of a concert or Paraguayan harp, or the treble bridge of a piano is calculated.

What is the math or music theory behind it?

What problems does it solve?

How and why does it enhance the quality of the tones produced?

There is currently no article in Wikipedia that answers this question


 * So I don't think they compute the curve per se, but rather they compute the length of each string individually, then design the curve to fit the strings. See the slight difference? Here is a nice general book about the math of acoustic instruments, and here is a book all about piano design. See eq. 5.1 there, which is essentially the same as the formula for the fundamental at Mersenne's_laws. See also String_vibration. In summary, the characteristics of the string and the desired note give the length, then the curve can be designed to accommodate all the strings. I think. That at least works in concept. Hope that helps, SemanticMantis (talk) 15:51, 30 May 2016 (UTC)


 * If you look at a lot of images of harps, from different periods and different cultures, you will notice that the curve does vary quite considerably. That makes me suspect that it may have evolved through trial and error over time, rather than being the result of some neat calculation. 86.191.126.192 (talk) 12:11, 31 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Well we'd expect them to vary, because string materials and widths vary. I agree that it used to be trial and error to some extent, but I'm pretty sure when they make a new harp today they do math :) SemanticMantis (talk) 20:50, 1 June 2016 (UTC)

Secondary school-level reading lists
I'm wondering if there's a listing of different literary works that students in different countries must study as part of their secondary educations. For example, in the US most middle and high school students ultimately read (or are culturally expected to have read) To Kill a Mockingbird, a variety of works by Edgar Allan Poe, The Diary of a Young Girl, portions of some Shakespearian works, the Odyssey, and a variety of others. I'm wondering about similar reading lists for other countries, especially ones outside of the anglosphere. These don't have to be official state curricula—though such information would be very welcome. Basically I'm looking for lists of works that the average entering first year university student (i.e., an above-average high school graduate) in any given country will be presumed to have read. —/M endaliv /2¢/Δ's/ 05:04, 30 May 2016 (UTC)


 * The UK GCSE syllabus for English (taken at age 16) does not specify a list of works, but requires certain categories of literature to be studied, and allows a choice of books within each category - https://www.educationumbrella.com/curriculum-vital/gcse-english-literature-set-texts-for-teaching-from-2015 The A-level syllabus, taken at 18 (but nor compulsory for all students) also allows a choice of books from an extended list - http://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/english/as-and-a-level/english-literature-a-2740/subject-content/unit-5 86.191.126.192 (talk) 10:27, 30 May 2016 (UTC)


 * Here's a list of minimum reading requirements for all students who took the graduation exam in Polish high schools in 2015. — Kpalion(talk) 10:32, 30 May 2016 (UTC)


 * Polish literature
 * Bogurodzica
 * Jan Kochanowski, selection of epigrams, songs and laments
 * Jan Andrzej Morsztyn, selection of poems
 * Daniel Naborowski, selection of poems
 * Wacław Potocki, selection of poems
 * Ignacy Krasicki, Hymn do miłości ojczyzny, selection of fables and satirical poems
 * Adam Mickiewicz, Romantyczność, Pan Tadeusz, Dziady (part 3), selection of poems
 * Juliusz Słowacki, Kordian, selection of poems
 * Zygmunt Krasiński, Nie-Boska komedia
 * Cyprian Kamil Norwid, selection of poems
 * Bolesław Prus, Lalka, Kamizelka
 * Eliza Orzeszkowa, Nad Niemnem, Gloria victis
 * Maria Konopnicka, Mendel Gdański
 * Henryk Sienkiewicz, Potop
 * Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer, selection of poems
 * Jan Kasprowicz, selection of poems
 * Leopold Staff, selection of poems
 * Stanisław Wyspiański, Wesele
 * Władysław Stanisław Reymont, Chłopi (vol. 1)
 * Stefan Żeromski, Ludzie bezdomni, Przedwiośnie
 * Witold Gombrowicz, Ferdydurke
 * Zofia Nałkowska, Granica
 * Tadeusz Borowski, Pożegnanie z Marią
 * Gustaw Herling-Grudziński, Inny świat
 * Bolesław Leśmian, selection of poems
 * Julian Tuwim, selection of poems
 * Maria Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska, selection of poems
 * Czesław Miłosz, selection of poems
 * Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński, selection of poems
 * Tadeusz Różewicz, selection of poems
 * Zbigniew Herbert, selection of poems
 * Miron Białoszewski, selection of poems
 * Wisława Szymborska, selection of poems
 * Stanisław Barańczak, selection of poems
 * Jan Twardowski, selection of poems
 * Sławomir Mrożek, Tango
 * Hanna Krall, Zdążyć przed Panem Bogiem


 * World literature
 * selected themes from the Bible and classical mythology
 * Sophocles, Oedipus the King
 * Horace, selection of odes
 * William Shakespeare, Macbeth
 * Molière, Tartuffe
 * Johann Wolfgang Goethe, The Sorrows of Young Werther
 * Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment
 * Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness
 * Albert Camus, The Plague


 * In a French lycée, three decades ago, some of the books that were studied in class or assigned reading included those listed below. Students were also expected to do a lot of reading on their own (with book reports required at regular intervals). Assigned readings varied from teacher to teacher. I'm sure there are a lot more female writers assigned nowadays. --Xuxl (talk) 12:49, 30 May 2016 (UTC):


 * Theater
 * Molière - Le Malade imaginaire, Les fourberies de Scapin, Tartuffe
 * Pierre Corneille - Le Cid
 * Jean Racine - Iphigénie, Andromaque
 * Victor Hugo - Ruy Blas
 * Alfred de Musset - Les caprices de Marianne
 * Jean Giraudoux - La Guerre de Troie n'aura pas lieu
 * Poetry
 * Jean de La Fontaine, Arthur Rimbaud, Charles Baudelaire, Alphonse de Lamartine, Victor Hugo, Stéphane Mallarmé, Guillaume Apollinaire, Paul Éluard, Jacques Prévert
 * Fiction
 * Voltaire - Candide
 * Honoré de Balzac - Le Père Goriot
 * Stendhal - Le Rouge et le Noir
 * Gustave Flaubert - Madame Bovary
 * Émile Zola - Germinal
 * François Mauriac - Thérèse Desqueyroux
 * André Malraux - La condition humaine
 * Albert Camus - La Peste
 * Joseph Kessel - Le Lion

To all above: Yes, yes, yes! These are what I'm looking for. Please keep them coming. —/M endaliv /2¢/Δ's/ 13:00, 30 May 2016 (UTC)
 * See Western canon for our overview article. Tevildo (talk) 23:43, 30 May 2016 (UTC)

Fivethirtyeight.com broke down both 9th and 10th grade US Enligh reading and Shakespeare in US colleges recently. shoy (reactions) 19:39, 31 May 2016 (UTC)