The CD4047B is capable of operating in either the monostable or astable mode. It requires an external capacitor (between pins 1 and 3) and an external resistor (between pins 2 and 3) to determine the output pulse width in the monostable mode, and the output frequency in the astable mode.

Astable operation is enabled by a high level on the astable input or low level on the astableinput. The output frequency (at 50% duty cycle) at Q and Qoutputs is determined by the timing components. A frequency twice that of Q is available at the Oscillator Output; a 50% duty cycle is not guaranteed.