Could sine or cosine fcn describe motion of Ferris wheel?

[rocklee1211]

Could a sine or cosine functions describe the motion of a ferris wheel, if the centre of the wheel moved up and down during the period?

PLEZ AND THANK U

 

[wjm11]

Could a sine or cosine functions describe the motion of a ferris wheel, if the centre of the wheel moved up and down during the period?

A sine or cosine function can be used to describe the motion of a point on a rotating wheel, such as a ferris wheel.

If the center of the ferris wheel is moving up and down, the position of that central point can be described by a sinusoid also.

If you wish to describe the motion of a point on the perimeter of the ferris wheel, while the ferris wheel is both rotating and moving up and down, you can add the two functions together.

 

[Deleted member 4993]

As a matter of fact (almost) any periodic motion can be described in terms of summation of sines and cosines.