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the distance y is the amplitude of the wave. Sometimes that distance is called the "peak amplitude", distinguishing it from another concept of amplitude, used especially in electrical engineering: the root mean square amplitude, defined as the square root of the mean of the square of the maximum vertical distance of this graph from the horizontal axis.

There are a few ways to formalize amplitude:

1. The amplitude of a wave is the absolute value of the magnitude of the disturbance of the point/particule most disturbed by the wave in one cycle
2. Amplitude is the absolute value of the magnitude of the displacement of a wave from a mean value. Typically the mean value is taken as half of displacement_max-displacement_min.
3. Amplitude is the absolute value of one-half of the mean distance (or difference) between maxima and minima.

The third definition is often used for "complex" waveforms. (Why?)

to do: compare when/how these are equivalent or not, and when to use them

In the simple wave equation

y = A sin(t − k) + b

A is the amplitude of the wave.

The amplitude of a wave is the measure of the magnitude of the maximum disturbance in the medium during one wave cycle, and is measured in units depending on the type of wave.

For waves on a string, the amplitude is a distance.

For sound waves and audio signals, the amplitude corresponds to the air pressure, or to the movements of the diaphragm of a speaker. Its logarithm is usually measured in dB, so a null amplitude corresponds to -inf dB.

For electromagnetic waves, the amplitude corresponds to the electric fieldIn physics, an electric field is an effect produced by an electric charge that exerts a force on charged objects in its vicinity. Definition and derivation The mathematical definition of the electric field is developed as follows. Coulomb's law gives the.

The amplitude may be constant (in which case the wave is a continuous waveA continuous wave (CW is an electromagnetic wave of constant amplitude and frequency. An early method of radio transmission was continuous wave and consisted of an unmodulated carrier wave; unlike modulated modes, it has no information (in the communicati) or may vary with time and/or position. The form of the variation of amplitude is called the envelope (curve) of the wave.

1 Compare

• frequencyFrequency is the measurement of the number of times that a repeated event occurs per unit time. To calculate the frequency, one fixes a time interval, counts the number of occurrences of the event within that interval, and then divides this count by the l
• periodA period is an arbitrary interval of time. The word is applied to many different concepts: generally, in science, the time taken for one complete cycle of an alternating quantity. The period of oscillation of a wave is the time taken for the wave to compl
• wavelengthThe wavelength is the distance between repeating units of a wave pattern. It is commonly designated by the greek letter lambda (λ). In a sine wave, the wavelength is the distance between peaks: The x axis represents distance, and I would be some va