ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

15 equal temperament

Okay kiddo, do you know what a musical instrument is? It's something you play to make music. Well, when people make musical instruments, they have to decide how to tune them. Tuning means making sure each note on the instrument sounds good when you play it.

Now, in the past, people used to tune their instrument using something called "just intonation." This means that each note on the instrument was tuned to sound really good when played with certain other notes, called harmonics. This worked okay, but it meant that some notes on the instrument would sound a little off when played with other notes.

Later on, people started using something called "equal temperament." This means that they divided the space between one note and the next into equal parts. Imagine you have a cake and you want to cut it into equal slices so that everyone gets the same amount. That's kind of like what equal temperament does. It divides the space between notes into slices that are all the same size.

Now, in the case of music, these "slices" are called "semitones." A semitone is the distance between one note and the next note on the instrument. So if you take a piano, for instance, each key on the piano represents a different note. If you go up or down one key, you're moving one semitone up or down.

Okay, so now we know what a semitone is. But why is it important to divide the space between notes into equal parts? Well, the reason is that it makes it easier to play music in different keys. In the past, if you wanted to play a piece of music in a different key, you would have to retune your instrument. But with equal temperament, you can play in any key you want and the notes will still sound good together.

Now, there are different ways to divide the space between notes into equal parts. One common way is called "12 equal temperament." This means that the space between one note and the next is divided into 12 equal semitones. But there are other ways to do it too. For example, there's "15 equal temperament," which divides the space between notes into 15 equal semitones.

So that's what 15 equal temperament is. It's a way of dividing the space between notes on an instrument into 15 equal parts. This can make it easier to play music in different keys and can help the notes sound good together. Cool, huh?