Definition:Harmonic Wave/Frequency

Definition

Let $\phi$ be a harmonic wave expressed as:

$\forall x, t \in \R: \map \phi {x, t} = a \map \cos {\omega \paren {x - c t} }$

The frequency $\nu$ of $\phi$ is the number of complete wavelengths of $\phi$ to pass an arbitrary point in unit time.

Also see

• Frequency of Harmonic Wave: this frequency is shown to be $\dfrac 1 \tau$, where $\tau$ is the period of $\phi$

• Results about frequency can be found here.

Sources

• 1955: C.A. Coulson: Waves (7th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Chapter $\text {I}$: The Equation of Wave Motion: $\S 3$