Problem 1.

A saxophone is playing a steady note of frequency 266 Hz. The temperature in the room is 25 C. Suppose that at some instant the varying pressure at your eardrum is at a maximum. How far away in meters is the next pressure maximum?

Solution:

The distance between the pressure maxima is an integer number of wavelength. Therefore the shortest distance is the wavelength. The speed of sound at 25 C is 346.33 m/s. Then we can find the wavelength: