Music and mathematics

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A spectrogram of a violin waveform, with linear frequency on the vertical axis and time on the horizontal axis. The bright lines show how the
spectral components change over time. The intensity coloring is logarithmic (black is 120 dBFS).
Music theorists sometimes use mathematics to understand music, and although music has no axiomatic foundation in
modern mathematics, mathematics is "the basis of sound" and sound itself "in its musical aspects... exhibits a
remarkable array of number properties", simply because nature itself "is amazingly mathematical".
[1]
Though ancient
Chinese, Egyptians and Mesopotamians are known to have studied the mathematical principles of
sound,
[2]
the Pythagoreans of ancient Greece were the first researchers known to have investigated the expression
of musical scales in terms of numerical ratios,
[3]
particularly the ratios of small integers. Their central doctrine was that
"all nature consists of harmony arising out of numbers".
[4]

From the time of Plato, harmony was considered a fundamental branch of physics, now known as musical acoustics.
Early Indian andChinese theorists show similar approaches: all sought to show that the mathematical laws
of harmonics and rhythms were fundamental not only to our understanding of the world but to human well-
being.
[5]
Confucius, like Pythagoras, regarded the small numbers 1,2,3,4 as the source of all perfection.
[6]

The attempt to structure and communicate new ways of composing and hearing music has led to musical applications
of set theory,abstract algebra and number theory. Some composers have incorporated the golden ratio and Fibonacci
numbers into their work.
[7][8]

Time, rhythm and meter[edit]
Main article: Meter (music)
Without the boundaries of rhythmic structure a fundamental equal and regular arrangement
of pulse repetition, accent, phrase and duration music would not be possible.
[9]
In Old English the word "rhyme",
derived to "rhythm", became associated and confused with rim "number"
[10]
and modern musical use of terms
like meter and measure also reflects the historical importance of music, along with astronomy, in the development of
counting, arithmetic and the exact measurement of time and periodicity that is fundamental to physics.
Musical form[edit]
Main article: Musical form
Musical form is the plan by which a short piece of music is extended. The term "plan" is also used in architecture, to
which musical form is often compared. Like the architect, the composer must take into account the function for which
the work is intended and the means available, practicing economy and making use of repetition and order.
[11]
The
common types of form known as binary and ternary ("twofold" and "threefold") once again demonstrate the
importance of small integral values to the intelligibility and appeal of music.
The word "rhyme" was not derived from "rhythm"
[contradiction]
(see Oxford and Collins dictionaries) but from old English
"rime". The spelling of "rime" was later affected by the spelling of "rhythm", although the two are totally different.
Frequency and harmony[edit]
A musical scale is a discrete set of pitches used in making or describing music. The most important scale in the
Western tradition is thediatonic scale but many others have been used and proposed in various historical eras and
parts of the world. Each pitch corresponds to a particular frequency, expressed in hertz (Hz), sometimes referred to
as cycles per second (c.p.s.). A scale has an interval of repetition, normally the octave. The octave of any pitch refers
to a frequency exactly twice that of the given pitch. Succeeding superoctaves are pitches found at frequencies four,
eight, sixteen times, and so on, of the fundamental frequency. Pitches at frequencies of half, a quarter, an eighth and
so on of the fundamental are called suboctaves. There is no case in musical harmony where, if a given pitch be
considered accordant, that its octaves are considered otherwise. Therefore any note and its octaves will generally be
found similarly named in musical systems (e.g. all will be called doh or A or Sa, as the case may be). When
expressed as a frequency bandwidth an octave A2A3 spans from 110 Hz to 220 Hz (span=110 Hz). The next octave
will span from 220 Hz to 440 Hz (span=220 Hz). The third octave spans from 440 Hz to 880 Hz (span=440 Hz) and
so on. Each successive octave spans twice the frequency range of the previous octave.
Because we are often interested in the relations or ratios between the pitches (known as intervals) rather than the
precise pitches themselves in describing a scale, it is usual to refer to all the scale pitches in terms of their ratio from
a particular pitch, which is given the value of one (often written 1/1), generally a note which functions as the tonic of
the scale. For interval size comparison cents are often used.


The exponential nature of octaves when measured on a linear frequency scale.


