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Aspects of mathematics and music in Ancient Greece

SOFIA KONTOSSI
Department of Music Studies
Athens University
K. Paxinou, 19B, 19009, Attika
GREECE
info@sofiakontossi.com http://www.sofiakontossi.com
RAZVAN RADUCANU
Department of Mathematics
Al. I. Cuza University
Bulevardul Carol I, Nr.11, 700506, Iasi
ROMANIA
razvan@rraducanu.ro http://www.rraducanu.ro

Abstract: - In this paper, through the study of the different theories concerning the calculation of intervals sizes which
were developed in Ancient Greece, we are going to undertake a concise historical overview of the relationship
established between music and mathematics through the Pythagorean, Euclidean and Aristoxenian tradition.
Key-Words: - Ancient Greeks, Aristoxenus, Euclid, Pythagora, mathematics, musical intervals, music scales, music
theory
the real musical phenomena temporal manifestation of
which, according to their view, conferred them traces of
imperfection but on the harmonious reflection of
numbers.
The first to conceive the relationship underlying
between music and mathematics, establishing thus the
idea of the numerical base of acoustics, was Pythagoras,
a philosopher, mathematician and musician from Samos
(580b.c. - c.500b.c.) who believed that every value
including pitches of notes since they are related to the
number of motions of a string could be expressed as a
ratio. Among his greatest discoveries (or those of the
Pythagorean school, the distinction seems to be hard), by
means of the monochord,1 a string fastened across a
movable bridge to facilitate changes in pitch, is that the
chief musical intervals are expressible in simple
mathematical ratios between the first four integers [6].
Thus, the octave, the fifth and the fourth the most
important consonances in ancient Greek music were

1 Introduction
Ancient Greeks did not have todays knowledge
of sound wavelengths and frequencies, so they could not
understand the musical phenomenon as the physical
explanation of the harmonic series and pitches. Their
understanding of music science came initially through
mathematics. They noticed that the sound produced by a
string depends upon its length, tension and density. In
order to be able to reproduce the same relationship
between two sounds (a concept they defined as musical
interval) they were studying ratios of string lengths. Due
to the need to operate with intervals for musical
purposes -like tuning, creating scales etc.-, theorists in
their effort to divide the tone (i.e. the distance between
notes A and B) indirectly shaped the conception of ratio.
In this paper, through the study of the different
theories concerning the calculation of intervals sizes
which were developed in Ancient Greece, we are going
to undertake a concise historical overview of the
relationship established between music and mathematics
through the Pythagorean, Euclidean and Aristoxenian
tradition.

Questions concerning the existence of the monochord or the

credibility of Nicomachus of Gerasa famous story according
to which Pythagoras discovered the simple ratios underlying
musical consonance by noticing the intervals produced by
workmen pounding out a piece of metal upon an anvil with
hammers of different weight are not of importance in the
present article so they will not be considered.

2 The Pythagoreans
According to the Pythagoreans conception about
cosmos, numbers are the ultimate reality. Therefore,
musical science was not to be explained on the basis of

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produced from the ratios 2:1, 3:2 and 4:3 respectively.

From a musical point of view, adding a fifth to a fourth,
which requires multiplying their ratios, results in the
octave, also true when expressed in mathematical terms
(3/2 x 4/3 = 12/6 = 2/1). Considering the importance that
the tetractys of the decade (represented by the numbers
1, 2, 3, 4, the sum of which equals sacred number 10)
had to the Pythagoreans as the key to the understanding
of the universe, these ratios were the reflection of both
mathematical and musical harmony. The underlying
concept of such connections was projected also to the
cosmos harmony and the planetary spheres were seen as
parts of a vast musical instrument attuned following the
same ratios governing musical intervals. As M. L. West
mentions, Plato's harmony of the spheres is not some
unimaginable, transcendental passacaglia or fugue, but
the naked glory of the diatonic octave [9].
Measuring smaller intervals than the fourth was
of capital importance in ancient Greek music considering
both the facts that the tetrachord was the unit of
construction of musical scales and that the different
modalities of tetrachords subdivision defined the
genera. For that purpose the Pythagoreans used
mathematical processes. By extracting the 4th from the
fifth, they defined the ratio of the tone (9:8). Then
various semitones sizes occurred: the difference
between the fourth and two tones (or the difference
between three octaves and five perfect fifths),
represented by the ratio 256:243, was called limma
(remainder, the diatonic semitone of the intemperate
system) and the difference between the tone and the
limma (or between seven 5ths and four octaves) was
named apotom (segment, ratio 2187:2048, the
chromatic semitone). As a result, the Pythagorean scale,
consisting of two disjointed consecutive fourths, was
exceeding the octave by a small interval known as the
Pythagorean comma (531,441:524,288), which could
also be thought of as the discrepancy between twelve
justly tuned perfect fifths and seven octaves.
The size of the semitone and the addition of
tones and semitones to create the consonant intervals
became a subject of heated controversy between the
Pythagoreans, with their fundamentally arithmetic
approach, and the Aristoxenians, who adopted a
geometric approach to the measurement of musical
space [7]. An equal division of the tone, meaning from
a mathematical point of view to find x so that x2=9/8,
leads to irrational numbers using todays terminology,
an unacceptable disturbance in the Pythagorean musical
system and conception of the world.

