We now begin our study of waves. Note that we follow precisely the same outline of attack which we had for Simple Harmonic Motion. We begin with a simple physical realization, waves on a string (Section 2). We then proceed to use this example to introduce our basic characterization of wave behaviors in Section 3, and then begin the general analysis in Section 4.
After using waves on a string to introduce a number of basic wave concepts, to identify the relevant degrees of freedom, and to derive the equation of motion, we shall conclude this set of notes by investigating some solutions to the wave equation. Our intention is then to investigate other systems exhibiting wave behavior before returning to finding the general solution to the wave equation.