The Origins of Violin - Usually constructed on a mould (cut to the interior shape of the instrument, which decides it's shape and dimensions), the ancient instrument makers used geometrical claculations to design their models. The shape was worked out by a calculation probably the result of mathematical speculations on music - according to the harmonic divisions of the sonometer. It can be reconstructed by a series of connected arcs of a circle. Mathematicians in Northern Italy applied mathematics to several inventions and it maybe be presumed that the instrument makers had a common tradition. Dozens of versions claim to have perfected this hundreds of years old shape but the violin appears to resist all modifications because it has reached a optimal system of dimensions.
