Cent (music)
![Comparison of equal-tempered (blue) and Pythagorean (red) intervals showing the relationship between frequency ratio and the intervals' values, in cents.](/Images/godic/202501/03/Music_intervals_frequency_ratio_equal_tempered_pythagorean_comparison_on_C1357.png")
![Waveforms of a unison (blue) versus a cent (red), nearly indistinguishable.](/Images/godic/202501/03/Unison_versus_cent_waveform1357.png")
The cent is a logarithmic unit of measure used for musical intervals. Twelve-tone equal temperament divides the octave into 12 semitones of 100 cents each. Typically, cents are used to express small intervals, or to compare the sizes of comparable intervals in different tuning systems, and in fact the interval of one cent is too small to be heard between successive notes.