The mathematics of tuning musical instruments
a simple toolkit for experiments
pp. 233-241
in: Gérard Assayag, Hans G. Feichtinger, José F. Rodrigues (eds), Mathematics and music, Berlin, Springer, 2002Abstract
This paper gives an overview of the (rather simple) mathematics underlying the theory of tuning musical instruments. Besides demonstrating the fundamental problems and discussing the different solutions (only on an introductory level), we also give Mathematica code that makes it possible to listen to the constructed scales and chords. To really get a "feeling" for the contents of this paper it is very important to hear the tones and intervals that are mentioned. The paper also has the purpose of giving the reader a Mathematica toolkit to experiment with different tunings.