The following sections of this BookRags Literature Study Guide is offprint from Gale's For Students Series: Presenting Analysis, Context, and Criticism on Commonly Studied Works: Introduction, Author Biography, Plot Summary, Characters, Themes, Style, Historical Context, Critical Overview, Criticism and Critical Essays, Media Adaptations, Topics for Further Study, Compare & Contrast, What Do I Read Next?, For Further Study, and Sources.
(c)1998-2002; (c)2002 by Gale. Gale is an imprint of The Gale Group, Inc., a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Gale and Design and Thomson Learning are trademarks used herein under license.
The following sections, if they exist, are offprint from Beacham's Encyclopedia of Popular Fiction: "Social Concerns", "Thematic Overview", "Techniques", "Literary Precedents", "Key Questions", "Related Titles", "Adaptations", "Related Web Sites". (c)1994-2005, by Walton Beacham.
The following sections, if they exist, are offprint from Beacham's Guide to Literature for Young Adults: "About the Author", "Overview", "Setting", "Literary Qualities", "Social Sensitivity", "Topics for Discussion", "Ideas for Reports and Papers". (c)1994-2005, by Walton Beacham.
All other sections in this Literature Study Guide are owned and copyrighted by BookRags, Inc.
fl. 1580s
Chinese Ming Dynasty prince who calculated a musical system of 12-tone equal temperament. The problem of the 12-tone scale had long perplexed mathematicians and scientists, because to create a system of equal tones that would translate from instrument to instrument required computations with numbers containing as many as 108 zeroes. One had to then find the twelfth root of such a number, an operation performed by calculating the square root twice, then the cube root. In 1596 (some sources say 1584), Prince Chu published a book containing highly accurate calculations of the string length required to produce 12-tone equal temperament on a lute. His findings preceded those of Marin Mersenne (1588-1648) in France by a number of years.