Physics and measurement of time

Frequency

Also: hertz

Frequency is the number of times a periodic signal repeats per second, measured in hertz. Time and frequency are each other's inverse: a 10 MHz oscillator runs through ten million cycles per second, and by counting those cycles a clock measures time.

A stable frequency is the basis of every clock; a frequency offset builds up into a time error, which links frequency stability to time accuracy.

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