# Visualizing the mutual interference of three waves

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visualizing-the-mutual-interference-of-three-waves/1024199>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 22, 2025, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visualizing-the-mutual-interference-of-three-waves/1024199 "2025-10-22T19:52:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [October 23, 2025, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visualizing-the-mutual-interference-of-three-waves/1024199/21 "2025-10-23T00:55:25Z")

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> [@brossa](#):
>
> I tried to shift the phase of two waves so they were all 120º apart. Emphasis on the ‘tried’. It shifted the graph, but the pattern is the same.

Yup, that’s what you would expect.

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**Author:** ![Pasta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@Pasta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pasta)\
**Post date:** [October 23, 2025, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visualizing-the-mutual-interference-of-three-waves/1024199/22 "2025-10-23T02:46:05Z")

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> [@Pasta](#):
>
> with three waves I imagine you can effect the same sort of cancellation with care in choice of phases and amplitudes.

I see now that this is actually what you’re interested in, not the pattern you get from three relatively rotated standing waves.

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