Sine wave
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A sine wave, sinusoidal wave, or sinusoid (symbol: ∿) is a
When any two sine waves of the same
Audio example
A sine wave represents a single frequency with no harmonics and is considered an acoustically pure tone. Adding sine waves of different frequencies results in a different waveform. Presence of higher harmonics in addition to the fundamental causes variation in the timbre, which is the reason why the same musical pitch played on different instruments sounds different.
Sinusoid form
Sine waves of arbitrary phase and amplitude are called sinusoids and have the general form:[1]
- , amplitude, the peak deviation of the function from zero.
- , the seconds.
- , radians per second.
- , ) that occur each second of time.
- , phase, specifies (in radians) where in its cycle the oscillation is at t = 0.
- When is non-zero, the entire waveform appears to be shifted backwards in time by the amount seconds. A negative value represents a delay, and a positive value represents an advance.
- Adding or subtracting (one cycle) to the phase results in an equivalent wave.
As a function of both position and time
Sinusoids that exist in both position and time also have:
- a spatial variable that represents the position on the dimension on which the wave propagates.
- a wave number(or angular wave number) , which represents the proportionality between the angular frequency and the linear speed (speed of propagation) :
- wavenumber is related to the angular frequency by where (lambda) is the wavelength.
Depending on their direction of travel, they can take the form:
- , if the wave is moving to the right, or
- , if the wave is moving to the left.
Since sine waves propagate without changing form in distributed linear systems,[
Standing waves
When two waves with the same amplitude and frequency traveling in opposite directions superpose each other, then a standing wave pattern is created.
On a plucked string, the superimposing waves are the waves reflected from the fixed endpoints of the string. The string's
Multiple spatial dimensions
The earlier equation gives the displacement of the wave at a position at time along a single line. This could, for example, be considered the value of a wave along a wire.
In two or three spatial dimensions, the same equation describes a travelling plane wave if position and wavenumber are interpreted as vectors, and their product as a dot product. For more complex waves such as the height of a water wave in a pond after a stone has been dropped in, more complex equations are needed.
Sinusoidal plane wave
Fourier analysis
French mathematician Joseph Fourier discovered that sinusoidal waves can be summed as simple building blocks to approximate any periodic waveform, including square waves. These Fourier series are frequently used in signal processing and the statistical analysis of time series. The Fourier transform then extended Fourier series to handle general functions, and birthed the field of Fourier analysis.
Differentiation and integration
Differentiation
Differentiating any sinusoid with respect to time can be viewed as multiplying its amplitude by its angular frequency and advancing it by a quarter cycle:
A
Integration
Integrating any sinusoid with respect to time can be viewed as dividing its amplitude by its angular frequency and delaying it a quarter cycle:
The constant of integration will be zero if the
An integrator has a pole at the origin of the complex frequency plane. The gain of its frequency response falls off at a rate of -20 dB per decade of frequency (for root-power quantities), the same negative slope as a 1st order low-pass filter's stopband, although an integrator doesn't have a cutoff frequency or a flat passband. A nth-order low-pass filter approximately performs the nth time integral of signals whose frequency band is significantly higher than the filter's cutoff frequency.
See also
- Crest (physics)
- Complex exponential
- Damped sine wave
- Euler's formula
- Fourier transform
- Harmonic analysis
- Harmonic series (mathematics)
- Harmonic series (music)
- Helmholtz equation
- Instantaneous phase
- In-phase and quadrature components
- Least-squares spectral analysis
- Oscilloscope
- Phasor
- Pure tone
- Simple harmonic motion
- Sinusoidal model
- Wave (physics)
- Wave equation
- ∿ the sine wave symbol (U+223F)
References
- ^ Smith, Julius Orion. "Sinusoids". ccrma.stanford.edu. Retrieved 2024-01-05.
External links
- "Sine Wave". Mathematical Mysteries. 2021-11-17. Retrieved 2022-09-30.