Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Mathematics/2014 December 31

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December 31

Sinusoidal phase angle

In the article "Phase (waves)", it states that a phase is "the initial angle of a sinusoidal function at its origin". Does this mean gradient at x=0 or something different? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Demiseofanalog (talk • contribs) 22:24, 31 December 2014 (UTC)

I added a title. StuRat (talk) 23:05, 31 December 2014 (UTC)

Something different. In $f(x)=\sin(\omega x+\varphi )$, the phase is $\varphi$ - that is, when $x=0$, the sine function is taken on an angle of $\varphi$. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 00:39, 1 January 2015 (UTC)

"angle" in this context means the argument of the trigonometric function, not the slope of the graph. -- ToE 14:24, 1 January 2015 (UTC)