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absolute music

(Encyclopedia)absolute music, term used for music dependent on its structure alone for comprehension. It is the antithesis of program music. It is not associated with extramusical ideas or with a pictorial or narra...

absolute pitch

(Encyclopedia)absolute pitch, the position of a tone in the musical scale determined according to its number of vibrations per second, irrespective of other tones. The term also denotes the capacity to identify any...

absolute value

(Encyclopedia)absolute value, magnitude of a number or other mathematical expression disregarding its sign; thus, the absolute value is positive, whether the original expression is positive or negative. In symbols,...

absolute zero

(Encyclopedia)absolute zero, the zero point of the ideal gas temperature scale, denoted by 0 degrees on the Kelvin and Rankine temperature scales, which is equivalent to −273.15℃ and −459.67℉. For most gase...

Alpes-de-Haute-Provence

(Encyclopedia)Alpes-de-Haute-Provence älpˌ-də-ōtˌ-prəväNsˈ [key], department, SE France; formerly Basses-Alpes dept. Digne is the capital. ...

Hardecanute

(Encyclopedia)Hardecanute: see Harthacanute.

Hardicanute

(Encyclopedia)Hardicanute: see Harthacanute.

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