Re: Harmonic Motion and Simple Harmonic Motion

["John S. Denker" <jsd@MONMOUTH.COM>]

At 11:36 AM 6/28/01 -0700, Paul O. Johnson wrote:
> I believe that Harmonic Motion is any motion that is repetitive and
> follows the same closed path in one direction or the same open path in
> two directions (forth and back). The rate of motion (velocity) can vary
> with time in any way.
>
> Simple Harmonic Motion is Harmonic Motion in which the rate of motion
> varies sinusoidally with time.

I don't think that's the usual definition.

According to the Century dictionary
 http://216.156.253.178/CENTURY/04/index04.djvu?djvuopts&page=53

 -- A harmonic function is a sum of sine waves.
 -- A simple harmonic function is a single sine wave.
 -- Simple harmonic motion is expressible as a simple harmonic function of
time.

... which sounds about right to me.