# Angular Frequency?

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#### EN0

##### Member
Hey Everyone,

I've seen this "Angular Frequency" expressed as "ω", and I was wondering what it meant. I know that frequency can be expressed as a sine wave and then a circle in degrees so would this angular frequency calculate a certain angle of a true frequency? What is the purpose of angular frequency and how do you use it? I've also seen a lot of other "angular" type things such as "angular velocity."

Thanks!

#### dknguyen

##### Well-Known Member
Angular frequency is the same thing as Hertz in a form more suited for trigonometry. 1 Hertz is one cycle per second. In trig there are 2*pi radians (or 360 degrees) in a single rotation around a circle (or a cycle if you will). It is more suited to trignometry than both Hz and degrees because radians is what trigonometry is based on. Hz and degrees are just easier for humans to visualize.

So 1Hz is the same as the angular frequency of 2*pi radians per second.

Angular frequency = Frequency * 2*pi

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#### jasonbe

##### New Member
Hey Everyone,

I've seen this "Angular Frequency" expressed as "ω", and I was wondering what it meant. I know that frequency can be expressed as a sine wave and then a circle in degrees so would this angular frequency calculate a certain angle of a true frequency? What is the purpose of angular frequency and how do you use it? I've also seen a lot of other "angular" type things such as "angular velocity."

Thanks!

I came across angular velocity while browsing the web after reading your post. It seems as though it communicates the same information as angular frequency, and also could communicate the plane in which angles are changing – if you weren’t already aware of this. This seems as though it may be useful when information is being represented with more than two axes – maybe three dimensional space? Not really sure though. Someone who wrote some things at Wikipedia at Angular velocity - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia probably does a better job at explaining it. May I ask how you came across angular frequency?

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