C IRCULAR R EASONING

A Primer On Periodic Phenomena

by

David Alan Rogers

University of California, Santa Barbara

Contents
Chapter 1. Angles: Circles, Friendly Pulleys and Bicycle Mounted Foes. 1.1. The angle. 1.2. Applications of angles in simple dynamicical problems. 1.3. Interesting physical phenomena. Section 1 nale Chapter 2. Periodic Phenomena: Symmetry, Phase and Women. 2.1. Some seemingly new concepts. 4 4 7 11 14 17 17

CHAPTER 1

Angles: Circles, Friendly Pulleys and Bicycle Mounted Foes.

1.1. The angle. The notion of an angle relates a points positon on a circle to a section of said circles total circumference. The fundamental denition of the angle is that it is a number relating the radius of a given circle to an arc length. The arc length is just a portion of a circles entire circumference. In the below gure, a section of circle is picture along with the angle subtending it.

Figure 1.1: The arc length of a circle as related to its angle and radius.

The gure 1.1 represents the fundamental relation

r = s
where s is the arc length subtended by the angle and r is the radius of the circle. 1.1.1. Degrees as a unit of angle. Our most common experience with angles is given in terms of degrees. Degrees are dened such that to return to a point on the circle that you started at, you must traverse a total degree of 360 o . The origin on the circle is at 0 o and we choose that point to be the beginning of the rst quadrant on the circle. In the gure above, the angle 0 o is where the horizontal line of the sector connects the center of the circle with its boundary. The circle can be divided into four distinct quadrants (notice we head COUNTER clockwise about the circle, less we choose to traverse negative angles). Because the total number of degrees encapsulated by the circle are 360, each quadrant should contribute 360 o /4 = 90 o to the total. Therefore, the range of degrees specifying a point inside each quadrant are given by;
4

1.1. THE ANGLE.

[0, 90 o ) [90 o , 180 o ) [180 o , 270 o ) [270 o , 360 o )

QUADRANT I QUADRANT II QUADRANT III QUDADRANT IV

Notice that in effect, all we are doing to differentiate the quadrants is rotating the lower limit on the preceding quadrant by 90 o . One also notices that because a complete rotation of 360 o returns oneself to the same point, we can identify (regard as the same) the angles 0 o and 360 o . In general, we have that for any angle , if we rotated by an additional 360 o we return to the same angle, in mathematical term
+ 360 o = .

But note that if is say, 30 o , our equation is saying 30 o + 360 o = 390 o . In order for our mathematical view of rotations to be logically consistent, we must say that 390 o is an equivalent expression of the angle 300 . In higher level mathematics (namely Abstract Algebra), this notion is a special case of so called equivalence classes. E XAMPLE 1. Suppose we are given the angle 750 o and wish to determine the smallest angle which equivalently expresses it. We are motivated to do this, because attempting to place a point on a circle at an angle of 750 o would entail rotating all around the circle several times and then adding the remainder of degrees after total rotations to designate our point. Lets not do that. Solution: We rst note that all angles can be expressed as a sum = n(360 o ) + where n is an integer (..., 2, 1, 0, 1, 2, ...) and is some angle between 0 o and 360 o (this is the smallest equivalent angle that we want to nd). To determine n, we ask ourselves how many times can we t 360 into 750? The quickest way to determine this is to simply divide, 750 2.083. 360 n is clearly 2, as the remainder (0.83) after division is not an integer. Therefore,
= n(360 o ) = 750 o 2(360 o ) = 30 o .

Our general method to nding the smallest equivalent angle is then to divide by 360, discard the remainder and apply the above formula. The formula is not necessary to memorize if you understand the reasoning, which is the point of mathematics. NOTE: On the following page is a gure of a circle and its four quadrants. The quadrants are labeled counter clockwise, and as angles can be equated to a negative representation in addition to 360 o rotated analogues, these numbers are also labeled. A superuous detail of this convention is that it evolved out of the right-handedness of human being, oddly enough. In a world dominated by lefties, the convention would be reversed. One notices that if they curl the ngers of their right hand in the direction of increasing angle, the thumb distinctly points out of the page. This seemingly irrelevant fact is important in many elds of mathematics, where the orientation of an object requires rigorous conventions in order for calculations to remain selfconsistent. The circle in the Euclidean plane is an example of an orientable manifold with the right-handed convention.

1.1. THE ANGLE.

Figure 1.2: The various quadrants of the unit circle and their ranges of angles.

