In physics, mathematics, and related fields, a wave is a disturbance (change from equilibrium) of

one or more fields such that the field values oscillate repeatedly about a stable equilibrium (resting)
value. If the relative amplitude of oscillation at different points in the field remains constant, the wave
is said to be a standing wave. If the relative amplitude at different points in the field changes, the
wave is said to be a traveling wave. Waves can only exist in fields when there is a force that tends to
restore the field to equilibrium.
The types of waves most commonly studied in physics are mechanical and electromagnetic. In a
mechanical wave, stress and strain fields oscillate about a mechanical equilibrium. A traveling
mechanical wave is a local deformation (strain) in some physical medium that propagates from
particle to particle by creating local stresses that cause strain in neighboring particles too. For
example, sound waves in air are variations of the local pressure that propagate by collisions
between gas molecules. Other examples of mechanical waves are seismic waves, gravity
waves, vortices, and shock waves. In an electromagnetic wave the electric and magnetic fields
oscillate. A traveling electromagnetic wave (light) consists of a combination of variable electric and
magnetic fields, that propagates through space according to Maxwell's equations. Electromagnetic
waves can travel through transparent dielectric media or through a vacuum; examples include radio
waves, infrared radiation, visible light, ultraviolet radiation, X-rays and gamma rays.
Other types of waves include gravitational waves, which are disturbances in a gravitational field that
propagate according to general relativity; heat diffusion waves; plasma waves, that combine
mechanical deformations and electromagnetic fields; reaction-diffusion waves, such as in
the Belousov–Zhabotinsky reaction; and many more.
Mechanical and electromagnetic waves transfer energy,[2], momentum, and information, but they do
not transfer particles in the medium. In mathematics and electronics waves are studied as signals.
[3]
 On the other hand, some waves do not appear to move at all, like standing waves (which are
fundamental to music) and hydraulic jumps. Some, like the probability waves of quantum mechanics,
may be completely static.
A physical wave is almost always confined to some finite region of space, called its domain. For
example, the seismic waves generated by earthquakes are significant only in the interior and surface
of the planet, so they can be ignored outside it. However, waves with infinite domain, that extend
over the whole space, are commonly studied in mathematics, and are very valuable tools for
understanding physical waves in finite domains.
A plane wave seems to travel in a definite direction, and has constant value over any plane
perpendicular to that direction. Mathematically, the simplest waves are the sinusoidal ones in which
each point in the field experiences simple harmonic motion. Complicated waves can often be
described as the sum of many sinusoidal plane waves. A plane wave can be a transverse, if its
effect at each point is described by a vector that is perpendicular to the direction of propagation or
energy transfer; or longitudinal, if the describing vectors are parallel to the direction of energy
propagation. While mechanical waves can be both transverse and longitudinal, electromagnetic
waves are transverse in free space.

Single waves[edit]
A wave can be described just like a field, namely as a function  where  is a position and  is a time.
The value of  is a point of space, specifically in the region where the wave is defined. In
mathematical terms, it is usually a vector in the Cartesian three-dimensional space . However, in
many cases one can ignore one dimension, and let  be a point of the Cartesian plane . This is the
case, for example, when studying vibrations of a drum skin. One may even restrict  to a point of the
Cartesian line  — that is, the set of real numbers. This is the case, for example, when studying
vibrations in a violin string or recorder. The time , on the other hand, is always assumed to be
a scalar; that is, a real number.
The value of  can be any physical quantity of interest assigned to the point  that may vary with time.
For example, if  represents the vibrations inside an elastic solid, the value of  is usually a vector that
gives the current displacement from  of the material particles that would be at the point  in the
absence of vibration. For an electromagnetic wave, the value of  can be the electric field vector , or
the magnetic field vector , or any related quantity, such as the Poynting vector . In fluid dynamics,
the value of  could be the velocity vector of the fluid at the point , or any scalar property
like pressure, temperature, or density. In a chemical reaction,  could be the concentration of some
substance in the neighborhood of point  of the reaction medium.
For any dimension  (1, 2, or 3), the wave's domain is then a subset  of , such that the function
value  is defined for any point  in . For example, when describing the motion of a drum skin, one can
consider  to be a disk (circle) on the plane  with center at the origin , and let  be the vertical
displacement of the skin at the point  of  and at time .