A Waveform function () is a periodic function with one of several characteristic shapes: sawtooth, sine, square, or triangle. The waveform function is a function of one variable (the time t, for example). The default Function name is wv1.

The Equation section is only available when you have selected Sine from the Type list in the Parameters section below. The displayed equation shows the basic sine equation or, if selected, the equation for a Gaussian-modulated sine wave.

Select a waveform Type: Sawtooth, Sine (the default), Square, or Triangle. For all types except Sine, you can also define smoothing (the Smoothing checkbox is selected by default) using the Size of transition zone field and specify one or two continuous derivatives from the Number of continuous derivatives list. Smoothing is useful for avoiding unphysical sharp waveforms. For any selection, enter Period (default is 2π), Phase (unit: radians; the default is 0), Baseline (default is 0), and Amplitude (default is 1) values. You can use unit syntax to assign units to these parameters. For the Square and Triangle waveforms, you can also specify the Duty cycle (the ratio between the pulse duration and the period). The default value is 0.5. The duty cycle is the fraction (that is, a value between 0 and 1) of a period in which the function has the high value (for a Square waveform) or for which the function is rising (for a Triangle waveform).

The Modulation section is only available when you have selected Sine from the Type list in the Parameters section above. From the Amplitude modulation list choose None for a plain sine wave (the default), or choose Gaussian for a Gaussian-modulated sine wave. For Gaussian, also specify values in the Delay field (default: 2 times the default period) and the Standard deviation field (default: 0.5 times the default period).