1.1.2. Radians as a unit of angle. While degrees are an appropriate choice for discussing the magnitude of angles in day to day speech, they lack features that make them powerful as a tool for calculation. As we discussed at the start of this section, the dening feature of an angle is that it relates the radius of a circle to a section of its circumference (an arc length),

r = s.
Long ago in antiquity, it was proposed that there existed a number (that we call ) which related the diameter of a circle to its circumference. That is, a number which relates the total length around a circle to the length between two opposite points. One of the most numinous aspects of nature is not only that this number exists, but has a never ending decimal representation. The number is possibly the most fundamental number in all of nature. In the language of modern mathematics, we dene as understood by primitive geometers with the equation
d = C

where C is the circumference of a circle and d is its diameter. The most advanced ancient civilizations had good approximations to the value and approaches to the evaluation of are still an interest of many computer scientists. Our notion of angle has a dening feature that if we traverse the total angle T (it is common in math and science to label certain objects with a subscript, the T is just a label, you do not manipulate it). around the circle, we ought to have covered the total arc length or circumference of the circle,

r T = C = d ,
the last form can be written in terms of the radius, d = 2 r ,

1.2. APPLICATIONS OF ANGLES IN SIMPLE DYNAMICICAL PROBLEMS.

r T = 2 r .
Low and behold, what we have arived at is the most natural representation of the total angle contained within a circle, this motivates our adoption of a unit of angle called radians. To denote the rest of the angles in the circle, we simply subdivide the total angle T = 2. Half of the total rotation is , a quarter is /2, etc. These are obviously logically equivalent to the rotations in units of degrees; corresponds to 180 o , /2 corresponds to 90 o , etc. Notice that in the case of the unit circle, where r = 1 by default, an angles measurement in radians is numerically equal to the length of a corresponding arc. One may easily convert from radians to degrees, via the correspondance of 2 rad and 360 o . Suppose we are given an angle in radians, there are 2 radians per every 360 o rotation, ergo

180 360 radians = radians = o . 2

The gure below labels points on a circle and those points corresponding angles in both degrees and radians.

Figure 1.3: Angles in both units of radians and degrees along the unit circle.

1.2. Applications of angles in simple dynamicical problems. In the world of natural science, a problem which does not vary in time is said to be static. An example would be a farmer calculating the area of his rectangular

1.2. APPLICATIONS OF ANGLES IN SIMPLE DYNAMICICAL PROBLEMS.

eld, given the side lengths of the property line. However, the notion of angle allows us a method to discuss rotational dynamics, problems where objects are rotating in time. Because the reader lacks knowledge of calculus, we are constrained to systems which are said to evolve uniformly. For now, we will only concern ourselves with systems which undergo uniform motion. 1.2.1. Angular frequency and uniform circular motion. If an object is rotating uniformly (does not speed up or slow down, nor deviates from a circular trajectory) we know the length it travels in any interval of time t is numerically equivalent to some arclength of a circle. In this case, the rate at which the angle of the object changes is given by = t so that, r t = r t = r = s t gives us the arclength traversed in the time interval [0, t]. is called the angular frequency. Note that we are concerned with a time INTERVAL, we have simply chose the starting time to be t = 0. In general, the time interval need not start at t = 0 but can start at any value, t 0 (remember, the subscript 0 is just a label). In this case, our time interval is [ t 0 , t] and the time traversed in this interval becomes t = ( t t 0 ). The notation t is just another short hand, reminding us that our time interval did not start at t 0 = 0. With this small generalization, we get

t = r ( t t 0 ) = s. t ( t t0 ) Why s and ? Well, we often discuss an objects position on a circle relative to the origin at = 0, at this point s = 0. But just as we did with time, we could look at systems where an object starts at an arclength of s 0 from the origin. In which case, as the object rotates, the arclength it covers is actually the difference s s 0 where both s and s 0 are measured relative to the origin. We must also take into account that the positions along the arc of the circle correspond to different angles. Lets look at an example to help our understanding.
r t = r
E XAMPLE 2. An object is engaging in uniform circular motion. An observer notices the object is located at an angle of /4 radians when his timer reads 7 seconds. When the timer reads 9 seconds this object has arrived at /2 radians. Solution: Lets analyze this system. One thing we notice we can determine with the information we are given is the objects angular frequency, as we are given that the object is engaging in uniform motion along a circle and we see the motion occurs in the intervals [/4, /2] radians and [7, 9] seconds. Ergo we take,
t0 = 7 t = 9 0 = /4 = /2

and nd, t = 2 seconds and 2 = = = radians. 2 4 4 4

1.2. APPLICATIONS OF ANGLES IN SIMPLE DYNAMICICAL PROBLEMS.

radians . = t 8 second Now lets suppose that we somehow determine the radius of the circular trajectory (in the next example well discuss an interesting way to do this). r = 2. Lets gure out the amount of arclength the object has covered. There are infact two ways,
=

