Frequency Math Question

Question

Which of the following frequencies will sound good (= little to no dissonance) with played simultaneously with 264 Hertz (a frequency often associated with C4, or “Middle C”). 

 

a) 165 Hz b) 346 Hz c) 200 Hz d) 297 Hz

Answer 1

Hello, what an interesting question! The concept that it’s getting after here is that you get harmonies when the frequencies are multiplies of each other. So you would want to go through each of the answer choices and find the ones that form a ratio that is pleasing to the human ear.

(a)  264/165 = 1.6

(b)  346/264 = 1.31

(c)  264/200 = 1.32

(d)  297/264 = 1.125

(b) and (c) are close to 1.33 which is considered to be a “perfect fourth,” so they are likely to be the most pleasing out of those choices