Richard Brain fog this morning is giving me trouble understanding the difference/similarity of cents and bps (beats per second). You stated the difference between 440 and 439 (1Hz) is almost 4 cents. This interval beats at about one bps. Where did I get the idea that the 1 Hz difference between 440 & 439 was nearly 4 bps. Being an aural tuner I can relate to beat rates easier than cents deviations. The math/science of tuning is not my strong suit. Do you know of a book that would explain this? My curiousity is getting to me. Thanks for your continued input to the list. Many are grateful for your skills and insights. Paul Chick ----- Original Message ----- From: "Richard Moody" <remoody@midstatesd.net> To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org> Sent: Tuesday, June 04, 2002 11:51 PM Subject: Re: trichords unisons > > > The difference between 440 and 439 is almost 4 cents. > From 880 to 879 nearly 2 cents. From 1760 to 1759 almost 1 > cent. All of these intervals beat at one bps. > The reason the cents get smaller is > that the intervals of one cycle per second difference are > smaller at higher frequencies. Any two frequencies make an > interval. > An interval can be expressed as the ratio of their > frequencies and that > can then be expressed as cents. The interval 440/439 is > larger than > 880/879. Twice as large actually as they are an octave > apart. ---ric > > >
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