Anthill comma

Interval information

Ratio	532400/531441
Factorization	24 × 3-12 × 52 × 113
Monzo	[4 -12 2 0 3⟩
Size in cents	3.121244¢
Name	Anthill comma
Color name	s1o3yy1, satrilo-ayoyo 1sn
FJS name	[math]\text{d1}^{5,5,11,11,11}[/math]
Special properties	reduced
Tenney height (log2 nd)	38.0417
Weil height (log2 max(n, d))	38.0443
Wilson height (sopfr(nd))	87
Harmonic entropy (Shannon, [math]\sqrt{nd}[/math])	~1.29039 bits
Comma size	unnoticeable
open this interval in xen-calc

532400/531441, the anthill comma, is an unnoticeable 11-limit comma that splits the ptolemisma into two rastmas and equates a stack of two syntonic commas with 1331/1296, the Alpharabian parachromatic semilimma. In addition, it can be identified as the interval separating an octave-reduced stack of two 729/484 Alphrabian wide fifths from a 25/22 ptolemismic whole tone, and, it is the sum of the wizardharry comma and the parimo.

Etymology

532400 / 531441 = ~1.001805. The comma is named after PLoS Biol. 2014 Mar; 12(3): e1001805., which is the paper The Ecology of Collective Behavior by Deborah M. Gordon. The paper discusses the emergent top-down and bottom-up behaviour of systems containing a number of individual organisms, and extensively discusses how the behaviour of the ant emerges from the anthill, yet the behaviour of the anthill emerges from the ant, in a kind of self-sustaining loop.

After Budjarn Lambeth coined this name, the name was called out on the XA Discord for its convoluted etymology, so convoluted that it was actually kind of funny. Multiple editors on the Discord spoke up and criticised names with obscure references like these as being needlessly confusing. They suggested that names like these which convey no information about a comma’s properties are more hindrance than help to musicians and theorists, and that commas would be better off being referred to by just their ratio or monzo instead of by such confusing names. Lambeth had coined a few similar comma names, but this one was the one that was the most obscure reference, so it was seen as the ‘poster boy’ for the others.

In response to the criticism, Lambeth retracted almost all of his comma names, wiping them from history. He did not retract this one, however, because one fellow editor remarked that there was actually something oddly fitting about “anthill” for this comma, and that it would be a shame to see this name go.

So, this name was left in place. May it stand eternally as a testament to human folly and a warning to future generations.