Music begins with vibration, from the strings of a guitar to air streaming over the opening of a flute. And mathematics provides a beautiful language for describing many phenomena that arise in music.

Ananda Shastri, professor of physics and astronomy at Minnesota State University Moorhead, will discuss the theory of musical acoustics as it relates to physics at the September Science Café titled “Music with Soda Straws: How the Square Root of Minus One Shows Up in the Most Unlikely Places.”

The event is scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 9, at 7 p.m. in Stoker’s Basement, Hotel Donaldson in Fargo. It’s free and open to the public.

Shastri will demonstrate why the square root of minus-one, a concept once thought to be mathematically meaningless, provides a description for vibrant systems.

Attendees will make and play simple instruments from ordinary soda straws to experience the phenomena where the square root of minus-one emerges.

“You will leave with a sense of wonder at the power of math to describe the world around you,” Shastri said.

Attendees must be 21 or older or accompanied by a parent or guardian. For more information, contact Diane Goede at diane.goede@ndsu.edu or 701-231-7412.

NDSU is recognized as one of the nation’s top 108 public and private universities by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education.