A member of a family of functions generated by taking translations (e.g., w(t) → w(t + 1)) and scalings (e.g., w(t) → w(2t)) of a function w(t), called the “mother” wavelet. The choice of w(t) is limited by the condition that the square of w(t) be integrable over all t. Linear combinations of wavelets are used to represent wavelike signals. The wavelet decomposition of a signal offers an advantage over the Fourier decomposition in that local or short-term contributions to the signal can be better represented.