same frequency but with a scaled amplitude and shifted phase as given by . Many systems are approximately quasi-linear in the sense that although the response to a sine wave is not a pure sine wave, most of the energy in the output is indeed at the same frequency as the input. This is because such systems may possess intrinsic low-pass or bandpass characteristics such that harmonics are naturally attenuated, or because external filters are added for this purpose. An important application of the SIDF technique is to estimate the oscillation amplitude in sinusoidal electronic oscillators. Other types of describing functions that have been used are DFs for level inputs and for Gaussian noise inputs. Although not a complete description of the system, the DFs often suffice to answer specific questions about control and stability. DF methods are best for analyzing systems with relatively weak nonlinearities. In addition the higher order sinusoidal input describing functions (HOSIDF), describe the response of a class of nonlinear systems at harmonics of the input frequency of a sinusoidal input. The HOSIDFs are an extension of the SIDF for systems where the nonlinearities are significant in the response. Caveats Although the describing function method can produce reasonably accurate results for a wide class of systems, it can fail badly for others. For example, the method can fail if the system emphasizes higher harmonics of the nonlinearity. Such examples have been presented by Tzypkin for bang–bang systems. A fairly similar example is a closed-loop oscillator consisting of a non-inverting Schmitt trigger followed by an inverting integrator that feeds back its output to the Schmitt trigger's input. The output of the Schmitt trigger is going to be a square waveform, while that of the integrator (following it) is going to have a triangle waveform with peaks coinciding with the transitions in the square wave. Each of these two oscillator stages lags the signal exactly by 90 degrees (relative to its input). If one were to perform DF analysis on this circuit, the triangle wave at the Schmitt trigger's input would be replaced by its fundamental (sine wave), which passing through the trigger would cause a phase shift of less than 90 degrees (because the sine wave would trigger it sooner than the triangle wave does) so the system would appear not to oscillate in the same (simple) way. Also, in the case where the conditions for Aizerman's