"Maths" is an

instrumental An instrumental or instrumental song is music without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through Semantic change, semantic widening, a broader sense of the word s ...

by Canadian electronic music producer

Deadmau5 Joel Thomas Zimmerman (born January 5, 1981), known professionally as deadmau5 (pronounced "dead-mouse"), is a Canadian electronic music producer and disc jockey, DJ. His musical style mostly includes progressive house and electro house music, ...

. It was released as the first single from his sixth studio album ''

Album Title Goes Here ''Album Title Goes Here'' (stylized as ''> album title goes here <'') is the sixth

studio album

by Canadian electronic musi ...

''.

Background

An unfinished version of the song appeared in 2010. Originally intended to be the twelfth track from his fifth studio album, '' 4x4=12'', it was omitted due to Zimmerman not being able to finish it in time. It later appeared in a

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

video called "drowned rat", which showed Zimmerman on a water scooter in

Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The Canada–United Sta ...

, recorded via a

helmet camera A helmet camera, otherwise known as a micro video camera, is an action camera, usually a closed-circuit television camera, attached to a helmet allowing someone to make a visual record from their point of view ( POV), while keeping their hands and ...

. It was uploaded on June 1, 2011, and scored large popularity after being uploaded. It was played throughout the Meowingtons Hax Tour, and then released on February 17, 2012.

Music video

The music video for "Maths" was released on February 23, 2012. The video consisted of a quotation board displaying a loop of various mathematical symbols and expressions. The text changes throughout the video, though recurring things as "__MATHS___", "_DEADMAU5_", and "><><><" are often displayed. deadmau5 later explained on a Facebook post that the video is indeed unofficial, and that "someone over at the label just chucked this together and uploaded it without running it by anyone".

Chart performance

References

{{authority control 2012 singles Deadmau5 songs 2012 songs Ultra Music singles