Take the 2-minute tour ×  It's a little difficult to explain
this question .. but I'll try anyway.  To the best of my
knowledge propagation models - audio, RF - are modelled as
travelling in a sinusoidal form. Surely if a model was
constructed based on observation, and then verified by
experiment the experiment would more often yield the desired
result than not.  Is the model for sinusoidal motion/waves
deemed true because the equations are proved true by experiment?
How do we know these waves are actually sinusoidal? How was this
model developed?  share|improve this question Jean Baptiste
Joseph Fourier initiated the investigation of Fourier series and
their applications to problems of heat transfer and vibrations.
–  Mark Rovetta Jan 10 '13 at 0:09 add comment  1 Answer  up
vote 1 down vote accepted  The waves are not necessarily
sinusoidal, but any description of a function which is
integrable (i.e., has a finite area or "energy") can be
decomposed into superpositions (sums) of sines and cosines, or
altern