A quick, yet deep cheat sheet for engineers needing to understand frequencies (signals, clock speed of a computer, radio transmission), sine and square waves, and the like.
Important terms:
amplitude / peak amplitude: distance of deviation from the center value. Always positive or zero.
peak-to-peak amplitude: distance between maximum and minimum y-value of a wave.
cycle: complete vibration of the wave; encompasses the wave on its journey from the starting/midpoint of the peak to peak amplitude (usually 0), to the maximum amplitude, back to the midpoint, to the maximum amplitude in the opposite direction, and then back to the midpoint, at which point the cycle will repeat itself.
period: time it takes to perform one complete cycle.
frequency: number of cycles that occur in a given period of time.
hertz (Hz): number of cycles in one second.
kilohertz (kHz): number of 1,000 cycles in one second (103 Hz).
Example: 1 kHz = 1000 Hz
megahertz (MHz): number of 1,000,000 cycles in one second (106 Hz).
Example: 1 MHz = 1,000,000 Hz.
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