Euclid
Euclid, the famous mathematician and geometer, in a
treatise attributed to him entitled The Division of the
Canon, describes the steps of the construction of the
Pythagorean scale. Known as intense diatonic, this scale
has been the subject of great theoretical discussion from
antiquity to our days. The scale can be produced on a
monochord with the exclusive use of two consonant
intervals, the octave and the fifth. A short description of
the procedure follows:
a) Halving the string, we take the upper octave of the
initial sound.
b) Descending from the octave a fifth we take the
fourth.
c) Ascending an octave and descending a fifth arises
the seventh.
d) Descending from the seventh a fifth appears the
third.
e) Ascending an octave and descending a fifth the sixth
is obtained.
f) Descending from the sixth a fifth we take the
second.
g) Ascending an octave and descending a fifth appears
the fifth.
Expressed in ratios, the aforementioned scale would be
represented as following:
[1] 256/243 [2] 9/8 [3] 9/8 [4] 256/243 [5] 9/8 [6] 9/8
[7] 9/8 [8]
Two observations can be made upon this scale. Firstly,
that, when started from the second degree, the scale
coincides with the usual major type scale of western
music and that two similar tetrachords (tone-tonelimma) are formed. Secondly, that the scale construction
is based only on tone (~204 cents) and limma (~90
cents), which actually means that the difference between
the small step (~ semitone) and the big step (tone) is
the wider possible (thus justifying the sound impression
as being intense). From antiquity though, musical
practice suggested a finer subdivision of the diatonic
scale, a more gradual transition from one step to another.
This could be obtained by replacing in a tetrachord the
limma with the apotome (~114 cents), thus, the second
tone resulting to be quite smaller than the first one (~180
cents). This interval can be considered as the elasson
tone (smaller tone) of Byzantine music. The new scale,
called mild diatonic, had the disadvantage that, the
mathematical representation of the degrees resulted into
very big numbers (i. e the ratio of the elasson tone was
216 / 310). The problem was solved by Dydimus (1st

3 Euclid (4th-3th century BC)

3.1 The description of the Pythagorean scale by

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century B.C) who replaced the Pythagorian ditone by the

mild diatonic third (5/4). This ratio for the meizon
(major) third, generally accepted since Hellenistic
times, was also adopted from the Arabs theoreticians.
Both the intense and the mild diatonic scale were used in
Byzantine music, the last one especially being
widespread met in the musical practice of all people of
the Eastern Mediterranean basin and the Middle East [8].

Fourth - 2 tones = 4:3 / (9:8)2 = 256:243 (3)

semitone
tone 2 semitones = 9:8 / (256:243)2
comma
531441:524288 (4)

