The Pythagoreans believed that numbers were the underlying reality of the universe. They used mathematics to study music, astronomy, and other fields.
Archytas was a Pythagorean philosopher who made significant contributions to music theory. He showed that there is no mean proportional for numbers in superparticular ratios, which means that critical musical ratios cannot be split in to two equal parts. He also developed two other types of scale, the chromatic and the enharmonic.
Here are some questions and answers about the Pythagoreans and music theory:
- What is the Pythagorean view of numbers?
- What did Archytas contribute to music theory?
- What are the key ratios for Archytas’ chromatic and enharmonic scales?
To learn more about the Pythagoreans and music theory, please visit the following websites:
- Wikipedia article on the Pythagoreans
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy article on Pythagoreanism
- Britannica article on Pythagoreanism