Was 5 octaves really an arbitrary choice? It's the point where the circle of fifths gets back to the starting note. (Nevermind that detail that there are no pos

Was 5 octaves really an arbitrary choice? It's the point where the circle of fifths gets back to the starting note. (Nevermind that detail that there are no positive integers m, n such that (3/2)^m == 2^n.) That's not exactly arbitrary - there is a reason to use that range in preference to others.