Waves

By knowing the rate at which the height of the wave changes (dy/dt) and knowing the rate at which the wave propagates forward with respect to change in height (dy/dx), we can calculate the speed of the wave. This is known as the linear wave equation.

The linear wave equation is: \(\dfrac{\partial^{2} y(x,t)}{\partial x^{2}} = \dfrac{1}{v^{2}} \dfrac{\partial^{2} y(x,t)}{\partial t^{2}}\)