What is the difference between interference patterns and fringes? High school/ Higher Secondary School standard QA
It is obtained from Wikipedia,

A simple form of interference pattern is obtained if two plane waves of the same frequency intersect at an angle. Interference is essentially an energy redistribution process. The energy which is lost at the destructive interference is regained at the constructive interference.

From Britannica,

Interference fringe, a bright or dark band caused by beams of light that are in phase or out of phase with one another.

 A: The fringe refers to the individual bands. Each dark and bright band is a fringe in its own right, termed as, dark and bright fringe respectively.
A combination of these fringes, such as when performing the Young's Double Slit Experiment is called the interference pattern.
As the text you quote says, the fringes are just the dark and bright bands, but the entire pattern,
of bright -> dark -> bright and so on, is the interference pattern.
edit:

so, this is the interference pattern. each of the bars here is a fringe.
A: The question has its merits. The following note is the key.

The energy which is lost at the destructive interference is regained at the constructive interference.

Interference of water waves
The mentioned energy relocation in interference processes needs a medium. In water for example the motion of the molecules in the wave changes periodically in the up and down direction (longitudinal wave). And - although it is often not mentioned - a bit in the transversal direction.
At each intersection of two waves, the motion of the two waves adds up. Both directions up, we get a higher crest. Both down, a lower trough. But what about the opposite direction? The sum is exactly zero at some points. And the resulting energy is zero? That is, of course, impossible.
Water is almost incompressible. The molecules moving from opposite directions are simply squeezed to the left and to the right. Energy dissipation takes place. The energy is not lost, it is displaced.
Displacement of photons
Photons do not need a medium for their propagation.
Photons at low energy levels do not interact.
Even a series of single photons generates a fringe pattern.
Fringes also appear behind a single edge.
And last not least, photons are indivisible units from their emission until their absorption.
If we recapitulate the above phenomena, we must realise that there is no question of interference. With a coefficient (of wavelength) in a trigonometric equation, we treat light as a wave, but that tells us nothing about the mechanism of displacement. In this respect I find the question a bull's eye.
