Mathematical Description of

Continuous-Time Signals
 current humidity

voltage
temperature

electromagnetic
wave
torque
force

10/29/2021 M. J. Roberts - All Rights Reserved 2

 Standard Forms of
Function/Signal
• Unit step
• Unit Signum
• Unit ramp
• Unit impulse
• Unit periodic impulse..
• ……

10/29/2021 M. J. Roberts - All Rights Reserved 3

 The Unit Step Function
1 , t  0

u ( t ) = 1/ 2 , t = 0
0 , t  0


Precise Graph Commonly-Used Graph

The product signal g(t)u(t) can be thought of as the signal g(t)

“turned on” at time t = 0.
10/29/2021 M. J. Roberts - All Rights Reserved 4
 The Signum Function
 1 , t  0
 
sgn ( t ) =  0 , t = 0  = 2 u ( t ) − 1
−1 , t  0 
 

Precise Graph Commonly-Used Graph

The signum function, in a sense, returns an indication of

the sign of its argument.

10/29/2021 M. J. Roberts - All Rights Reserved 5

 The Unit Ramp Function

t , t  0  t
ramp ( t ) =   =  u (  ) d  = t u (t )
0 , t  0  −

10/29/2021 M. J. Roberts - All Rights Reserved 6

 Unit impulse or delta function :
Graphical Representation of the
Impulse
The impulse is not a function in the ordinary sense because its
value at the time of its occurrence is not defined. It is represented
graphically by a vertical arrow. Its strength is either written beside
it or is represented by its length.

10/29/2021 M. J. Roberts - All Rights Reserved 7

 Properties of the Impulse
The Sifting Property (or sampling property)

Ex:
 g ( t )  ( t − t ) dt = g ( t )
−
0 0

The sampling property “extracts” the value of a function at

a point.
The Scaling Property Ex:

 ( a ( t − t0 ) ) =  ( t − t0 )
1
a
This property illustrates that the impulse is different from
ordinary mathematical functions.
10/29/2021 M. J. Roberts - All Rights Reserved 8
 Properties of the Impulse

The Equivalence Property

10/29/2021 M. J. Roberts - All Rights Reserved 9

 The Unit Periodic Impulse
The unit periodic impulse is defined by

T ( t ) =   ( t − nT )
n =−
, n an integer

The periodic impulse is a sum of infinitely many uniformly-

spaced impulses.
10/29/2021 M. J. Roberts - All Rights Reserved 10
 The Unit Rectangle Function
 1 , t  1/ 2 
 
rect ( t ) = 1/ 2 , t = 1/ 2  = u ( t + 1/ 2 ) − u ( t − 1/ 2 )
 
 0 , t  1/ 2 

The product signal g(t)rect(t) can be thought of as the signal g(t)

“turned on” at time t = -1/2 and “turned back off” at time t = +1/2.
10/29/2021 M. J. Roberts - All Rights Reserved 11
 The Unit Triangle Function
1 − t , t  1
tri ( t ) =  
Async lecture (29/10): , t  1
1) Read absolute value: 0
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolute_value
2) Finding the equation of a line:
https://www.algebra-class.com/writing-algebra-
equations.html

The unit triangle, defined this way, is related to the unit rectangle
through an operation called convolution to be introduced in
Chapter 6.
10/29/2021 M. J. Roberts - All Rights Reserved 12
 The Unit Sinc Function
sin ( t )
sinc ( t ) =
t

The unit sinc

function is related to
the unit rectangle
function through the
Fourier transform,
to be introduced in
Chapter 10.
d
( sin ( t ) )  cos ( t )
lim sinc ( t ) = lim dt = lim =1
t →0 t →0 d t →0 
( t )
dt
10/29/2021 M. J. Roberts - All Rights Reserved 13
 The Dirichlet Function
sin ( Nt )
drcl ( t , N ) =
N sin ( t )

The Dirichlet function is the sum of infinitely many

uniformly-spaced sinc functions.

10/29/2021 M. J. Roberts - All Rights Reserved 14

 Combinations of Functions

10/29/2021 M. J. Roberts - All Rights Reserved 15

10/29/2021 M. J. Roberts - All Rights Reserved 16
 Shifting and Scaling Functions
A function is defined graphically by:

and let g ( t ) = 0 , t  5

10/29/2021 M. J. Roberts - All Rights Reserved 17

 Shifting and Scaling Functions
g(t ) → Ag(t )
Amplitude Scaling,

10/29/2021 M. J. Roberts - All Rights Reserved 18

 Shifting and Scaling Functions
Amplitude Scaling, g(t ) → Ag(t )

