User:Frostburn/Music vs Math
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
I'm collecting a list of terms with different meanings in Xenharmonic Music Theory and Mathematics. These could be used to make a joke video in the future if we can come up with enough of them. Feel free to contribute to the table below.
| Term | Musical meaning | Mathematical meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Harmonic analysis | Study of chord progressions | Study of Fourier Transforms |
| Harmonic series | Overtonal ratios i.e. natural numbers | A diverging sum of reciprocals |
| Perfect | Rank-2 generator and its inverse | Number that is the sum of its divisors |
| Periodic | Geometrically cumulative | Repeating (non-cumulative) |
| Interval | A positive real number ratio of frequencies | A connected subset of [math]\displaystyle{ \mathbb{R} }[/math] |
| Variety | Number of distinct k-step intervals in a scale | An algebraic variety, such as the solution set of a system of polynomial equations; objects of study in algebraic geometry |