Hence,

r t = s
holds one method,
2 2

s = 2 2
while

2 ( 2)2

2 2

r t = r
holds another,

t = r = s t

. = 4 2 2 Thus far we have only discussed the angular frequency of a rotating object. In the real world, the concept of speed is a much more familiar topic. Everyone knows that speed (denoted v) is just (distance)/(time), but does everyone know its relationship to angular frequency? You do. s r t = s = r = = v. t

s = 2

We just need to be slightly careful here, v is actually called the tangential speed because it is the speed of an object moving along a circular path. The speed of an object you are most likely familiar with is dened for objects moving in a straight direction and depends on its displacement per unit time. That is, the distance relevant to the true linear speed is the length of the straight line connecting its initial and nal positions. When one learns calculus, they see that the displacement per unit time treatment is a very poor description for curved trajectories, such as circular motion. The speed of an object is a much more subtle concept and requires the notion of instantaneous small displacements. Lets see more interesting examples of a system engaging in uniform circular motion before we press on. E XAMPLE 3. TJ is a dick. He is on his bike and has just stolen your trigonometry textbook! Like the blustering child he is, he engages in uniform circular around you at angular frequency , while taunting you. Every given number of seconds, he yelps out the word loser! He does so consistently. You rst ask for you textbook back nicely, he refuses. You then demand, he does not care. Finally after the tenth loser he is at an angle 1 on this circular trajectory and you say enough is enough, right as he is about to say loser once more, he is pelted in the head with a rock thrown by you at a speed v. How far are you from his unconscious body located at 2 ? Solution: To do this problem, lets rst note that what were being asked to do is determine the radius of the circular trajectory, as you are the observer located at the origin and at all points in the motion TJ is r distance away from you. We are given the two angles, 2 and 1 . At 1 you are fed up, and at 2 he has JUST been hit in the head with your rock, which instantaneously drops him to the

1.2. APPLICATIONS OF ANGLES IN SIMPLE DYNAMICICAL PROBLEMS.

10

ground. Because the rate at which he shouts his insult is constant, you know that the time it takes the rock to hit him t is the same as the amount of time it takes him to travel radians. We however, are not given this time. It must be eliminated algebraically. Note, = t. Because you are stationary, the rock must have traveled the wanted distance r upon impact, that is r = v t. Solving for t in the lower equation and substituting into the upper one,

v v r = r = = (2 1 ) , v and we now have a formula for r in terms of quantities we are given. Notice this has all been done symbolically. If I were to specify real values for all these variables, one could simply plug them into the result. Most the time in problems where we are given values for certain variables, it is best to work out the problem algebraically (symbolically) before plugging the relevant numbers in; it is an extremely good habit and as this text progresses we will trend towards doing examples where variables are not given specic values at all.

In the next example, we will look at how circles of different radius are related to each other. E XAMPLE 4. Two circles of differing radius are said to be concentric if they share the same center. Suppose we have such a system and the interior circle has a radius r 1 = 2/3 while the exterior circle has a radius of r 2 = 3. We start a clock and points at = 0 on both begin moving at the same uniform angular frequency, . If the point on the interior circle covers an arclength of s 1 = meters in t seconds, at what angle is point on the second circle and how much arc has it traversed? Solution: Because the points move at the same angular frequency, we have the very important condition: 1 = 2 = .

1 2 = , t t or equivalently 1 = 2 , and since we know both start at an initial angle of 0, we might as well omit the deltas and call 1 and 2 the nal angles after time t,
1 = 2 = 1 = 2 .

