- #36
Dale
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So according to you we should not call them waves and we should not call them basis functions. What terminology would you prefer? I am out of good words.
If you don't want to decompose your EM functions then by all means don't do it. Nobody is forcing you to do so. But nothing you have said diminishes the utility of doing it. There is no requirement that basis functions be compact, nor that they be constrained to a specific frequency or wavelength, nor even that they be solutions to the same problem. And in this case they are mathematically plane waves.
If you don't want to decompose your EM functions then by all means don't do it. Nobody is forcing you to do so. But nothing you have said diminishes the utility of doing it. There is no requirement that basis functions be compact, nor that they be constrained to a specific frequency or wavelength, nor even that they be solutions to the same problem. And in this case they are mathematically plane waves.