10/29/2021 M. J. Roberts - All Rights Reserved 19

 Shifting and Scaling Functions

Time shifting,
t → t − t0

10/29/2021 M. J. Roberts - All Rights Reserved 20

 Time shifting (t t+t0)

10/29/2021 M. J. Roberts - All Rights Reserved 21

 Shifting and Scaling Functions
Time scaling, t →t/a

10/29/2021 M. J. Roberts - All Rights Reserved 22

 Shifting and Scaling Functions
Time scaling, t → t / a

10/29/2021 M. J. Roberts - All Rights Reserved 23

 Time scaling (t t/a), where
a=1/2

10/29/2021 M. J. Roberts - All Rights Reserved 24

 Shifting and Scaling Functions
 t − t0 
Multiple transformations g ( t ) → A g  
 a 

A multiple transformation can be done in steps

amplitude
 t  t →t −t0  t − t0 
g ( t ) ⎯⎯⎯⎯
→ A g ( t ) ⎯⎯⎯
scaling, A t →t / a
→ A g   ⎯⎯⎯→ A g  
 
a  a 

The sequence of the steps is significant

amplitude
t   t − t0 
g ( t ) ⎯⎯⎯⎯
→ A g ( t ) ⎯⎯⎯
scaling, A t →t −t0
→ A g ( t − t0 ) ⎯⎯⎯
t →t / a
→ A g  − t0   A g  
a   a 

10/29/2021 M. J. Roberts - All Rights Reserved 25

 Shifting and Scaling Functions
 t − t0 
Simultaneous scaling and shifting g (t ) → Ag 
 a 

10/29/2021 M. J. Roberts - All Rights Reserved 26

10/29/2021 M. J. Roberts - All Rights Reserved 27
 Even and Odd Functions
Even Functions Odd Functions
g ( t ) = g ( −t ) g ( t ) = − g ( −t )

10/29/2021 M. J. Roberts - All Rights Reserved 28

 Even and Odd Parts of Functions
Every function is composed of an even part plus an odd part.

g ( t ) + g ( −t )
The even part of a function is g e ( t ) =
2
g ( t ) − g ( −t )
The odd part of a function is g o ( t ) =
2
If even part is zero, the function is odd.
If odd part is zero, the function is even.

The derivative of an even function is odd and the derivative

of an odd function is even.

The integral of an even function is an odd function, plus a

constant, and the integral of an odd function is even.
10/29/2021 M. J. Roberts - All Rights Reserved 29
 Ex: Find odd and even parts

10/29/2021 M. J. Roberts - All Rights Reserved 30

 Ex: Find odd and even parts

10/29/2021 M. J. Roberts - All Rights Reserved 31

 Periodic Functions
A periodic signal is one that has been repeating an exact pattern for
an infinite time and will continue to repeat that exact pattern for an
infinite time.
If a function g(t ) is periodic, g ( t ) = g ( t + nT ) where n is any integer
and T is a period of the function.
The minimum positive value of T for which g ( t ) = g ( t + T ) is
called the fundamental period T0 of the function. The reciprocal
of the fundamental period is the fundamental frequency f 0 = 1/ T0 .
g(t) g(t) g(t)

A function that is not periodic is aperiodic.

10/29/2021 M. J. Roberts - All Rights Reserved 32
10/29/2021 M. J. Roberts - All Rights Reserved 33
 Sums of Periodic Functions
The period of the sum of periodic functions is the least common
multiple of the periods of the individual functions summed. If the
least common multiple is infinite, the sum function is aperiodic.

10/29/2021 M. J. Roberts - All Rights Reserved 34

10/29/2021 M. J. Roberts - All Rights Reserved 35
 Ex: Find fundamental period (T0) and fundamental
frequency (f0) for the following signals

1.

2.

3.

10/29/2021 M. J. Roberts - All Rights Reserved 36

10/29/2021 M. J. Roberts - All Rights Reserved 37
 Energy and Power Signals
Signal can be classified as energy signal or
power signal.

An energy signal has a finite energy, 0 < E < ∞. In

other words, energy signals have values only in the
limited time duration

The energy signal of a signal x(t) Is:

 x (t )
2
Ex = dt
−

10/29/2021 M. J. Roberts - All Rights Reserved 38

 Energy and Power Signals
On the contrary, the power signal is not limited in time.
It always exists from beginning to end and it never ends.

The average signal power of a signal x(t) is

T /2
1
x ( t ) dt
T → T 
2
Px = lim
−T / 2

For a periodic signal x(t) the average signal power is

1
Px =  x ( t ) dt
2

T T
where T is any period of the signal.

10/29/2021 M. J. Roberts - All Rights Reserved 39

 Energy or power signal?

1.
Ans:

2.
Ans:

10/29/2021 M. J. Roberts - All Rights Reserved 40