The wave equation is a second-order linear partial differential equation for the description of waves or standing wave fields such as mechanical waves or electromagnetic waves. It arises in fields like acoustics, electromagnetism, and fluid dynamics.
French scientist Jean-Baptiste le Rond d'Alembert discovered the wave equation in one space dimension.
Swiss mathematician and physicist Leonhard Euler (b. 1707) discovered the wave equation in three space dimensions.
In physics, mathematics, engineering, and related fields, a wave is a propagating dynamic disturbance of one or more quantities. Periodic waves oscillate repeatedly about an equilibrium (resting) value at some frequency. When the entire waveform moves in one direction, it is said to be a travelling wave; by contrast, a pair of superimposed periodic waves traveling in opposite directions makes a standing wave. In a standing wave, the amplitude of vibration has nulls at some positions where the wave amplitude appears smaller or even zero. Waves are often described by a wave equation or a one-way wave equation for single wave propagation in a defined direction.
Surface waves in water showing water ripples
Solitary wave in a laboratory wave channel
Light beam exhibiting reflection, refraction, transmission and dispersion when encountering a prism