Because signal characteristics vary widely, no one instrument is ideal for all applications. To address a specific application, an oscilloscope must provide sufficient bandwidth, sampling rate, memory length, and number of channels. Further signal processing capabilities, such as serial bus triggering/decoding or frequency domain displays, also may be essential. These factors define the minimum acceptable specifications for a suitable scope. If, in addition, the signals require special treatment because they are floating or particularly large or small, accessories external to the scope such as probes, isolators, or differential amplifiers can be used. This certainly is the case for very fast signals that require high-bandwidth, fast-sampling scopes, all of which have single-ended inputs.
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