This means that,

In other words, we need only nd the angle 1 for the interior circle and it wil be the same as the exterior one. Lets just use

s1 3 = . r1 2 To determine the arc, we apply the same formula but on the exterior circle; r 1 1 = s 1 = 1 = 2 =
3 9 = . 2 2 Note that the radius being 3 times larger has made the covered arc 3 times larger. This is no coincidence, as

r 2 2 = s 2 = (3)

r 2 2 = r 2 1

1.3. INTERESTING PHYSICAL PHENOMENA.

11

for concentric circles and therefore,

s2 = r 2

s1 r2 = s1 . r1 r1

1.2.2. The similarity of circles. What we learned from the previous example is that the ratio of the radiuses of circles determines how the arclength is scaled (made larger or smaller). In the very important case that the interior concentric circle is the unit circle where r 1 = 1, we see that as the exterior circle becomes larger, the arc length is simply rescaled by the size of the radius r 2 ,

s2 = r 2 s1 .
This is why the unit circle in a sense the most fundamental. Problems involving circles of varying size are simply rescaled versions of problems involving the unit circle. This property is called the similarity of circles. When we arrive at trigonometric functions, we will see that a change of amplitude corresponds to a rescaling of the unit circle. 1.3. Interesting physical phenomena. There are two common special cases of rotational dynamics that I will briey cover here. These two examples are of great importance in applied physics and engineering, as such I will try to present them in a context which gives some relevance to the denitions. 1.3.1. Rolling without slipping. Imagine a bicycle wheel rolling on a at surface. Lets put paint on the wheel, so that as it rolls it leaves a trail. If the wheel does not slip or skid, we know that every speckle of paint in the straight line trail it leaves behind on the ground over a given time period came from one and only one point on the surface of the wheel. If the wheel DOES skid or slip, that means that some of the paint in the trail didnt actually come from points on the wheel but was instead smeared along the trail. The mathematical relation describing this condition is, s = x where x is change in position (distance of travel) of the center of the wheel relative to some origin and s is the arclength a point on the wheel has covered while rolling through an angle of . In otherwords,

r = x
where is corresponding angle of rotation and r is the radius of the wheel. This relationship should of course be made dynamical, since rolling occurs in time. x/ t = vwheel is the speed of the center of the wheel and therefore the bike, since the all points on bike move at that same speed (otherwise the thing would be falling apart!), so we arrive at,

x =r = vwheel = r . t t NOTE: Now, were not so much interested in physics in this text but I really want to add a quick asside because it is perplexing but cute. You are maybe confused as to how the relation s = x suddenly appeared, my heuristic analysis is a bit messy. It is infact a simplied version of a more complicated mathematical explanation which would require a knowledge of calculus/analysis. There is also a very
vwheel =

1.3. INTERESTING PHYSICAL PHENOMENA.

12

important and cute physical treatment that describes rolling without slipping. The physical explanation of rolling without slipping is that as the wheel moves along the surface, the point on the wheel that meets the ground at any given time has zero velocity. Pretty zen, right? If this point did NOT have zero velocity, it would be moving relative to the point of contact and we would have slippage contributing to the distance traveled. So how does the wheel rotate in the rst place? The answer is you need the concept of acceleration, as while the edge has zero velocity at this point, its acceleration is non-zero. The condition that the velocity be zero at contact ensures that the translational motion of the wheel (movement of its center relative to the surface) is exactly the same as the arclength covered on the surface of the wheel. But enough of that. Lets quicky a prototypical example of a rolling without slipping problem. E XAMPLE 5. A ball with radius r = 3/2 is rolling uniformly with angular frequency = / 2 without slipping in a straight line across the surface of a table. Find the translational speed of the ball and use this to determine how much distance the ball will roll in 2 seconds. Solution: Very simply, vball = r = 3 and therefore,
2 2

vball t = x =

3 2 2

(2) =

3 2

So, that wasnt very hard. Lets ask a more interesting question. Suppose the length of the table is l = 30 and the ball in the example above starts out at its edge and begins to roll towards the other. How long does it take for the ball to fall onto the oor? Solution: What this is really asking is that when the distance traversed is x = l , how much time has gone by?

vball t = r t = x = l .
Ergo,

t =

l 30 20 2 = = . r (3/2)(/ 2)

Sometimes were interested in other quantities, say the total angle rolled through. Staying with the example above, what is the total angle the ball rotates through before it falls off the table? Solution: We know that,

r = vball = r

x = , = r = x t t

When the ball has rolled of the table, x = l , so

r = l = =

30 = 20. (3/2)

Problems of this kind that are still available to the reader are simply going to be easy algebraic manipulations of the fundamental equation describing rolling without slipping.

1.3. INTERESTING PHYSICAL PHENOMENA.

13

1.3.2. Coupled pulleys. Lets now turn our attention to another type of physical problem, namely coupled rotation. A system of pulleys is said to be coupled if their motions are dependent on one another. Examples of such systems in the real world include the toothed pulley and belt as well as the sprocket and chain any kid with a bicycle is familiar with.

