Mistake Master
Mistake Master · AP Physics 2 · Unit 14 · Step-Through Animation
Read the Axis Before the Curve
You'll learnhow the axis label decides whether a graph's repeat is a wavelength or a period, which of v, f and λ is free to move in a given situation, and why a taller wave is not a higher note.
Two graphs of the same wave can look exactly alike and mean completely different things — and one equation, v = f λ, behaves differently depending on which of its three symbols the situation has already pinned. Twelve short steps; press Next for each one.
the axis label decides which repeat it is · name what is pinned first
Before you start
What you're looking at
Two graphs of the same wave, drawn deliberately identically — only the captions beneath them differ.
The question
What tells you whether a repeat on a wave graph is a wavelength or a period — and what can actually change a wave's speed?
Step 1 / 12