An octatonic scale is any eight-note musical scale. The scale most often meant by this term is one in which the notes ascend in alternating intervals of a whole step and a half step, creating a symmetric scale. In classical theory, in contradistinction to jazz theory, this scale is commonly simply called the octatonic scale (or octatonic collection), although there are forty-two other non-enharmonically equivalent, non-transpositionally equivalent eight-tone sets possible.