We could continue this indefinitely. Practically, the

impossibility to reach an integer solution means that,
tuning based on successive fifths leads to octaves out of
tune. For instance, starting from C and performing the
circle of fifths [C-G-D-A-E-B-F#-C#-G#-D#-A#-E#-B#
(=C)], which requires 12 fifths to be completed, we
cover a musical distance of seven octaves. In
mathematical terms, considering the ratio for the fifth
being 3:2 and that of the octave 2:1, this should mean
(3/2)12 equals 27, which fails to be true. The compound
ratio of (3/2)12 : 27 actually proves to be the renowned
Pythagorean comma, 531441:524288. In this point we
must notice that Greeks realized that, adding two
musical intervals required multiplying the corresponding
ratios and similarly, subtracting one interval from
another requires dividing their ratios. Some scholars
believe that Euclid and his predecessors probably
conceived the theory of ratio as a generalization of
musical theory of intervals.
However, if we want to get some approximate
result that will be useful in musical reality, we could cut
off the algorithm at some point and pretend that one
interval went exactly into another with no remainder. If
the real remainder is small enough, that will give us a
useful approximation. For example, suppose we pretend
that comma is equal to zero (tone - 2 semitones = 0).
Then

3.2
Extending
Euclidean
thought
beyond
mathematics. The application of Euclidean algorithm
on music theory
Among other significant mathematical achievements,
Euclid remained known in history for his famous
algorithm. In the XXth century, researchers connected the
Euclidean algorithm to music theory. Norwegian
mathematician Viggo Brun used Euclidean algorithms to
explore tuning matters [4]. On the other hand, the
Euclidean algorithm was related to rhythms and scales in
traditional music. Its structure can be used to
automatically generate, very efficiently, a large family of
rhythms used as timelines (rhythmic ostinatos), in
traditional world music. 2
Here we will present an application of the
algorithm to highlight, a significant problem that had a
direct impact on musical practice, namely the
identification of the mathematical relationship
(proportionality) between two musical intervals ratios
(i.e. how many times a fifth goes into an octave, meaning
how many times do we have to multiply 3:2 to get 2:1).
As we can see below, applying Euclids algorithm to find
the highest common factor for the fifth and the octave
gives no integer solution.

tone = 2 semitones
Interval
Ratio
a n b = c, where Corresponding equation
b>c
for ratios

fourth = 2 tones + semitone

= 5 semitones

(by 3)
(by 5)

octave - fifth = fourth

2:1 / 3:2 = 4:3 (1)

Fifth = fourth + tone

= 7 semitones

(by 2)
(by 5 and 6)

fifth - fourth = tone

3:2 / 4:3 = 9:8 (2)

Octave = fifth + fourth

= 12 semitones

(by 1)
(by 5 and 7).

Articles related to this subject: Toussaint, Godfried, The

Euclidean Algorithm Generates Traditional Musical Rhythms,
extended version of Banff, Alberta, Proceedings of BRIDGES:
Mathematical Connections in Art, Music and Science, 2005, pp.
47-56, http://cgm.cs.mcgill.ca/~godfried/publications/banff.pdf
and Erik D. Demaine, Francisco Gomez-Martin, Henk Meijer,
David Rappaport, Perouz Taslakian, Godfried T. Toussaint,
Terry Winograd, David R. Wood, The distance geometry of
music, Computational Geometry 42 (2009), pp. 429454.

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So, using Euclid's algorithm we conclude that, a

reasonable approximation to the number of fifths in an
octave is 7/12, because a fifth is roughly 7 semitones and
an octave is roughly 12 of them.

4 Aristoxenus (4th century B.C.)

A revolution in the history of musical thought in ancient
times was made by Aristoxenus, a student of both

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manliness. The chromatic genre (chroma means colour),

marked by its name as a kind of deviation, was associated
with professional chitarodes and believed that softened
men. It seems that the diatonic genre has been typical of
certain regions and that has enjoyed the primary status in
musical theory of the Pythagorean school [9]. Besides
genera, Aristoxenus also described the tonoi, which
represented the scales transpositions.
In the Harmonics Elements Aristoxenus discusses
music in a scientific way. He creates an independent
science for the field of harmonics and divides musical
knowledge into distinct subjects. He brings together all
the elements of earlier scholarship, which he organizes
and judges. Applying the Aristotelian scientific doctrine
to the subject he defines the elements of its science, he
gives a complete description of musical phenomena,
setting out from the simplest of entities (musical sound)
and proceeding to increasingly complex combinations of
intervals and systems, thus justifying his significant role
as an innovator of the discipline of musicology [5].

