Pythagorean comma

Pythagoras (c. 580 B.C. –500 B.C.) who created the first real scale. You should also know that Pythagoras was a mystic who believed that the universe made its own music by the movement of the planets. He felt music would be more powerful and mystical if it obeyed the natural laws of physics, so he set about making a scale of notes by dividing metal into simple ratios.

However, when he came to the thirteenth note of the scale, he realized that it was slightly different from the first one and when the two were played together, the result sounded awful. The two notes should have sounded harmonious.

The problem of this out-of-tune note that should have been a pleasant sounding octave was later to be called 'the Pythagorean comma.