ASCII-dental mess & Re: comma question

Here's my proposal for a "standard" ASCII 72-tET notation finally.
None of the proposals from other people earlier were very satisfying
to me, but until now I didn't know a better alternative.
Also, I didn't really care so much and think if people are content
with any notation system they should by all means continue using it.

These are my starting points:

- Avoid using existing symbols in a different way.
- Make use of existing symbols in a similar meaningful way.
- ASCII symbols shall resemble the real symbols.
- Avoid using symbols which resemble each other.
- Unification with 144-tET.
- Not surprisingly, as much consistency as possible with other
notation systems in Scala, notably the A48 and E72 systems.
- There are good reasons for not liking + and -, which have been
mentioned before.
- Considering the objections against the semicolon for semiflat,
I chose the reverse flat for it, symbol: d, value -50 cents.
- The Fokker/Tartini semisharp was retained, symbol: |, value +50
cents.

Having symbols for the quarter-tones, the left and right parenthesis
can't be used anymore because they represent the diesis in Scala, and
the diesis in 72-tET is also a quarter-tone.
This leaves usage of < and > open, because they resemble the round
parentheses.
I dismissed using the [ and ] symbols, because they look too much like
the | vertical bar.
Having seen the usage of v and ^ and { and } in Margo's post provided
the breakthrough.
The down- and upward pointing signs can be nicely used for -/+ 25
cents. This is consistent with the A48 notation system in Scala.
The curly braces { and } are a natural representation for -/+ 33.3
cents, because of the similarity of } with 3. (What you prefer: 33.3
cents or 1/3 semitone).
Still needing symbols for +/- 16.7 cents, there are the natural
candidates of the comma up and down, / and \. Their usage is old and
no reason to change it. The syntonic comma is exactly this size in
72-tET (and 144-tET).
Using > for something bigger than ^ has always seemed counterintuitive
to me. The ^ is actually pointing upwards, indicating something
higher, while > is merely pointing to the right. So one could consider
"going right" to be a weak form of "going up".
These smaller-than and greater-than signs will be used for the
smallest step, 8.3 cents, one step in 144-tET. Closed black left- and
rightward pointing triangles have been suggested by Rapoport for
representing fractions of the syntonic comma. The < and > are the best
ASCII representations for them. In 144-tET they represent half a
syntonic comma.

In the next version of Scala, this system's name is A144 and can be
used for 144, 72 and 48-tET. And 36, 24, etc. too of course, if you
should want.

Here's how it looks in 72:
0: 1/1 C
1: 16.667 cents C/
2: 33.333 cents C}
3: 50.000 cents C| Dbd
4: 66.667 cents C}} Db{
5: 83.333 cents C#\ Db\
6: 100.000 cents C# Db
7: 116.667 cents C#/ Db/
8: 133.333 cents C#} D{{
9: 150.000 cents C#| Dd
10: 166.667 cents D{
11: 183.333 cents D\
12: 200.000 cents D
13: 216.667 cents D/
14: 233.333 cents D}
15: 250.000 cents D| Ebd
16: 266.667 cents D}} Eb{
etc.

And in 144:
0: 1/1 C
1: 8.333 cents C>
2: 16.667 cents C/
3: 25.000 cents C^
4: 33.333 cents C}
5: 41.667 cents C}>
6: 50.000 cents C| Dbd
7: 58.333 cents C|> Db{<
8: 66.667 cents C}} Db{
9: 75.000 cents C#v Dbv
10: 83.333 cents C#\ Db\
11: 91.667 cents C#< Db<
12: 100.000 cents C# Db
13: 108.333 cents C#> Db>
14: 116.667 cents C#/ Db/
15: 125.000 cents C#^ Db^
16: 133.333 cents C#} D{{
17: 141.667 cents C#}> Dd<
18: 150.000 cents C#| Dd
19: 158.333 cents D{<
20: 166.667 cents D{
21: 175.000 cents Dv
22: 183.333 cents D\
23: 191.667 cents D<
24: 200.000 cents D
25: 208.333 cents D>
26: 216.667 cents D/
etc.

Blackjack:
0: C
1: C}
2: C#/ Db/
3: C#| Dd
4: D}
5: D}} Eb{
6: D#| Ed
7: E\
8: E}} F{
9: F
10: F#\ Gb\
11: F#/ Gb/
12: G
13: G}
14: G#/ Ab/
15: G#| Ad
16: A}
17: A}} Bb{
18: A#| Bd
19: B\
20: B}} C{
21: C

Joseph wrote:
> is the 1/12 tone actually a comma in 72-tET?

Yes, the syntonic comma. Take

A = the octave, 1200 cents.
V = best approximation to 3/2, in 72 this is 700 cents.
T = best approximation to 5/4, in 72 this is 383.33 cents.
K = the syntonic comma of 81/80 = (4 * 3/2) / (2 * 2/1) / (5/4)

then

K = 4 * V - 2 * A - T = 4 * 700 - 2 * 1200 - 383.33 = 16.667 cents,
or in steps: 4 * 42 - 2 * 72 - 23 = 1 step.

Manuel