The harmonic series

A sound wave of well-defined pitch is by definition a periodic function of time $t$ with a corresponding spectrum $\{\alpha_n\,:\,n=1,2,\dots\}$ based on a fundamental frequency $\omega$:
$$\phi_\omega(t)\,=\,\alpha_0+\sum_{n=1,2,\dots}\alpha_n\cos\bigl(2\pi n\omega (t-\tau_n)\bigr)~.$$
The set of frequencies which appear in this formula is called the harmonic series: frequencies ${\omega, 2\omega, 3\omega, 4\omega, \dots}$ are respectively called the fundamental ($n=1$), first harmonic ($n=2$), second harmonic ($n=3$), etc. We can think of each component of the wave as an additional note above the fundamental as in Figure 1.

The harmonic series of C. Numbers above the staff are deviations with respect to the actual tempered note.

The frequency $\omega$ gives its name to the resulting wave, for example any wave with fundamental frequency $\omega=440$ [Hz] is an A irrespective of which other coefficients appear in the series. When fundamentals of two notes are in a ratio of $2$ ($\omega_2=2\cdot\omega_1$) , they form an octave and share the same name. Therefore notes with $\omega = 110, 220, 440, 880$ [Hz] are all called A. Notice that the harmonic series of A$=880$ [Hz] is entirely contained within the harmonic series of A$=440$ [Hz] and similarly for any harmonic of any other note in the series (for example harmonics of E$=1320$ [Hz] or C♯$=2200$ [Hz] are all harmonics of A$=440$ [Hz]). These notes would however be considered “out of tune” in a perfectly equal temperament (which imposes E$=1318.51$ [Hz] and C♯$=2217.46$ [Hz]).