Question

The fundamental tone produced by a vibrating string is 256 hz what is the frequency of the second overtone

Answer 1

The frequency of the nth-harmonic (corresponding to the (n-1)-th overtone) of a vibrating string is given by

`f_n = n f_1`
where
`f_1` is the fundamental frequency of the string.

In our problem,
`f_1=256 Hz` is the fundamental frequency. The second overtone corresponds to the third harmonic, so by substituting n=3 into the previous equation, we find the frequency of the second overtone:

`f_3=3 \cdot f_1 = 3 \cdot 256 Hz =768 Hz`