Sine Wave

A sinusoidal wave or function, that is, one moving in simple harmonic motion according to the function

where A is the amplitude of the wave, f its frequency, and t is time.

According to the Fourier theorem, any periodic waveform may be analyzed as the sum of a series of sine waves with frequencies in a harmonic series, each of which has an amplitude and phase angle given by the Fourier coefficients. Since a sine wave has only a single frequency associated with it, it may be considered the simplest sound.

See: Fourier Analysis, Fourier Synthesis, Granular Synthesis, Law of Superposition, Simple Tone, Sine Tone, Sound Synthesis.

Two cycles of a sine wave showing the amplitude of the pressure variation.