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Butterworth Filter

Maximally flat magnitude response in the passband

Order: 3
ωc = 0.5π
Linear Scale
|H(jω)|² = 1 / (1 + (ω/ωc)^(2n))

Order Comparison

Pole Locations (s-plane)

Butterworth Filter Characteristics

Maximally Flat: The Butterworth filter has the flattest possible passband response - all derivatives of the magnitude response are zero at ω = 0.

Roll-off: The attenuation is -20n dB/decade (or -6n dB/octave) where n is the filter order.

Pole Locations: Poles are equally spaced on the left half of a circle of radius ωc in the s-plane, ensuring stability.

At Cutoff: The magnitude is always -3 dB (≈ 0.707) at the cutoff frequency, regardless of order.

Trade-off: Higher order = sharper transition but more phase distortion and complexity.