How many flip-flops are required to divide a signal frequency by 4?

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Multiple Choice

How many flip-flops are required to divide a signal frequency by 4?

A flip-flop used as a toggle changes state on every clock edge, so it halves the input frequency. To achieve a division by 4, you cascade two of these toggle stages. The first flip-flop halves the frequency, producing a clock for the second flip-flop, which halves it again. The result is the original frequency divided by four. One stage only gives divide-by-2, and more stages would give further divisions (eight, sixteen, etc.), so two stages are the minimum needed to reach a division by four.

A flip-flop used as a toggle changes state on every clock edge, so it halves the input frequency. To achieve a division by 4, you cascade two of these toggle stages. The first flip-flop halves the frequency, producing a clock for the second flip-flop, which halves it again. The result is the original frequency divided by four. One stage only gives divide-by-2, and more stages would give further divisions (eight, sixteen, etc.), so two stages are the minimum needed to reach a division by four.

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