Construct · 3 fields · 3 citations

Where does chord collide?

One name. Different field. Different construct. One map.

● jingle · one word, three constructs Nearest construct by meaningharmonycompare the meanings
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Every construct on the map is compared with every other by the meaning of its definitions, and the closest one is surfaced here. The nearest construct to chord is harmony.

Hold this as a prompt, not a verdict. Two constructs sitting close in meaning is a reason to read them side by side and decide for yourself whether they are one idea under two names. It is not proof that they are. Compare the meanings in the Collider.

chord3 CONSTRUCTSChord (geometry)EUCLID · CIRCLE SEGMENTChord (music)RAMEAU · SOUNDED PITCHESChord (airfoil)ABBOTT · WING REFERENCE

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1722Chord (music)1959Chord (airfoil)
2026

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Geometry

A segment joining two points on a curve

A straight segment whose two endpoints both lie on a circle or other curve, so that it cuts across the interior instead of touching at a single point. Euclid's Elements (ca. 300 BCE) treated such joining lines within a circle and the arcs they cut off, and the idea was later carried to any curve, where a chord connects two of its points. The referent is a line segment fixed by two points on a curve and measured by its length, not a set of pitches heard at once or a reference line drawn across a wing.[1]

Unit
A line segment between two points on a curve, sized by its length
Recovery means
Not applicable
Measured by
Its length is computed from the two endpoint coordinates, or for a circle from the radius and the angle the segment subtends

Music theory

a group of pitches sounded at once, built from a root by stacking intervals and keeping its identity through inversions.

Rameau's Traité de l'harmonie réduite à ses principes naturels (1722) set out a theory of harmony in which a chord is a group of pitches sounded at the same time, built up from a root by stacking intervals and keeping its identity through inversions. Later harmony teaching carried this account of chords, their roots, and how they move from one to the next. The referent is a simultaneous combination of musical tones, named by its root and quality, and it has nothing in common with a segment across a curve or a line across a wing.[2]

Unit
A group of two or more pitches sounded together, named by root and quality
Recovery means
Not applicable
Measured by
Identified by which pitches are present and their intervals above the root, then labelled by chord symbol or roman numeral

Aeronautics

The reference line across an airfoil

Abbott and von Doenhoff's Theory of Wing Sections (1959) described the chord of an airfoil as the straight reference line running from the leading edge to the trailing edge of a wing section, against which the section's shape, thickness, and angle to the oncoming air are defined. Its length, the chord length, sets the scale for the lift and drag coefficients and for the Reynolds number of the section. The referent is a fixed reference line across a wing profile, measured in units of length, and it is neither a segment on a curve nor a group of pitches heard together.[3]

Unit
The straight line from leading edge to trailing edge of a wing section, in units of length
Recovery means
Not applicable
Measured by
Its length is measured from the leading edge to the trailing edge and used to non-dimensionalise the aerodynamic forces and the Reynolds number

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Nearby collisions

harmony3 fields · 4 citationsjingle · one word, three constructsinterval4 fields · 5 citationsjingle · one word, four constructsarc4 fields · 8 citationsjingle · one word, four constructs

References

  1. Euclid. (ca. 300 BCE). Elements (T. L. Heath, Trans.). Dover Publications.
  2. Rameau, J.-P. (1722). Traité de l'harmonie réduite à ses principes naturels. Jean-Baptiste-Christophe Ballard.
  3. Abbott, I. H., & von Doenhoff, A. E. (1959). Theory of wing sections: Including a summary of airfoil data. Dover Publications.

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