Two musical notes are harmonious (sound great together) if the ratio of the frequencies corresponds to the ratio of two small integers. Such intervals have spacial names in music theory: octave (2:1), perfect fifth (3:2), perfect fourth (4:3), major third (5:4) and minor third (6/5). For example, if the root note has frequency , the major third will have frequency . These intervals can be played perfectly on some instruments (e.g. violin), or when singing.
Many modern musical instruments (e.g. piano, organ) are tuned in the "chromatic scale": an octave is divided into 12 equal intervals so that the ratio of the frequencies of the subsequent tones is . In such a tuning none of the harmonic intervals will be perfect. For example, the closest match to the frequency of the major third will be .
Let us characterize the "mismatch" between the harmonic interval and the chromatic interval by the ratio , where || is the absolute value and the logarithm is base 10. (For the major third this ratio will be .) Which one of the four intervals is the most "mismatched"?
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Here is a list of the chromatic and harmonic frequencies: .. The minor third has the largest mismatch. Interestingly the fourth and the fifth has a pretty good match.