Mediant (operation): Difference between revisions

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The mediant operation can also be used to find generators and scales in [[edo]]s representing temperaments. For example, the perfect fifth ([[3/2]]) in 12edo which [[support]]s [[meantone]] is 7 steps out of 12, and the fifth in [[19edo]], another meantone tuning, is 11 steps out of 19. Hence the perfect fifth in 31edo (which is a meantone tuning because 31 = 12 + 19; more precisely, the 5-limit [[val]] of 31edo is the sum of the 5-limit vals of 12edo and 19edo) is (7+11)\(12+19) = 18\31, which is in between the sizes of the 12edo fifth and the 19edo one.  
The mediant operation can also be used to find generators and scales in [[edo]]s representing temperaments. For example, the perfect fifth ([[3/2]]) in 12edo which [[support]]s [[meantone]] is 7 steps out of 12, and the fifth in [[19edo]], another meantone tuning, is 11 steps out of 19. Hence the perfect fifth in 31edo (which is a meantone tuning because 31 = 12 + 19; more precisely, the 5-limit [[val]] of 31edo is the sum of the 5-limit vals of 12edo and 19edo) is (7+11)\(12+19) = 18\31, which is in between the sizes of the 12edo fifth and the 19edo one.  


Given a target interval x (written logarithmically in octaves), the [[relative error]] of the mediant of two edo approximations a\m and b\n to x is the sum of the respective relative errors of a\m and b\n. Since x is exactly equal to xm\m in m-edo and xn\n in n-edo, the error of the approximation (a+b)\(m+n) is  
Given a target interval x (written logarithmically in octaves), the [[relative error]] of the mediant of two edo approximations a\m and b\n to x is the sum of the respective relative errors of a\m and b\n. Since x is exactly equal to xm\m in m-edo and xn\n in n-edo, the absolute error of the approximation (a+b)\(m+n) is  


[(a+b)\(m+n) − x](m+n) = (a+b)\(m+n) − x(m+n)\(m+n) = [(a-xm)+(b-xn)]\(m+n).
[(a+b)\(m+n) − x](m+n) = (a+b)\(m+n) − x(m+n)\(m+n) = [(a-xm)+(b-xn)]\(m+n).