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Musical Scales: Arithmetic vs. Geometric

The frequencies of notes in a musical scale from A below middle C to A above form either an arithmetic or geometric sequence. If arithmetic, the common difference would be (440-220)/12=19.995 Hz. If geometric, the ratio would be the 12th root of 2, about 1.05946. Listening to a demonstration comparing logarithmic (geometric) and linear (arithmetic) scales can help determine which sequence the musical scale follows.

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185 views1 page

Musical Scales: Arithmetic vs. Geometric

The frequencies of notes in a musical scale from A below middle C to A above form either an arithmetic or geometric sequence. If arithmetic, the common difference would be (440-220)/12=19.995 Hz. If geometric, the ratio would be the 12th root of 2, about 1.05946. Listening to a demonstration comparing logarithmic (geometric) and linear (arithmetic) scales can help determine which sequence the musical scale follows.

Uploaded by

mrsolomn1
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Is the Musical Scale and Arithmetic or Geometric Sequence?

The Frequencies in Hertz (vibrations per second) of the notes in the scale produced by
a piano for A below middle C to A above middle C are:
A
G#
G
F#
F
E
D#
D
C#
C
B
A#
A
440.000
415.305
391.995
369.994
349.228
329.629
311.127
293.665
277.183
261.626
246.942
233.082
220.000
Do these frequencies form arithmetic or geometric sequences?
What is the common difference (if arithmetic) or ratio (if geometric)?
Does this constant have any meaning related to musical scales?
Notice that the frequency of A 440 is exactly twice that of A 220. This is no mere
coincidence. For any two notes that are an octave apart, the ratio of the frequency of
the high note to the frequency of the low note is always 2:1. Since there are 12 pitches
in all the notes between A 220 and A 440, the sequences of pitches are either
arithmetic (d = (440-220)/12) or geometric (r =

!
2
12
).
The Acoustical Society of America (http://asa.aip.org/sound.html) offers an Auditory
Demonstrations CD prepared at the Institute for Perception Research (IPR) The
Netherlands. Among the demonstrations is a musical scale with pitches based on an
arithmetic sequence, and a musical scale with pitches based on a geometric sequence.
The demo is called Logarithmic and linear frequency scales. If you are still not sure
whether the scale is arithmetic or geometric, listening to the demo will help you decide!

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