the Indigestibility of Musical Complexity

[Keenan:]
> 2^(a*k_2) * 3^(b*k_3) * 5^(c*k_5) * 7^(d*k_7) * ...

[Erlich:]
> You betcha! That's Barlow's Indigestibility Function!

[Lumma:]
> I'm glad you said that, because I've heard of it but
> didn't know what it was.

Me too! I read Barlow's article in _Computer Music
Journal_ from 1987, but the math is far beyond my
reach. Can someone with better digestion (Paul?)
please explain this further?

[Lumma:]
> in ratios with a 5 or 7 in one half and a 9 in the
> other, I find the character dominated by the prime
> number.

I think you meant to say "by the *highest* prime
number. If so, I agree with what you're saying.

What I could get out of both of these ideas seems
kind of redundant to me, as I've always thought
that the size of the prime itself was an index of
its "complexity" or "indigestibility".

- Monzo
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