Just intonation subgroup: Difference between revisions
Cmloegcmluin (talk | contribs) clarify meaning of term |
I no longer endorse the term "formal prime" Tags: Mobile edit Mobile web edit |
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A prime subgroup that does not omit any primes < ''p'' (e.g. 2.3.5, 2.3.5.7, 2.3.5.7.11, etc. but not 2.3.7 or 3.5.7) is simply called 5-limit JI, 7-limit JI, etc. It is customary of just intonation subgroups to refer only to prime subgroups that do omit such primes, as well as the other two categories. | A prime subgroup that does not omit any primes < ''p'' (e.g. 2.3.5, 2.3.5.7, 2.3.5.7.11, etc. but not 2.3.7 or 3.5.7) is simply called 5-limit JI, 7-limit JI, etc. It is customary of just intonation subgroups to refer only to prime subgroups that do omit such primes, as well as the other two categories. | ||
The following terminology has been proposed for streamlining pedagogy: Given a subgroup written as generated by a fixed (non-redundant) set: ''a''.''b''.''c''.[…].''d'', call any member of this set a '''formal prime'''. The meaning of "formal" this term is using is "of external form or structure, rather than nature or content", which is to say that a formal prime is not necessarily ''actually'' a prime, but we treat them as if they were. Mathematically, "formal prime" is a synonym for an element of a fixed [[basis]]. For example, if the group is written 2.5/3.7/3, the formal primes are 2, 5/3 and 7/3. | |||
Subgroups in the strict sense come in two flavors: finite [[Wikipedia: Index of a subgroup|index]] and infinite index, where intuitively speaking the index measures the relative size of the subgroup within the entire ''p''-limit group. For example, the subgroups generated by 4 and 3, by 2 and 9, and by 4 and 6 all have index 2 in the full [[3-limit]] (Pythagorean) group. Half of the 3-limit intervals will belong to any one of them, and half will not, and all three groups are distinct. On the other hand, the group generated by 2, 3, and 7 is of infinite index in the full [[7-limit]] group, which is generated by 2, 3, 5 and 7. The index can be computed by taking the determinant of the matrix whose rows are the [[monzo]]s of the generators. | Subgroups in the strict sense come in two flavors: finite [[Wikipedia: Index of a subgroup|index]] and infinite index, where intuitively speaking the index measures the relative size of the subgroup within the entire ''p''-limit group. For example, the subgroups generated by 4 and 3, by 2 and 9, and by 4 and 6 all have index 2 in the full [[3-limit]] (Pythagorean) group. Half of the 3-limit intervals will belong to any one of them, and half will not, and all three groups are distinct. On the other hand, the group generated by 2, 3, and 7 is of infinite index in the full [[7-limit]] group, which is generated by 2, 3, 5 and 7. The index can be computed by taking the determinant of the matrix whose rows are the [[monzo]]s of the generators. |