Amplitude, Period, Phase Shift and Frequency

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Some functions (like Sine and Cosine) repeat forever

and are called Periodic Functions.

The Period goes from one peak to the next (or from any point to the next matching
point):

The Amplitude is the height from the center line to the peak (or to the trough). Or we
can measure the height from highest to lowest points and divide that by 2.

Phase Shift
1.5
y

0.5

0
x

-0.5

-1
0 π/2 π 3π/2 2π 5π/2

The Phase Shift is how far the function is shifted horizontally from the usual position.

1.5
Vertical Shift

y
1

0.5

0 x
-0.5

-1
0 π/2 π 3π/2 2π 5π/2

The Vertical Shift is how far the function is shifted vertically from the usual position.

All Together Now!

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We can have all of them in one equation:

y = A sin(B(x + C)) + D

amplitude is A
period is 2π/B
phase shift is C (positive is to the left)
vertical shift is D

Note that we are using radians here, not degrees, and there are 2 π radians in a full
rotation.

Example: sin(x)
This is the basic unchanged sine formula. A = 1, B = 1, C = 0 and D = 0

So amplitude is 1, period is 2π, there is no phase shift or vertical shift:

Phase
Shift = 0 Period = 2π

Amplitude = 1

Vertical
-1

Shift = 0

Example: 2 sin(4(x − 0.5)) + 3

amplitude A = 2
period 2π/B = 2π/4 = π/2
phase shift = −0.5 (or 0.5 to the right)
vertical shift D = 3

π
Phase Period =
2
Shift = 0.5

Amplitude
=2

Vertical
Shift = 3

In words:

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 the 2 tells us it will be 2 times taller than usual, so Amplitude = 2
the usual period is 2 π, but in our case that is "sped up" (made shorter) by the 4 in
4x, so Period = π/2
and the −0.5 means it will be shifted to the right by 0.5
lastly the +3 tells us the center line is y = +3, so Vertical Shift = 3

Instead of x we can have t (for time) or maybe other variables:

Example: 3 sin(100t + 1)
First of all there should be brackets around the (t+1), but we need to divide the 1 by 100
first:

3 sin(100t + 1) = 3 sin(100(t + 0.01))

Now we can see:

amplitude is A = 3
period is 2π/100 = 0.02 π
phase shift is C = 0.01 (to the left)
vertical shift is D = 0

And we get:

Period = 0.02π
Phase
Shift = 0.01

2
Amplitude
1 =3
t
0
-0.02 0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08

-1

-2

-3

Frequency
Frequency is how often something happens per unit of time (per "1").

Example: Here the sine function repeats 4 times between 0 and 1:

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So the Frequency is 4

And the Period is 1 4

In fact the Period and Frequency are related:

Frequency = 1 Period

Period = 1 Frequency

Example from before: 3 sin(100(t + 0.01))

Period = 0.02π
Phase
Shift = 0.01

2
Amplitude
1 =3
t
0
-0.02 0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08

-1

-2

-3

The period is 0.02π

So the Frequency is 1 0.02π = 50 π

Some more examples:

Period Frequency

1 10 10

14 4

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 1 1

5 15

100 1 100

When frequency is per second it is called "Hertz".

Example: 50 Hertz means 50 times per second

The faster it bounces the more it "Hertz"!

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