This diagram presents octaves as they appear in the sense of musical intervals, equally spaced.
Common name
Example
name
Hz
Multiple
of fundamental
Ratio
within octave
Cents
within octave
Fundamental
A2,
110
1x 1/1 = 1x 0
Octave
A3
220
2x
2/1 = 2x 1200
2/2 = 1x 0
Perfect Fifth
E4
330
3x 3/2 = 1.5x 702
Octave
A4
440
4x
4/2 = 2x 1200
4/4 = 1x 0
Major Third
C5
550
5x 5/4 = 1.25x 386
Perfect Fifth
E5
660
6x 6/4 = 1.5x 702
Harmonic seventh
G5
770
7x 7/4 = 1.75x 969
Octave
A5
880
8x
8/4 = 2x 1200
8/8 = 1x 0
Tuning systems[edit]
Main articles: Musical tuning and Musical temperament
5-limit tuning, the most common form of just intonation, is a system of tuning
using tones that are regular number harmonics of a single fundamental
frequency. This was one of the scales Johannes Kepler presented in
his Harmonices Mundi (1619) in connection with planetary motion. The same
scale was given in transposed form by Scottish mathematician and musical
theorist, Alexander Malcolm, in 1721 in his 'Treatise of Musick: Speculative,
Practical and Historical',
[12]
and by theorist Jose Wuerschmidt in the 20th
century. A form of it is used in the music of northern India. American
composer Terry Riley also made use of the inverted form of it in his "Harp of
New Albion". Just intonation gives superior results when there is little or
no chord progression: voices and other instruments gravitate to just intonation
whenever possible. However, as it gives two different whole tone intervals (9:8
and 10:9) a keyboard instrument so tuned cannot change key.
[13]
To calculate
the frequency of a note in a scale given in terms of ratios, the frequency ratio is
multiplied by the tonic frequency. For instance, with a tonic of A4 (A natural
above middle C), the frequency is 440 Hz, and a justly tuned fifth above it (E5)
is simply 440(3:2) = 660 Hz.
Semitone Ratio Interval Natural Half Step
0 1:1 unison 480 0
1 16:15 minor semitone 512 16:15
2 9:8 major second 540 135:128
3 6:5 minor third 576 16:15
4 5:4 major third 600 25:24
5 4:3 perfect fourth 640 16:15
6 45:32 diatonic tritone 675 135:128
7 3:2 perfect fifth 720 16:15
8 8:5 minor sixth 768 16:15
9 5:3 major sixth 800 25:24
10 9:5 minor seventh 864 27:25
11 15:8 major seventh 900 25:24
12 2:1 octave 960 16:15
Pythagorean tuning is tuning based only on the perfect consonances, the
(perfect) octave, perfect fifth, and perfect fourth. Thus the major third is
considered not a third but a ditone, literally "two tones", and is (9:8)
2
= 81:64,
rather than the independent and harmonic just 5:4 = 80:64 directly below. A
whole tone is a secondary interval, being derived from two perfect fifths,
(3:2)
2
= 9:8.
The just major third, 5:4 and minor third, 6:5, are a syntonic comma, 81:80,
apart from their Pythagorean equivalents 81:64 and 32:27 respectively.
According to Carl Dahlhaus(1990, p. 187), "the dependent third conforms to the
Pythagorean, the independent third to the harmonic tuning of intervals."
Western common practice music usually cannot be played in just intonation but
requires a systematically tempered scale. The tempering can involve either the
irregularities of well temperament or be constructed as a regular temperament,
either some form of equal temperament or some other regular meantone, but in
all cases will involve the fundamental features of meantone temperament. For
example, the root of chord ii, if tuned to a fifth above the dominant, would be a
major whole tone (9:8) above the tonic. If tuned a just minor third (6:5) below a
just subdominant degree of 4:3, however, the interval from the tonic would
equal a minor whole tone (10:9). Meantone temperament reduces the
difference between 9:8 and 10:9. Their ratio, (9:8)/(10:9) = 81:80, is treated as
a unison. The interval 81:80, called the syntonic comma or comma of Didymus,
is the key comma of meantone temperament.
In equal temperament, the octave is divided into twelve equal parts, each
semitone (half-step) is an interval of the twelfth root of two so that twelve of
these equal half steps add up to exactly an octave. With fretted instruments it is
very useful to use equal temperament so that the frets align evenly across the
strings. In the European music tradition, equal temperament was used for lute
and guitar music far earlier than for other instruments, such as musical
keyboards. Because of this historical force, twelve-tone equal temperament is
now the dominant intonation system in the Western, and much of the non-
Western, world.
Equally tempered scales have been used and instruments built using various
other numbers of equal intervals. The 19 equal temperament, first proposed
and used by Guillaume Costeley in the 16th century, uses 19 equally spaced
tones, offering better major thirds and far better minor thirds than normal 12-
semitone equal temperament at the cost of a flatter fifth. The overall effect is
one of greater consonance. 24 equal temperament, with 24 equally spaced
tones, is widespread in the pedagogy and notation of Arabic music. However,
in theory and practice, the intonation of Arabic music conforms to rational
ratios, as opposed to the irrational ratios of equally tempered systems. While
any analog to the equally tempered quarter tone is entirely absent from Arabic
intonation systems, analogs to a three-quarter tone, or neutral second,
frequently occur. These neutral seconds, however, vary slightly in their ratios
dependent on maqam, as well as geography. Indeed, Arabic music
historian Habib Hassan Touma has written that "the breadth of deviation of this
musical step is a crucial ingredient in the peculiar flavor of Arabian music. To
temper the scale by dividing the octave into twenty-four quarter-tones of equal
size would be to surrender one of the most characteristic elements of this
musical culture."
[14]

