sågtandvåg

Sågtandvåg, which translates to sawtooth wave in English, is a periodic waveform characterized by a repeating pattern resembling the teeth of a saw. It consists of a linear ramp that rises or falls steadily over a period and then abruptly drops or jumps back to its starting value to repeat the cycle.

The waveform can be described mathematically. For a sawtooth wave that rises from -1 to 1 over a period T, the function can be represented as f(t) = 2 * (t/T - floor(t/T + 1/2)). Similarly, an inverse sawtooth wave falls from 1 to -1. The steepness of the ramp is determined by the duration of the period and the amplitude of the wave.

Sawtooth waves are fundamental in various fields of science and engineering. They are commonly used in electronics, particularly in oscilloscopes and function generators, to produce a linear sweep of the electron beam across the screen or to generate specific audio frequencies. In digital signal processing, they serve as a basic building block for more complex waveforms and are used in certain types of modulation. The predictability and linearity of the sawtooth wave make it a useful tool for testing and calibration.