Non-sinusoidal waveform

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sine, square, triangle, and sawtooth waveforms

Non-sinusoidal waveforms are waveforms that are not pure sine waves. They are usually derived from simple math functions. While a pure sine consists of a single frequency, non-sinusoidal waveforms can be described as containing multiple sine waves of different frequencies. These "component" sine waves will be whole number multiples of a fundamental or "lowest" frequency. The frequency and amplitude of each component can be found using a mathematical technique known as Fourier analysis.

Non-sinusoidal waveforms are important in, for example, mathematics, music and electronics.

Examples of non-sinusoidal waveforms include square waves, rectangular waves, triangle waves, spiked waves, trapezoidal waves and sawtooth waves.

Sine wave
5 seconds of a 220 Hz sine wave

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Square wave sound sample
5 seconds of square wave at 1 kHz

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Triangle wave sound sample
5 seconds of triangle wave at 220 Hz

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Sawtooth aliasing demo
Sawtooth waves played bandlimited and aliased at 440 Hz, 880 Hz, and 1760 Hz

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