Pythagoreans and Aristotle, who first considered music as

un autonomous discipline and he is often referred to as
the father of Musicology. In the first part of the Harmonic
Elements, Aristoxenus criticizes the foundations of his
predecessors teachings, without naming them, probably a
testament of respect. In opposition to the Pythagorean Platonic ideal, according to which music is part of
mathematics and a musical interval is not perceived as a
musical entity but as a ratio consisting exclusively from
whole numbers, Aristoxenus prime criterion for the
musical phenomena was the ear. For him music
consisted of sounds structurally organized within a soundspace, and the function of the science of harmonics was to
describe and regulate their spatial and dynamic relations
[3]. He defined musical sound as distinct from noise or
the sounds of spoken language and conceived notes as
mere points on a line of pitches and musical intervals
indirectly ratios also as one-dimensional and continuous
magnitudes that, following the rules of Euclidean
geometry, should be capable of being divided
continuously [1]. Thus, the octave was divided into six
tones and the tone into equal semitones or quarter-tones
[10], as well as into 12 equal parts, notions which find
no epistemological resonance with the mathematics of his
time but which betrays signs of the idea of the logarithm
and also provide basic support for a mathematical
understanding of equal temperament [2]. Aristoxenus
considered also as unmelodic and useless the
Harmonicists katapyknsis (close packing) tradition,
according to the diagrams of which the octave could be
divided into 28 consecutive diesis.
Studying intervals, according to Aristoxenus, is
not just a matter of measuring them as it has been for the
Pythagoreans and the Harmonicists. It involves mostly
the way intervals are combined in order to achieve their
coherent musical arrangement, the synthesis. As it can be
understood, in Aristoxenus approach to music not only
intervals but the whole musical system was treated.
According to him, the primary components of music are
the fourth and the fifth (not the octave). He defined the
positions of the movable interior notes (kinoumenoi) of
the tetrachord, invariable in size, because of its outer
notes being immovable, (hesttes) [7]. He formulated
the concept of genos and described the three genera, the
enharmonic (a ditone followed by two quarter-tones,
moving from top to bottom), the chromatic (a tone-and-ahalf, and two consecutive semitones) and the diatonic (a
tone, a tone and a semitone), the last two of which
presented various shades (chroai) [3]. According to the
Greeks strong belief of moral and emotional impact of
music on people (ethos), the character of each genre and
its effect are also considered. The enharmonic (meaning
in tune), also called harmonia, the most beautiful and
sophisticated according to Aristoxenus, was the standard
tuning. Used in tragedy, it was praised as conducive to

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References:
[1] Oscar Joo Abdounur, A preliminary survey on the
emergence of an arithmetical theory of ratios,
Circumscribere, 7(2009), pp 1-8.
[2] Oscar Joo Abdounur, Ratios and Music in the Late
Middle Ages in Music and Mathematics by Phillipe
Vendrix (edit), Brepols, 2008, p. 26
[3] Annie Blis, Aristoxenus in Sadie, S. and J. Turell
(edit.), The New Grove of Music and Musicians,
Macmillan, London, 2001, vol. 2, pp. 1-2.
[4] Viggo Brun, Euclidean algorithms and musical
theory,
Enseignement Mathmatique, 10:125137,
1964.
[5] Sophie Gibson, Aristoxenus of Tarentum and The
Birth of Musicology, Routledge, Oxford University / The
University of California, Los Angeles, 2005, pp. 4-5.
[6] G.S. Kirk & J.E. Raven , The Presocratic
Philosophers, Cambridge University Press, 1964, p.229
[7] Thomas J. Mathiesen, Greece, 1. Ancient, 6.
Music Theory in Sadie, S. and J. Turell (edit.), The New
Grove of Music and Musicians, Macmillan, London,
2001, Vol. 10, pp. 337-341.
[8] Marios D. Mavroidis,
: ,
, [Musical modes in Eastern
Mediterranean: The Byzantine Hhos, The Arabic
Makam, The Turkish Makam], Fagotto, Athens, 1999,
pp. 24-35.
[9] M. L West, Ancient Greek Music, Oxford University
Press, 1992, pp. 234.
[10] R.P. Winnington-Ingram, Aristoxenus in Sadie, S.
and J. Turell (edit.), The New Grove of Music and
Musicians, Macmillan, London, 1993, vol. 1, pp. 591592.

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