Editing Square wave (waveform) (section)

== Origin and uses ==

Square waves are universally encountered in digital switching circuits and are naturally generated by binary (two-level) logic devices. They are used as timing references or "[[clock signal]]s", because their fast transitions are suitable for triggering [[synchronous logic]] circuits at precisely determined intervals. However, as the frequency-domain graph shows, square waves contain a wide range of harmonics; these can generate [[electromagnetic radiation]] or pulses of current that interfere with other nearby circuits, causing [[noise]] or errors. To avoid this problem in very sensitive circuits such as precision [[analog-to-digital converter]]s, [[sine wave]]s are used instead of square waves as timing references.

In musical terms, they are often described as sounding hollow, and are therefore used as the basis for [[wind instrument]] sounds created using [[subtractive synthesis]]. They also make up the "beeping" alerts used in many household, commercial, and industrial contexts. Additionally, the distortion effect used on [[electric guitar]]s clips the outermost regions of the waveform, causing it to increasingly resemble a square wave as more distortion is applied.

Simple two-level [[Rademacher function]]s are square waves.