By Jacqueline Aw
歐婷梅
Music
has been par t of
human culture since the dawn of symbolic
human communication. Flutes made from the
bones of birds and mammoth tusks from 42,000 years
ago represent the earliest reliable archaeological
evidence. To date, online music databases hold tracks
in the millions – for example, the cross-referencing music
database
Discogs
holds an impressive 151 million tracks on
its site. However, there are a finite number of tones that can
be distinguished by the human ear. Taking into consideration
the rate at which tunes are being created, it is no wonder artists
are getting sued for copying tunes. Is it possible that it is just a
coincidence? Could we actually be running out of music?
In the interest of this question,
Plus Magazine
examined the possible
number of melodies available, taking the following assumptions:
自
人類懂得以符號作溝通工具，音樂就成為人類文化的一部分。以鳥骨和猛獁牙製
於42,000年前的笛子，為此提供了最早而可靠的考古學證據[1]。時至今日，網絡音樂數據庫保
存過億首曲目，單在
Discogs
音樂數據庫已存有1.51億曲目。可是，人類聽覺只能分辨有限的音調。現在樂
曲創作頻繁，無怪乎藝人常惹上抄襲之嫌。難道這些都是巧合嗎？我們是否到了音樂的盡頭？
為了探討這個問題，由英國牛津大學出版的網上數學雜誌「Plus」[2]，按下列原則評估了可用旋律的數
量：
音樂
的限量
This article may be useful as supplementary reading for
mathematics classes, based on the DSE syllabus.
根據數學科文憑試課程綱要，本文或可作為有用的補充讀物。
