In Western
musical notation, a
dotted note is a
note with a small dot written after it. In modern practice the first dot increases the
duration of the basic note by half of its original value. A dotted note is equivalent to writing the basic note
tied to a note of half the value; or with more than one dot, tied to notes of progressively halved value. The length of any given note
a with
n dots is therefore given by the
geometric series . More than three dots are highly uncommon but theoretically possible; only quadruple dots have been attested.