Amplitude, Period, Phase Shift and Frequency. Some functions (like Sine and Cosine) repeat forever. and are called Periodic Functions. The Period is the length from one peak to the next (or from any point to the next matching point): The Amplitude is the height from the center line to the peak (or to the trough). Or we can measure the height from highest to lowest points and divide that by 2. The Phase Shift is how far the function is horizontally to the right of the usual position. The Vertical Shift is how far the function is vertically from the usual position.