The following graph reveals how accurately various equal-tempered scales
approximate three important harmonic identities: the major third (5th harmonic),
the perfect fifth (3rd harmonic), and the "harmonic seventh" (7th harmonic).
[Note: the numbers above the bars designate the equal-tempered scale (i.e.,
"12" designates the 12-tone equal-tempered scale, etc.)]
Note Frequency (Hz)
Frequency
Distance from
previous note
Log frequency
log2 f
Log frequency
Distance from
previous note
A2 110.00 N/A 6.781 N/A
A2 116.54 6.54 6.864 0.0833 (or 1/12)
B2 123.47 6.93 6.948 0.0833
C3 130.81 7.34 7.031 0.0833
C3 138.59 7.78 7.115 0.0833
D3 146.83 8.24 7.198 0.0833
D3 155.56 8.73 7.281 0.0833
E3 164.81 9.25 7.365 0.0833
F3 174.61 9.80 7.448 0.0833
F3 185.00 10.39 7.531 0.0833
G3 196.00 11.00 7.615 0.0833
G3 207.65 11.65 7.698 0.0833
A3 220.00 12.35 7.781 0.0833
Below are Ogg Vorbis files demonstrating the difference between just
intonation and equal temperament. You may need to play the samples
several times before you can pick the difference.
Two sine waves played consecutively this sample has half-step at
550 Hz (C in the just intonation scale), followed by a half-step at
554.37 Hz (C in the equal temperament scale).
Same two notes, set against an A440 pedal this sample consists of
a "dyad". The lower note is a constant A (440 Hz in either scale), the
upper note is a C in the equal-tempered scale for the first 1", and a
C in the just intonation scale for the last 1". Phase differences make
it easier to pick the transition than in the previous sample.
Connections to set theory[edit]
Main article: Set theory (music)
Musical set theory uses some of the concepts from mathematical set
theory to organize musical objects and describe their relationships. To
analyze the structure of a piece of (typically atonal) music using musical
set theory, one usually starts with a set of tones, which could form motives
or chords. By applying simple operations such
as transpositionand inversion, one can discover deep structures in the
music. Operations such as transposition and inversion are
called isometries because they preserve the intervals between tones in a
set.
Connections to abstract algebra[edit]
Main article: Abstract algebra
Expanding on the methods of musical set theory, some theorists have
used abstract algebra to analyze music. For example, the notes in an
equal temperament octave form anabelian group with 12 elements. It is
possible to describe just intonation in terms of a free abelian group.
[15]

Transformational theory is a branch of music theory developed by David
Lewin. The theory allows for great generality because it emphasizes
transformations between musical objects, rather than the musical objects
themselves.
Theorists have also proposed musical applications of more sophisticated
algebraic concepts. Mathematician Guerino Mazzola has applied topos
theory to music,
[citation needed]
though the result has been controversial.
[citation
needed]

The chromatic scale has a free and transitive action of the cyclic
group , with the action being defined via transposition of notes. So
the chromatic scale can be thought of as a torsor for the group .