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Although clearly formulated by Mersenne in 1635, equal temperament did not become generally established in practice until 1800 in Germany and later in England and France. Its historical importance is ...

Temperament: The Idea That Solved Music's Greatest Riddle. By Stuart Isacoff. Knopf; 259 pages; $23. To be published in Britain by Faber and Faber in March 2002 FROM the 48 preludes and fugues of J.S.

A crucial link between mathematics and music is nicely illustrated by the Tonnetz, a geometric diagram representing the harmonic relationships between the notes of the musical scale. An early version ...

IN your number of November 8, 1877, p. 34, Mr. Chappell, F. S. A., has intimated that mathematicians who propose to divide the octave into twelve equal semitones instead of “equally tempered semitones ...