The frequency of a sinusoidal signal is 50 Hz. What will be the period of the signal?

Concept:

Frequency: The number of waves that pass a fixed point in unit time; also, the number of cycles or vibrations undergone during one unit of time by a body in periodic motion is called frequency. 

The frequency of a signal, given the time period, is given by:

\(f=\frac{1}{T}\)

The time period is, therefore:

\(T=\frac{1}{f}\)

This is explained with the help of the following sine wave diagram:

That means the frequency is inversely proportional to the time period. 

For example:

Let, the time period of the wave = 10 μsec, i.e.

T = 10 × 10-6 sec

∴ The frequency will be:

\(f=\frac{1}{T}=\frac{1}{10× 10^{-6}}\)

f = 0.1 × 106 Hz

f = 100 × 103 Hz

Since 103 Hz = 1 kHz,

the above frequency becomes:

f = 100  kHz

Calculation:

In a periodic waveform time period (T) is inverse of frequency (f)

T = 1/f

Given, f = 50 Hz

T= 1/50

T= 0.02 s = 20 ms