Definition:Music/Historical Note
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Historical Note on Music
The mathematical basis to the study of music has been investigated since as long ago as the Pythagoreans.
It was included in the quadrivium as the study of the relative discrete.
In the words of Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz
- Music is a secret arithmetical exercise and the person who indulges in it does not realize that he is manipulating numbers.
This was not completely true, as many classical composers deliberately structured their music with specific mathematical structures in mind.
Sources
- 1986: David Wells: Curious and Interesting Numbers ... (previous) ... (next): $10$
- 1997: David Wells: Curious and Interesting Numbers (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): $10$