This gives the meaning of the terms as generally understood in the middle of the 18th century. Robert Hooper's Physician's Vade-Mecum, published in 1812 has been used as a source of terms in the early 19th century; many of the terms mentioned are still in common use.
In either case, the value at x = 0 is defined to be the limiting value sinc(0) = 1. The normalization causes the definite integral of the function over the real numbers to equal 1 (whereas the same integral of the unnormalized sinc function has a value of Ï).
1 1/x has oscillation â at x = 0, and oscillation 0 at other finite x and at ââ and 2  +â. sin (1/x) (the topologist's sine curve) has oscillation 2 at x = 0, and 0 elsewhere.  sin x has oscillation 0 at every finite x, and 2 at ââ and +â.