Years of research and experience with the unusual conditions of supersonic flow have led to some interesting conclusions about airfoil design. Considering a rectangular wing, the pressure at a point P with coordinates (x,y) on the wing is defined only by the pressure disturbances originated at points within the upstream Mach cone emanating from point P. As result, the wing tips modify the flow within their own rearward Mach cones. The remaining area of the wing does not suffer any modification by the tips and can be analyzed with two-dimensional theory. For an arbitrary planform the supersonic leading and trailing are those portions of the wing edge where the components of the freestream velocity normal to the edge are supersonic. Similarly the subsonic leading and trailing are those portions of the wing edge where the components of the free stream velocity normal to the edge are subsonic.
Delta wings have supersonic leading and trailing edges; in contrast arrow wings have a subsonic leading edge and a supersonic trailing edge.
When designing a supersonic airfoil two factors that must be considered are shock and expansion waves. Whether a shock or expansion wave is generated at different locations along an airfoil depends on the local flow speed and direction along with the geometry of the airfoil.