Figure 1.4: Different types of coupled pulleys found in day to day life.

One feature we may desire in a system of pulleys coupled by a belt is that the belt does not slip on the surface of the pulleys. Indeed, this is precisely why in the case of a bicycle one uses a sprocket and chain to couple the pedal to the wheel. This so that energy is not lost in the form of the chain slipping as one pedals. To describe this condition mathematically, let us rst note that when we rotate the rst wheel by an angle, a point on this wheel sweeps an arclength of

r 1 1 = s 1 .
Now, since the belt does not slip and is tight, s 1 is also the length of belt that has been pulled off of the second wheel (causing it to rotate as well). That means,

s1 = s2
or equivalent,

r 1 1 = r 2 2 .

SECTION 1 FINALE

14

The moral of the story is that when one rotates the rst wheel by an angle 1 , the second wheel rotates by an angle

2 =

r1 1 . r2

Note that if r 1 > r 2 then the angle of the second wheel is larger and visa-versa. The reason for this comes from the similarity of circles, as we discussed in example 4. Refer back to this. Of course, we are also interested in the dynamical case, as when we ride our bike we are concerned with how fast we are moving in relation to the angular frequencies in the pulley system,

r 1 1 = r 2 2 .
Section 1 nale Lets now do a non-trivial exercise that utilizes the concepts of a wheel rolling uniformly without slipping, a system of coupled pulleys and the concept of similar circles (recall example 4). If you can follow this problem, you have made tremendous progress. If you can do this problem independently you are a God. As promised, we will begin to do problems where variables are not given any real values. When an example says a quantity is known, given, or measured, this means that you are free to include it in your nal expression of the uknown or the thing you wish to nd. Also be aware that whatever notation you use is arbitrary, you can name your variables absolutely anything that you want! Be wary that consistency is very important to make your work understandable to yourself and others, however. I attempt to choose what in my opinion is the most logically consistent notation. E XAMPLE 6. Today you want to go and steal TJ the Dicks backpack. You are interested in knowing how fast you can physically ride your bicycle given your own tness level to ensure your escape. You ask an accomplice to clock the average amount of time it takes you to pedal one full rotation (this is called the period of rotation) when you pedal full force. You also measure the diameters of the back wheel sprocket, the pedal sprocket it is coupled to via the chain and the wheel itself. Your wheels have very good traction, so assume that you roll without any slippage. Our goal is simply to manipulate the equations we have developed in this section to do this fun problem. Solution: We want to nd your maximum speed, well simply call this v. Lets start with what we know. We know the average amount of time it takes for you to pedal a full rotation, we will call this time T (motivated by what we will soon call the period). We also know the diameters d s,w and d s, p of the wheel sprocket and pedal sprocket respectively. In addition we have the diameter of the wheel, well just call this d w . In addition, we have the very basic fact that a full rotation of a circle is represented by 2 radians. Believe it or not, this is absolutely all that we need. To be absolutely clear, What we know: What we want to know:

T , d s,w , d s, p , d w , 2 v

First off, we want to know at what angular frequency you can pedal, as that is going to determine the rate at which the wheel sprocket (and hence the wheel) can rotate

SECTION 1 FINALE

15

via our condition of coupled pulleys. Thats easy enough

s, p =

2 . T

Now, those diameters are a little unsightly since we are accustomed to using radii, but we know that all we need to do is divide them by 2 to be able to convert them to radii and substitute them into the relevant equations. So, our condition of coupled pulleys simply becomes, 1 1 d s, p s, p = d s, w s, w . 2 2 Well look at that, we dont even need the 1/2s anyways, they simply multiply out

d s, p s, p = d s, w s, w .
Since we want s,w ,
s, w =

d s, p d s, w

s, p .

Now, the wheel sprocket is rigidly attached to the wheel, so they arent coupled in the same way two wheels are with a chain. That simply means that when we rotate the wheel sprocket, it forces the wheel to rotate by the same angle (they are concentric circles with points on their edges rotating at the same angular frequency, a la example 4!). Hence, d s, p s, w = w = s, p . d s, w Now we know the angular frequency at which the wheel rotates. Well, we also know the diameter of the wheel itself AND that it rolls without slipping, so that condition is, 1 d w w = v. 2 We know both d w and w so the problem is actually complete, but lets put things into terms we know directly so we dont have to plug real values in at each step when we want to actually calculate something.

