Three sine functions
All zeros of the function Sin[a x] + Sin[b x]Sin[a x] + Sin[b x]
lie on the real axis. But for Sin[a x] + Sin[b x] + Sin[c x]Sin[a x] + Sin[b x] + Sin[c x]
, there are usually zeros off the real axis (even say for a = 1a = 1
, b = 3/2b = 3/2
, c = 5/3c = 5/3
), as shown in the pictures below.
If a, b and c are rational, Sin[a x] + Sin[b x] + Sin[c x]Sin[a x] + Sin[b x] + Sin[c x]
is periodic with period 2 π /GCD[a, b, c]2 π /GCD[a, b, c]
, and there are a limited number of different spacings between zeros. But in a case like Sin[x] + Sin[√2 x] + Sin[√3 x]Sin[x]+Sin[\!\(\*SqrtBox[\(2\)]\)x]+Sin[\!\(\*SqrtBox[\(3\)]\)x]
there is a continuous distribution of spacings between zeros, as shown on a logarithmic scale below. (For 0 < x < 1060\[RawLess]x\[RawLess]\!\(\*SuperscriptBox[\(10\),\(6\)]\)
there are a total of 448,494 zeros, with maximum spacing ≃4.6≃4.6
and minimum spacing ≃0.013≃0.013
.)