oscillating around the equilibrium over time is a sine wave.|thumb|246x246px Sinusoids that exist in both position and time also have: • a spatial variable x that represents the
position on the dimension on which the wave propagates. • a
wave number (or angular wave number) k, which represents the proportionality between the
angular frequency \omega and the linear speed (
speed of propagation) v: • wavenumber is related to the angular frequency by k {=} \frac{\omega}{v} {=} \frac{2 \pi f}{v} {=} \frac{2 \pi}{\lambda} where \lambda (
lambda) is the
wavelength. Depending on their direction of travel, they can take the form: • y(x, t) = A\sin(kx - \omega t + \varphi), if the wave is moving to the right, or • y(x, t) = A\sin(kx + \omega t + \varphi), if the wave is moving to the left. Since sine waves propagate without changing form in
distributed linear systems, they are often used to analyze
wave propagation.
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
resonant frequencies are the string's only possible standing waves, which only occur for wavelengths that are twice the string's length (corresponding to the
fundamental frequency) and integer divisions of that (corresponding to higher harmonics).
Multiple spatial dimensions The earlier equation gives the displacement y of the wave at a position x at time t 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 x and wavenumber k 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 ==