Waveform means the shape and form of a signal such as a wave moving in a solid, liquid or gaseous medium. A square wave is a kind of Non-sinusoidal waveform, most typically encountered in Electronics and Signal processing. A triangle wave is a Non-sinusoidal Waveform named for its triangular shape The sawtooth wave (or saw wave) is a kind of Non-sinusoidal waveform. In the fields of communications, Signal processing, and in Electrical engineering more generally a signal is any time-varying or spatial-varying quantity A wave is a disturbance that propagates through Space and Time, usually with transference of Energy.
In many cases the medium in which the wave is being propagated does not permit a direct visual image of the form. In these cases, the term 'waveform' refers to the shape of a graph of the varying quantity against time or distance. An instrument called an oscilloscope can be used to pictorially represent the wave as a repeating image on a CRT or LCD screen. An oscilloscope (commonly abbreviated to scope or O-scope) is a type of Electronic test equipment that allows signal Voltages to be viewed The cathode ray tube (CRT is a Vacuum tube containing an Electron gun (a source of electrons and a Fluorescent screen with internal or
By extension of the above, the term 'waveform' is now also sometimes used to describe the shape of the graph of any varying quantity against time.
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Examples of waveforms
Common periodic waveforms include
- Sine wave: sin (2 π t). In Mathematics, a periodic function is a function that repeats its values after some definite period has been added to its Independent variable The amplitude of the waveform follows a trigonometric sine function with respect to time.
- Sawtooth wave: 2 (t − floor(t)) − 1. The sawtooth wave (or saw wave) is a kind of Non-sinusoidal waveform. This looks like the teeth of a saw. Found often in time bases for display scanning. It is used as the starting point for subtractive synthesis, as a sawtooth wave of constant period contains odd and even harmonics that fall off at −6 dB/octave. Subtractive synthesis is a method of subtracting Harmonic content from a sound via Sound synthesis, characterised by the application of an Audio filter The decibel ( dB) is a logarithmic unit of measurement that expresses the magnitude of a physical quantity (usually power or intensity relative to
- Square wave: saw(x) − saw (x − duty). A square wave is a kind of Non-sinusoidal waveform, most typically encountered in Electronics and Signal processing. This waveform is commonly used to represent digital information. It is square wave of constant period contains odd harmonics that fall off at −6 dB/octave.
- Triangle wave: (t − 2 floor ((t + 1) /2)) (−1)floor ((t + 1) /2). A triangle wave is a Non-sinusoidal Waveform named for its triangular shape This is the integral of the square wave. It contains odd harmonics that fall off at −12 dB/octave.
Other waveforms are often called composite waveforms and can often be described as a combination of a number of sinusoidal waves or other basis functions added together. In Mathematics, particularly Numerical analysis, a basis function is an element of the basis for a Function space.
The Fourier series describes the decomposition of periodic waveforms, such that any periodic waveform can be formed by the sum of a fundamental component and harmonic components. In Mathematics, a Fourier series decomposes a periodic function into a sum of simple oscillating functions Finite-energy non-periodic waveforms can be analyzed into sinusoids by the Fourier transform. This article specifically discusses Fourier transformation of functions on the Real line; for other kinds of Fourier transformation see Fourier analysis and
See also
- Sine wave
- Sawtooth wave
- Square wave
- Triangle wave
- Pulse wave
- WAV, an audio waveform file format
- Waveform monitor
- Waveform viewer
References
External links
- Waveform gallery of vocal sounds, including a stereo track
Dictionary
waveform
-noun
- (mathematics) A graphical representation of a wave obtained by plotting some characteristic of the wave (such as amplitude), versus time
- (audio) The representation of an audio signal, stored in analog or digital form as a plot of amplitude versus time.
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