Sine wave

Article

A sine wave is a smooth periodic oscillation described by the sine function. It is characterised by amplitude, frequency, period, wavelength, and phase.

The waveform rises and falls symmetrically about its mean value. Its instantaneous rate of change and accumulated area are represented by related sine and cosine functions.

Sine waves are mathematically fundamental because linear systems preserve their frequency: the output may change in amplitude and phase but remains sinusoidal. More complicated periodic signals can be decomposed into sums of sine waves.

They model simple harmonic motion, alternating current, sound, light, radio signals, water waves, vibrations, and many other oscillatory processes.

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• Source / publisher: Wikipedia
• URL type: WWW
• Credits: Wikipedia
• URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sine_wave