Math will become a little cooler and music maybe a little nerdier on Saturday night. That’s when multitasking, saxophone-playing Marcus Miller leads his quartet through a swinging set at the National Museum of Mathematics — a prelude to a conversation on probability with Princeton University professor and numerical expert Bill Massey.
It’s the opening night of what promises to be a periodic series called Quadrivium: Math Plus Music.
Miller, 31, began playing sax at age 9. After graduating from Harvard University in 2008 with a degree in mathematics, the Harlem resident started working for a hedge fund in Connecticut. But six months in, he ditched that high-paying job to follow his passion: a career in music. And yes, Miller says, there are parallels between improvisational jazz and trading stock: “You come in with the solid fundamentals, in case things take a surprising turn,” he says. “But sometimes you look for volatility.”
And as volatile as the markets have been since he quit his job, things have worked out pretty well for him. Miller’s horn-playing brought him to the stage of Madison Square Garden and a gig at the Obama White House. Through it all, he says, equations and sheet music have gone together nicely. “Math has trained me to quickly recognize patterns,” says Miller. “That comes in handy for playing music, where patterns keep repeating themselves in subtle, not very obvious, ways. Additionally, math requires the kind of precision that is akin to the mastery of an instrument.”
The post-performance conversation will touch on randomness as well as queueing theory, a numerical way of creating efficiency.
“We may be breaking out the white board,” Miller warns. “You always have to have a white board on deck.”
National Museum of Mathematics, 11 E. 26th St., Saturday at 7 p.m., $15, momath.org