ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Twelfth root of two

Let's learn about the twelfth root of two!

Do you know what a multiplication table is? It's a way to solve multiplication problems where there are two numbers, and you have to figure out what you get when you multiply them together.

For example, if you look at the 2 times table, you can see that when you multiply 2 times 1, you get 2. When you multiply 2 times 2, you get 4. When you multiply 2 times 3, you get 6. And so on!

Now, the twelfth root of two is a special number that tells you what number you would get if you multiplied itself by itself 12 times, and the answer is 2.

So if we go back to our multiplication table, we can think of the twelfth root of two as a number that, when you multiply it by itself 12 times, you get 2 as the answer.

This number is a little bit tricky because it's not a whole number like 1, 2, or 3. It's actually a decimal that goes on and on and on! But we can use calculators or computers to help us figure out what this number is. It turns out that the twelfth root of two is about 1.0594630943592953.

That's a big number, isn't it? But it's really important in music because it helps us figure out how to make different notes on instruments like guitars or pianos.

When you pluck a guitar string or play a piano key, the sound you hear depends on how long the string or key is. If the string or key is longer, the sound will be lower. If the string or key is shorter, the sound will be higher.

But there's more to it than that! The twelfth root of two helps us figure out exactly how much higher or lower the sound will be when we play different notes.

For example, if you play a note on the guitar and then play a note one fret higher, the sound will be a little bit higher. But it won't be exactly twice as high! It will be a little bit higher than 1.0594630943592953 times the original note.

This might sound really complicated, but musicians use this all the time to create beautiful music. They use the twelfth root of two to figure out how to play different notes that sound good together.

So now you know all about the twelfth root of two! It's a special number that helps us figure out how to make beautiful music on instruments like guitars or pianos.