The Partial Series is another name for the overtone series except that technically the partial series considers the fundamental as the first partial whereas the overtone series considers the fundamental separate and starts counting from Partial number 2 as the first overtone. This creates much confusion because many practitioners using the numbers to name the overtones will actually use number 1 as the fundamental but call it the overtone series instead of the partial series.

The reason is one of convenience as the powers of 2(2 squared, 2 cubed, etc) always elicit an octave above the previous power of 2. This means that a number 8 (Technically the 7th overtone) is an octave (More specifically the 3rd octave above the fundamental).

I also use number 1 as the Fundamental and encourage everyone to do the same. All the maths fit together when adding and multiplying ratios.

Example a perfect 4th (4/3 ratio) plus a perfect 5th (3/2 Ratio) is an Octave (4/2 after cancelling the 3s).

In the context of overtones, it is the tone from which all the overtones originate. So, if the fundamental ‘X’ is 100HZ (Cycles per second) then the overtones will be whole number multiples of that tone.

Examples 1x= 100HZ (Fundamental)

2x= 200HZ   (Octave above the fundamental)

16x=1600HZ   (4 octaves above the fundamental)

The number times the fundamental frequency will be the number assigned to that particular overtone that has an equally particular sound that can be recognised. See Overtone Series.