Consistent circle: Difference between revisions

Intuitively, a '''consistent''' [[circle]] of ~a/b's in an [[edo]] describes a case where ''a''/''b'' is so accurately approximated that you can rely on navigating with it being [[consistent]] with respect to the "circle of notes" defined. It is closely related to the concept of [[telicity]], except that a circle can be of ''any'' [[JI]] interval, as long as it is [[consistency#mathematical definition|consistently mapped]] to the unison when octave-reduced. (It also admits generalization to any [[equave]].) Note that the precise term ''consistent circle of ~a/b's'' may be shortened to ''circle of a/b's''{{idiosyncratic}} in writing for the sake of brevity wherever it's unambiguous (or in informal writing).

The circle of fifths/fourths can be confusing to navigate in edos which are not [[telic]] in that a circle of [[3/2]]'s / [[4/3]]'s fails to "close", for example in [[31edo]] where the difference between 31 just fifths and 18 octaves is 415% of a 31edostep. Usually, in such edos, there is present other intervals, such as [[5/4]] and [[7/4]] in the case of 31edo, which are far more accurate and therefore far more reliable for navigation. In the case of 31edo, 5/4 and 7/4 are in fact so accurate that stacking either of them 31 times (and in fact, any combination of them or their [[octave complement]]s 31 times, as long as there isn't more than 31 intervals in total) will keep the result off by less than a 31edostep (meaning they form [[#Weak circle|''weakly consistent circles'']]), even if the result isn't guaranteed to be [[consistent]] beyond floor(31/2) moves. (Alternatively, stated, this means the result is guaranteed to be consistent if you stack at most floor(31/2) = 15 of them w.r.t. a starting note.)

We define a '''consistent''' [[circle]] (abbreviatable to just ''circle''{{idiosyncratic}}) of some (usually [[JI]]) [[interval]] ''a''/''b'' as: an interval with such extremely low [[relative error]] with respect to ''N''-[[edo]] that when we stack it ''m'' > 0 times, where ''m'' is the minimum required to reach a whole number of octaves, the combined interval is [[consistent]] with its actual (untempered) size, which is to say it is off by less than 0.5\''N'' = 1200{{cent}} / ''N'' / 2 (a.k.a. 50% relative error). Note that this definition implies that the circle need not reach all notes of the edo if the circle occurs in a subset edo, but that the circle must have low enough error that within the full edo it is still consistent.

When a circle satisfies this consistency but no stronger, we say its consistency is ''weak''. If it fails to satisfy this bound but generates a subset, it might qualify for a [[having a sub-weak circle]].

When a circle satisfies this consistency but no stronger (which is guaranteed [[Having a super-strong circle|if]] it generates the whole edo), we say its consistency is ''strong''.