Games · Fourier

Match the Mystery Wave

A secret wave is hiding on the screen, built from a few pure sine harmonics. Your job: dial in the harmonic sliders until your curve lands on top of it. The closer you get, the higher your match — hit the target and earn your stars. It's Fourier decomposition, by hand and by feel.

mystery wave (target) your wave
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Wave 1 Solved 0 Harmonics 2

Your harmonics

How you're doing

Drag the sliders so your purple curve covers the gray mystery wave. Watch the match climb!

What you're really doing: every wave here is a sum Σ bₙ sin(nx) of harmonics. Matching it means finding the coefficients bₙ — exactly the job a Fourier transform does automatically. Play enough and you'll start to see the harmonics in a shape: the slow base swell is n=1, the fast ripples are the high n, and a hard corner needs a long tail of them. Want the theory? Visit the Fourier Learn page or the builder.

EngineeringCandy · Games · Fourier decomposition by feel · match it, beat it, learn