Part of the Mathematics Across the Curriculum series, Foundations of Diatonic Theory IS mathematically based, but only requires basic math skills. While it claims to serve as a intro or basic music theory text, the first few chapters do not introduce interval names and thus require prior knowledge. On the other hand, it introduces relatively little mathematical skills such as greatest common divisor and coprime, avoiding modulo 12.

This instructional text is based on the latest papers in diatonic set theory. For people who took a music theory intro class and left with more questions than they began, this book is likely what they want. Why major and minor? Why the modes? Why the diatonic scale? Why the diatonic triads and seventh chords? The book leads readers through the discovery of properties of these collections which help explain their general, and some specific, uses and qualities.