In
musical set theory, an
interval class (often abbreviated:
ic), also known as
unordered pitch-class interval,
interval distance,
undirected interval, or "(even completely incorrectly) as 'interval mod 6'" (Rahn 1980, 29; Whittall 2008, 273–74), is the shortest distance in
pitch class space between two unordered
pitch classes. For example, the interval class between pitch classes 4 and 9 is 5 because 9 - 4 = 5 is less than 4 - 9 = -5 = 7 (mod 12). See
modular arithmetic for more on
modulo 12. The largest interval class is 6 since any greater interval
n may be reduced to 12 -
n.