There is a subtle difference between a sine wave and a sinusoidal wave. A sine wave oscillates in a smooth repetitive pattern centered at zero across the x-axis, with a regular phase and amplitude. The sine equation is y = sin(x) A sinusoidal wave has a general shape of a sine wave but it could either follow a sine or cosine function or any shifted version of these functions. The sinusoidal equation is y = a sin(Fx - p) + d