Just because a number is large, it isn’t infinite. There are a finite number of melodies available to us through conventional understanding of melodies. I approximate 2,229,025,112,064 total melody combinations made up of four notes or more. This number is entirely liberal and inclusive of all melody combinations, including ones that are only theoretical. The actual number of melodic opportunities is more realistically around 139,314,069,504. So while the perception is one of infinite possibility, it exists only insomuch as that we would be completely unaware of repetition if we were inundated with 139,314,069,504 melodies, over a day or lifetime. In fact, it’s reported that a person with average intelligence and disposition, when queried, can retain only 1,340 unique strings. That means we have a caveat of 103M repeating melodies in the pursuance of infinity.
Filed under: numbers
