Question

The musical interval between two tone is determined by:

• A. The actual difference of their frequencies
• B. The difference of square roots of their frequencies
• C. The ratio of their frequencies
• D. The ratio of square of their frequencies

Answer 1

Answer: (C)

The ratio of their frequencies

Answer is C.
An interval is the ratio between two sonic frequencies. For example, any two notes an octave apart have a frequency ratio of 2:1. This means that successive increments of pitch by the same interval result in an exponential increase of frequency, even though the human ear perceives this as a linear increase in pitch. For this reason, intervals are often measured in cents, a unit derived from the logarithm of the frequency ratio.
Hence, the musical interval between two tone is determined by the ratio of their frequencies.