Harmony of the universe

[Jim Coleman, Sr.]

Hi Robert:

A beautiful answer to a ridiculous proposition!

On Tue, 3 Feb 1998, Robert Scott wrote:

> Kirsi Lassi wrote:
> >
> >The other week a customer of mine wanted me to tune her piano
> >to the pitch a1= 432 Hz.
>  ...
> >..having read in a newspaper about 12 years ago, 
> >that someone had found out that the whole universe sort of vibrates 
> >in a way, that everything is evenly divisible by eight.
>  ...
> 
>   If you are wondering if 432 Hz is "universal" because it is
> divisible by 8, consider this:  Since the number of cycles per
> second is based on the definition of the second, you would first
> have to show that the time interval of one second is in some
> sense "universal".  It is not.  It is based on the completely
> arbitrary way we divide a day into 86400 seconds.  An isolated
> civilization could just as well have come up with a different
> unit of time under which the same pitch that we call 432 cycles
> per second would be called 373.248 cycles per centon in their units.
> (A centon is 1/100,000 of a day.)
> 
> Bob Scott
> Ann Arbor, Michigan
> 
>