Definition
Plain language
A standard physics equation describing how waves and vibrations behave, used to test simulation methods.
As stated in the literature
A time-independent wave equation arising in acoustics, electromagnetics, and quantum mechanics; one of the canonical PDE benchmarks in physics-informed machine learning.
Why it matters: It's a standard test problem for checking whether a method can correctly model wave behavior across physics fields.
For example, it describes how sound waves of a fixed frequency spread through a room, or how light scatters off an object.