How is it that Ludwig van Beethoven -- one of history's most celebrated and revered composers -- wrote so many wonderful pieces as he spent most of his career going deaf?

As Natalya St. Clair suggests in the Ted-Ed video, "Music and math: The genius of Beethoven," the answer may be revealed in the connection between music and math.

If we look at the mathematical relationships found in chordal structures and pitches of Beethoven's music (in the specific example of this video, the "Moonlight" sonata), we can see some of the patterns which the composer could not hear.

Watch the video below and see the entire lesson on TedEd's website.