YP Waves simulates up to 3 traveling sine waves simultaneously. The resultant wave is also shown in the animation. It is easy to change the amplitude, the wavelength, the velocity and the phase constant of each wave. This program is perfect to teach waves characteristics (amplitude, wavelength, etc.), the superposition principle, standing waves, interference of waves, etc.
System Requirements: YP Waves runs on any Macintosh computer with MAC OS 7.0 or later. It needs about 200 Kb on your hard disk and 800 Kb of RAM. The software runs on older models with 68000 processors (Mac Plus, Mac Classic), but simulations are slower.
Program operation:
When you launch YP Waves, the animation window is displayed on the screen: it shows two sine waves (red and blue) and the resultant wave (black). You can start the animation with the "Start Animation" item in the "Animation" menu.
You can change the characteristics of each wave using the "Characteristics" window, change the scale with the "Scale" window, display the equation describing the waves with the "Equations…" item in the "Animation" menu, or change the number of waves shown in the animation with the "Waves" menu.
Using YP Waves:
Note: To help you explore all menus of the program, you may use balloon help (with the "?" menu, in the top right corner of the screen).
Menus:
"Apple" Menu:
Use this menu to
- open an item from the Apple Menu Folder,
- consult online help
- unlock your copy of the program.
• "About YP Waves..." item: When you select this item from the Apple menu, a dialog box showing information about the version number and copyright is displayed, as well as whether your copy of the software has been registered or not.
"Unlock" button: This button is visible only if your copy of the software has not yet been personalized. After receiving your personal unlocking code, click on this button to open another dialog box so that you may enter (or paste) your name and your unlocking code in the appropriate zones.
"Help & Info" Button: This button gives access to online help.
"File" Menu:
Use the "File Menu" to
- save contents of the active window as a PICT file,
- close the active window,
- print the active window,
- quit the program.
"Save as PICT..." item: Saves the contents of the active window (animation or equations) as a PICT file, which can be open by any draw of paint program.
"Close Window" item: Closes the active window.
"Page Setup..." item: Use this item when you want to use a different paper size, or orientation.
"Print" item: Use this item to print the content of the active window.
"Quit" item: Use this item from the file menu to quit the program.
"Edit" Menu:
The "Cut", "Paste" and Delete" items are available only when a dialog box in which you may enter text is active.
The "Copy" item is also available when the animation window (or the "Equations" window) is active, so you can easily copy a frame (picture) in the clipboard.
"Animation" Menu:
Use this menu
- to start or stop the animation
- to change the characteristics of the waves
- to change the scale
- to display equations
- to show how hide some items in the animation window.
"Start/Stop Animation" item: Starts or stops the animation.
"Change Characteristics" item: Displays a window allowing to change the amplitude, the wavelength, the velocity and the phase constant of each wave (if this window was not visible already).
Click on one of the radio buttons at the top of the window to choose the correct wave. Enter the numerical values in the appropriate zones. You must click on the "Apply These Characteristics" button" so the changes become effective.
You may enter numerical values in decimal or scientific notation (for instance: 2.4e-3 or 0.0024). The exact separators to use (point or comma) depends on the settings in the "Numbers" control panel of your computer. The phase constant can be written in rad, degrees or "pi rad" provided that the pop menu is set at the correct unit.
"Scale…" item: Displays a dialog in which you can choose the scale used to draw the diagram. Type the number corresponding to the length of the red line, and click on the "Apply Scale" button. You can also click on the "Zoom In" button to divide the scale by a factor of 2, or the "Zoom Out" button to multiply the scale by a factor of 2.
"Equations…" item: Displays a window showing the mathematical equation describing each wave.
"Show/Hide..." items: Use these menu items to show how hide some items in the animation window.
"Waves" Menu:
Use this menu to change the number of waves in the animation.
"Help" Menu:
YP Waves supports Balloon Help. Use this menu to show or hide help balloons, and to display online help.
Ordering information:
The demo (unregistered) version of YP Waves may be freely distributed to allow anybody to try it before registering. You are permitted to upload it to an internet site, distribute it on a CD-ROM, or give a copy to a friend.
If you want to use YP Waves on a regular basis, you must pay for a user license. You will then receive an unlocking code that will allow you to personalize your copy of the program.
The unregistered version have the following limitations:
• a window indicating how to order the full version is displayed at startup.
• the mention "This copy is for evaluation only." is permanently displayed in the main window.
• Several items from the "File" menu, the "Animation" menu and the "Waves" menu are not available.
• The program quits after 10 minutes of use.
Your unlocked version will have the following advantages:
• the window indicating how to order the full version is not displayed at startup.
• the mention "This copy is for evaluation only." will never be displayed again in the main window.
• All items from the "File" menu, the "Animation" menu and the "Waves" menu will be available.
• The program does not quit after 10 minutes of use.
In addition, you will be able to unlock all future updates of YP Waves with the same unlocking code.
Methods of Payment:
Kagi, a company located in the United States, handles the payments for my software. You can pay by credit card (Visa, Master Card, American Express), by check or postal money order (in american dollars) or with cash. Schools located in Canada or in the United States can send me a purchase order. For more information about registering YP Waves, please read the file"How to Order".
Detailed Prices:
Single User License: A $20.00 US registration fee will license one copy of YP Waves for use on any one computer at any one time. For example, one copy may be used by any number of people and may be freely moved from one computer to another as long as there is no possibility of it being used simultaneously on more than one machine.
Site License: A license covering all computers located in the same building is available at the price of $300.00 US.
Technical Support:
If you have any comments or suggestions, please feel free to e-mail me at pelletier@kagi.com (or ch865@freenet.carleton.ca).
YP Waves is provided “as-is”. Yves Pelletier hereby disclaims all warranties relating to this software, whether express or implied, including without limitation any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Yves Pelletier will not be liable for any special, incidental, consequential, indirect or similar damages due to loss of data or any other reason, even if Yves Pelletier or an agent of his has been advised of the possibility of such damages. In no event shall Yves Pelletier be liable for any damages, regardless of the form of the claim. The person using the software bears all risk as to the quality and performance of the software.
