Let's apply Newton's second law in the vertical y

direction:

Fy=may
The sum of forces in the y direction is
Fy=Tsin2Tsin1
Using the small angle approximation, sintan = y/x.
So we may write:

The mass per unit length is , so its mass dm=dx. The

acceleration in the y direction is the rate of change in the y
velocity, so ay=vy/t=y2/t2. So we can write Newtons
second law in the y direction as

Rearranging this gives

Now we have been using the subscript 1 to identify the position

x, and 2 to identify the position (x+dx). So the numerator in the
last term on the right is difference between the (first) derivatives
at these two points. When we divide it by dx, we get the rate of
change of the first derivative with respect to x, which is, by
definition, the second derivative, so we have derived the wave
equation:

So the acceleration (on the left) is proportional to the

tensionTand inversely proportional to the mass per unit
length . It is also proportional to y2/x2. So the a greater
curvature in the string produces a greater acceleration
and, as we have seen, a straight portion is not accelerated.

Now there is nothing special about this function, or the point we

chose, so any function y = f(xvt) is a wave travelling to the right
with speed v and with unchanging shape f(x').
Why is there a minus sign before vt? Consider for a moment the
point on the wave where x'=0, which is the peak of the function
used here. As the peak travels to the right, x is increasing and time is
increasing, so that x'=xvt=0.
Conversely, consider what happens if we set x"=x+vt. In this
case, to keepx+vt =0, we need x to decrease as time
decreases, which is a wave travelling to the left. So remember
y=f(xvt) is a wave travelling in the positive x direction;
y=f(x+vt) is a wave travelling in the negative x direction.

let's write the stationary sine wave like this:

when x' increases by , the argument of the sine function

increases by 2, so the sine function goes through one complete
cycle. is called the wavelength
let's now write the equation in terms of the stationary
coordinate x, where x'=xvt :

angular frequency =2v/

T=2/=/v
v=/T

y=Asin(kxt)

The wave equation is a partial differential equation.

We know that sine waves can propagate in a one dimensional
medium like a string. And we know that any function f(xvt) is a
wave travelling at speed v.
General expression for a sine wave travelling in the positive x
direction is

y=Asin(kxt+).
A suitable choice of x or t axis allows us to set to zero, so let's
look at the equation

y=Asin(kxt)
to see whether and when this is a solution to the wave equation

So we have seen that the second partial derivatives have the

correct shape, which means we are on the right track. However, to
be a solution to

the partial derivatives

must not only have the correct shape, but also the correct ratio.
In other words, y=Asin(kxt) is a solution, provided that

/k was the wave speed v, so we now have an expression for

thespeed of a wave in a stretched string:

http://www.animations.physics.unsw.edu.au/jw/wave_equation
_speed.htm