| phase
Basic waves--such as analog signals--consist of a series of repeating
peaks and valleys. In its simplest form, the wave starts at a zero point
on a line, gradually climbs to a peak a bit further down the line, dips
down past the zero point to a valley, and then finally returns to the zero
point. We shift the wave's phase by moving the entire wave backward or
forward from the zero point. For instance, we can shift the wave's phase
by 1/4 by simply moving the peak backwards to the zero point. |