Question

Two violin strings are tuned to the same frequency, 277 Hz. The tension in one string is then decreased by 1.92 percent. What will be the beat frequency heard when the two strings are played together?

Answer 1

the frequency of the two strings is proportional to the squareroot of the tension. So if the tension is reduced by the fractional equivalent of .0192 then .9808 represents the fraction of the tension remaining. taking into account everything else will remain the same the resutling frequency will be .990 of the orginal frequency which is 274 Hz the difference being 3 Hz according to modulation theory the difference of the two frequencies gives the frequency of beating which in this case is three beats per second. Hope this helps.