How can the oscillation of a dish be represented with an equation?

23 Views Asked by At

I am reading the book Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! and I got to the point where he is eating lunch in the canteen when someone throws a dish and he thinks about the equation which represents its oscillation. I got curious about it. What is the equation in real conditions and in ideal ones? (I'm a high school student)