Universal key fractions (e.g. an A natural in the scale above becomes ) or, more commonly in written text, by inserting an accidental before the number (e.g. the same note becomes 5 or 4). In music theory aimed towards jazz and popular music, all triads are represented by upper case numerals, followed by a symbol to indicate if it is not a major chord (e.g. "m" for minor or "ø" for half-diminished): When representing the triads rooted in a minor key, accidentals are used to indicate the chromatic alteration from the assumed major key roots indicated by numerals that don't have accidentals:
Key (music) corresponding scale, and conventional progressions of these chords, particularly cadences, orient the listener around the tonic. The key signature is not always a reliable guide to the key of a written piece. It does not discriminate between a major key and its relative minor; the piece may modulate to a different key; if the modulation is brief, it may not involve a change of key signature, being indicated instead with accidentals. Occasionally, a piece in a mode such as Mixolydian or Dorian is written with a major or minor key signature appropriate to the tonic, and accidentals throughout the piece.