Which device increases its output by one on each clock pulse due to a toggling action?

Which device increases its output by one on each clock pulse due to a toggling action?

• A. Counter
• B. Adder
• C. Latch
• D. Frequency Divider

Answer: (A)

Incrementing the value with every clock edge is what a counter does. It uses flip-flops arranged so the least significant bit toggles on each clock; when that bit transitions from 1 back to 0, a carry occurs and the next flip-flop toggles, and so on up the chain. This sequence produces successive binary values, so the output increases by one on each clock pulse. The behavior holds for both ripple and synchronous counters, though timing differs. Others don’t fit because an adder computes a sum from two inputs, a latch simply stores a state, and a frequency divider reduces the rate of the input signal (often by toggling an output to create a slower waveform) rather than guaranteeing a one-by-one increment of a multi-bit value on each pulse.

Incrementing the value with every clock edge is what a counter does. It uses flip-flops arranged so the least significant bit toggles on each clock; when that bit transitions from 1 back to 0, a carry occurs and the next flip-flop toggles, and so on up the chain. This sequence produces successive binary values, so the output increases by one on each clock pulse. The behavior holds for both ripple and synchronous counters, though timing differs.

Others don’t fit because an adder computes a sum from two inputs, a latch simply stores a state, and a frequency divider reduces the rate of the input signal (often by toggling an output to create a slower waveform) rather than guaranteeing a one-by-one increment of a multi-bit value on each pulse.