Answer:When two sound waves with different frequencies interfere, they produce a beat frequency equal to the difference between their frequencies. This means that the frequency of the sound produced by the lower note is lower than the frequency of the combined sound by the beat frequency.
In this problem, two tuning forks of frequencies 256 Hz and 259 Hz are struck simultaneously. The frequencies are close enough that we can assume they are within the range of audible beats, which is generally considered to be between 1 and 20 Hz.
The beat frequency is equal to the absolute difference between the frequencies of the two tuning forks:
|256 Hz - 259 Hz| = 3 Hz
Therefore, the frequency of the sound produced by the lower note (i.e. the 256 Hz tuning fork) is lower than the frequency of the combined sound by 3 Hz.
Step-by-step explanation: