Author ORCID Identifier
Degree Year
2024
Document Type
Thesis - Oberlin Community Only
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Mathematics
Advisor(s)
Chris Marx
Committee Member(s)
Marie Snipes
Susan Colley
Keywords
Scales, Music, Rotation maps, Continued fractions, Well-formed, Myhill's property
Abstract
We provide several mathematical characterizations of optimality for musical scales from existing literature, demonstrate their equivalence with each other, and describe additional features of optimal scales and their musical significance. We use a common framework based on the dynamical features of irrational rotation maps on the unit circle.
Repository Citation
Berran, Jake, "Mathematical Justifications for Musical Scales" (2024). Honors Papers. 903.
https://digitalcommons.oberlin.edu/honors/903
COinS