v=

d s, p d s, p 2 1 1 1 d w w = d w s, p = d w 2 2 d s, w 2 d s, w T

and after canceling the 2s and putting it in a more pleasant looking form, we have d w d s, p v= . T d s, w Notice how we have the speed in terms of all the things we originally said we knew! We did accomplished exactly what we wanted. Now to show you the power of deriving your very own formulas, lets actually plug some stuff into it. Suppose your wheel diameter is 1/2 of a meter, your wheel sprocket diameter is 1/7 of a meter, your pedal sprocket diameter is 1/16 of a meter and you average a very respectable time of a quarter of a second to pedal a full rotation. We then have,

v=

28 meters (1/2 meters)(1/16 meters) = . (1/4 seconds) 1/7 meters 32 second

SECTION 1 FINALE

16

If you are interested in a number you can understand, plug this sucker into a calculator: v 2.74 m s . Then again, youre American, so you might want to see how fast you move in miles per hour. Lets convert using dimensional analysis, the conversion factor from meters to miles I simply looked up, seconds 1 miles 3600 = 6.12 mph. 1609.34 meter hour So, either you or your bike is crumby. Fortunately we were just making up numbers, if you measured the real numbers for yourself you could determine a realistic answer! Of course, this all assumes youre in vacuum, but youre not reading this to learn physics. 2.74 meters second Conclusion. This concludes the rst section of this text. The last problem hopefully gave you an indication of the cool stuff you can do already and convinced you that you have honed a quality understanding of the material covered. In the next section we will introduce a few concepts that somewhat generalize what we have discussed here before moving on to a discussion of the notion of periodic functions, of which all trigonometric functions are simply a particular case.

CHAPTER 2

Periodic Phenomena: Symmetry, Phase and Women.

Thus far we have only concerned ourself with uniform circular motion as physical problems outside of this realm are beyond the scope of your education at the moment. Uniform circular motion is an example of periodic phenomena. Roughly speaking, a periodic system is any system where things recur after a period of time. Periodic systems need not only involve objects rotating through space but include any phenomena where something recurs consistently after a xed amount of time. Not to be lewd, but the menstrual cycle of a woman is roughly periodic. The choice of the term period to describe a semi-predictably time of the month when a woman will crave BLTs and threaten her signicant other with a broken wine bottle is no coincidence. To a rough approximation, this biological cycle is indeed a periodic phenomenon. 2.1. Some seemingly new concepts. Thus far we have only concerned ourself with uniform circular motion as physical problems outside of this realm are beyond the scope of your education at the moment. Uniform circular motion is an example of periodic phenomena. Roughly speaking, a periodic system is any system where things recur after a period of time. Periodic systems need not only involve objects rotating through space but include any phenomena where something recurs consistently after a xed amount of time. Not to be lewd, but the menstrual cycle of a woman is roughly periodic. The choice of the term period to describe a semi-predictably time of the month when a woman will crave BLTs and threaten her signicant other with a broken wine bottle is no coincidence. To a rough approximation, this biological cycle is indeed a periodic phenomenon. The time it takes a given event to recur is called its period and we generally denote it T . The period gives us a way to speak of the frequency of an event as well. Every time the given even occurs (cycles), a time of T has traversed. This frequency (usually denoted or f . The is the greek letter nu and not a v, yes that causes confusion sometimes) is dened to be = 1/T so that if a time of say 3 periods has 1 (3T ) = 3 times. passed ( t = 3T ), the event has occurred t = T 2.1.1. The relationships between frequency, angular frequency, cycle and period. The units of frequency are cycles per second, or inverse seconds (also called hertz). Why inverse seconds and not (something)/seconds? Remember frequency is a measure of the number of cycles that occur in a given time interval. The notion of cycles has no units, it is an abstract concept, not a well-dene physical notion like distance or time. The units of angular frequency are radians per second, so the difference between the two is quite subtle.
17

2.1. SOME SEEMINGLY NEW CONCEPTS.

18

Think of their relationship in terms of dimensional analysis. For every complete cycle on the unit circle, you have traversed 2 radians. Therefore, the conversion factor for this relationship is radians 2 . cycle Suppose a particle on the unit circle returns to its initial position with a frequency of cycles per second, we can convert this into an angular frequency via this conversion factor, radians cycles radians radians cycles 2 = 2 = . second cycles second cycles second From this, we can write down some useful relationships for solving periodic problems. 2 = 2 = T
1 T= =2 1 = T = 2

I would advise that one not remember all of this formulae of course, they are all just rearrangements of the two important facts:
= 2 =
1 T

and if you ever nd yourself unable to recall these, just think about it!