Apply to a column coordinate vector, then apply in the same fixed basis. The function composition is
Thus the rightmost matrix acts first. The product is again a rotation matrix, since and . For planar rotations about the same origin, the sine addition formula and cosine addition formula give
For a concrete composition of rotation matrices, first rotate by radians, reaching , then by radians:
The total angle is . Reversing these two planar rotations gives the same answer, but noncommuting rotations about fixed axes show why one cannot assume that property for rotations in three dimensions.[ref]
Cosine addition formula Created 2026-09-29 Updated 2026-10-14
The cosine addition formula gives the horizontal coordinate after two successive rotations:
The minus sign comes from the way a counterclockwise rotation mixes horizontal and vertical coordinates:
The two rows recover the cosine addition formula and sine addition formula together.
Figure 1.
Adding angles rotates a coordinate pair and mixes its sine and cosine components
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With and , the resulting angle is , and
Although the horizontal coordinate becomes small, the vertical one approaches one; their squared sum still obeys the Pythagorean trigonometric identity. Taking in the cosine addition formula, together with the even function property of cosine and odd function property of sine, also recovers that identity.
Euler's formula Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
For a real angle in radians, Euler's formula states
where is the imaginary unit. It connects the complex exponential to the sine and cosine coordinates of the unit circle. In particular, , and multiplying by rotates a complex number through angle without changing its modulus. At it gives ; at , it gives .
The identity makes angle addition algebraic: . Expanding the product and comparing real parts and imaginary parts recovers the sine addition formula and cosine addition formula. Differentiating gives , and differentiating again gives . Its real and imaginary coordinates therefore solve the harmonic oscillator equation. This is why complex exponentials are useful building blocks in Fourier analysis: differentiation acts on each frequency by simple multiplication.
A short justification separates the even and odd powers in the absolutely convergent power series for . The even powers give , and the odd powers give . The absolute convergence permits this regrouping. The formula thus links an analytic definition of the complex exponential to a geometric motion rather than merely introducing a convenient notation.
Leonhard Euler presents the relation between imaginary exponentials and sines and cosines in his 1748 Introductio in analysin infinitorum, volume 1, chapter VIII, section 138. His derivation uses limiting powers after connecting trigonometric addition to algebra. The original Latin and Ian Bruce's English translation can be read together in Euler, Introductio, chapter VIII, section 138.
Put
Leibniz differentiation gives and . Thus satisfies both zero initial conditions and the inhomogeneous equation. Every solution with is .
On , the second endpoint determines uniquely, since . Collecting the integrals, and using the sine addition formula for , gives
This continuous kernel vanishes at the endpoints, satisfies off , and has derivative jump , as required for . The preceding construction proves existence, and a homogeneous solution with both endpoints zero must vanish, proving uniqueness.
On , instead, the second boundary value becomes
Thus solvability is equivalent to . When it holds, all solutions are
There is one free homogeneous mode because the endpoint length is resonant.
Let and define . The artificial boundary values are . For the symmetric tridiagonal Toeplitz matrix , the sine addition formula gives
Thus all such matrices have the same discrete sine transform eigenvectors, with eigenvalues
The sine vectors are mutually orthogonal vectors and nonzero, so the matrix is invertible. If , then and therefore
The constant from part (i) is found by setting :
Taking therefore gives the sine addition formula
Write . The sine addition formula and cosine addition formula give . Therefore function composition satisfies
The resulting angle is real and the new translation vector lies in , so is closed under function composition. Associativity holds because, for any functions and any , both and take to .
The identity element is , since . Every element has the two-sided inverse element
Indeed , and substituting into the composition formula makes the translation vector zero in either order. These verify all the group axioms. Thus is a group under function composition, the special Euclidean group in two dimensions.
The sine addition formula gives . On the requested interval the shifted angle runs from to , so the graph rises from through to .
Its derivative is nonnegative and reaches zero only at the right endpoint. Its second derivative is , so the rising arc is concave downward and ends with a horizontal tangent.
Figure 1.
A rising concave-down quarter sine wave on the specified interval
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Using the sine addition formula, combine the surviving modes:
It has amplitude and a phase delay . The full general solution would add , but this exponential is periodic only for , so the displayed periodic solution is unique.
Write the sine argument as , with . The sine addition formula gives . Its Maclaurin series is , so
There is no linear term because the outer sine has zero derivative at .
The Pythagorean trigonometric identity makes the second factor , which is strictly positive. It is therefore enough to solve . The sine addition formula gives
The shifted angle lies between and . On this interval the sine is nonpositive precisely from onwards. Restoring the original angle and retaining its strict upper bound gives
The five-point Laplacian on the square grid is
It adds the second-order central differences in the two coordinate directions and uses the given zero Dirichlet boundary conditions when a neighbouring node lies on the boundary.
The sine addition formula implies
Apply this identity with in the direction and with in the direction. For , it gives
Hence the discrete eigenvalues are
Both sine factors vanish on their respective boundary sides. Also , since and lie strictly between zero and . Thus each array is a nonzero discrete eigenvector, rather than merely the zero solution of the homogeneous system. The separated structure is also described by the five-point Dirichlet Laplacian as a Kronecker sum.
Standing wave Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-18
A standing wave results from the superposition principle applied to equal-frequency, equal-amplitude waves travelling in opposite directions. Its spatial nodes of a standing wave remain fixed while its displacement oscillates in time.
For a pure standing wave, the two travelling waves also have equal amplitudes: their interference leaves a fixed mode shape, rather than a profile moving along the string. Choose the position origin and time origin so that their transverse displacements are
Here is each constituent's amplitude, is the wavenumber, is the wavelength, and is the angular frequency corresponding to frequency . Their wave speed is . The superposition principle and the sine addition formula give
The spatial factor stays put; the temporal factor changes its size and sign. Other constant wave phases shift the position or time origin. Unequal constituent amplitudes generally leave moving displacement at the would-be nodes of a standing wave, rather than this exact factorization.[ref]
For an original ideal-string example, set , , and choose the third normal mode. Then , , and by fixed-end standing wave frequencies. With each constituent amplitude ,
Its nodes of a standing wave are at and its antinodes at . These are constructed model parameters, not experimental readings.
Figure 1.
Opposite travelling waves add to a standing third mode; permanent nodes survive every phase snapshot
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At , every point has zero displacement, but most have nonzero transverse velocity: the string is crossing its straight configuration. The black dots alone mark permanent nodes of a standing wave. At an antinode the greatest transverse speed is , much smaller than the chosen wave speed. One is motion of string material; the other is propagation of the constituent profiles.
The beauty of a standing wave is that motion reveals geometry: fixed nodes of a standing wave turn a moving disturbance into a spatial ruler. Their separation measures wavelength, and boundary conditions turn the continuous choice of wavenumber into a discrete set of normal modes. This is useful both for interpreting string vibrations and for understanding how a bounded wave equation selects its eigenfrequencies.