Hello hood1,
sine.vi calculates the sine of an input.
sine pattern.vi generates a sine wave with the parameters specified as input (amplitude, phase, number of cycles). It outputs a DBL-array, its length can be set by the number of samples input.
sine waveform.vi also generates a sine wave but the output will be of waveform data type.
Hope this helps you understand the different VIs.
I Schumacher
Application Engineering
National Instruments
PS. In future, please post as question only once in one thread. Thanks.