Signals and Systems: Mid-Term Exam

Dept. of Electrical Eng., Korea Univ.

April 19, 2022

1. Consider the following function

(
1/∆, 0 < t < ∆
δ∆ (t) =
0 , otherwise.

(a) Evaluate r∆ (t − t0 ) = δ∆ (t) ∗ δ∆ (t − t0 ).

(b) Express ṙ∆ (t) = dr∆ (t)/dt in terms of δ∆ (t).
(c) It follows from the mean value theorem that for any continuous function f (t)
Z b
f (t)dt = (b − a)f (t1 )
a

where t1 is a number between a and b, i.e. a < t1 < b. Using this, prove that

lim f (t) ∗ δ∆ (t − t0 ) = f (t − t0 ).
∆→0

(d) Using (a) and (c), prove that

lim f (t) ∗ r∆ (t − t0 ) = f (t − t0 ).
∆→0

(e) Using (b) and (c), prove that

lim f (t) ∗ ṙ∆ (t − t0 ) = f˙(t − t0 )

∆→0

assuming the differentiability of f (t).

(f) On the basis of the above results, define δ(t − t0 ) and δ̇(t − t0 ). Are these functions?
If not, what are they?

2. Given the following signals:

(1) cos 5πt + sin 6πt
(2) sin 2t + cos πt
(3) e−10t u(t)
(4) e2t u(t)

(a) Which are periodic? Give their periods.

(b) Which are power signals? Compute their powers.
(c) Which are energy signals? Compute their energies.
 Note that power signals have positive and finite powers, and that energy signals are defined
similarly.

3. Determine whether the systems given below are linear or nonlinear, causal or noncausal,
time-invariant or time-varying, dynamic or memoryless, and invertible or not.

(a) y(t) = 2x(t)2 + 3x(t)

(b) y(t) = x(t) for t ≥ 0, and y(t) = −x(t) for t < 0
R t+T /2
(c) y(t) = (1/T ) t−T /2 x(τ )dτ .
(d) y(t) = et x(t + 5)

4. Consider the following differentiator

dx(t)
y(t) = .
dt
Discuss whether this system is linear, time-invariant, dynamic, causal, and stable or not.

5. Consider the following equation involving the impulse response h(t).

ḧ(t) + 2ḣ(t) + h(t) = δ̇(t) + 2δ(t) (= 0 ∀ t > 0) (∗)
h(0−) = 0, ḣ(0−) = 0
h(0+) = A, ḣ(0+) = B.
Note that what the impulse δ(t) does is to change the initial conditions such that h(0+)
and ḣ(0+) can take nonzero values.

(a) Explain that h(t) does not include any singularity function such as δ(t) or δ̇(t).
(b) Explain that the singularity function contained in ḣ(t) is Aδ(t).
(c) Explain that the singularity functions contained in ḧ(t) are Aδ̇(t) + Bδ(t).
(d) By comparing the singularity functions contained in both sides of (∗), show that
A = 1 and B = 0.
(e) Find the impulse response h(t) using A = 1 and B = 0.

6. Consider the vector space Rn , and an orthogonal basis {e1 , e2 , · · · , en } for Rn such that
(
T 1, i = j
ei ej =
0, i 6= j.
Then any vector x (∈ Rn ) can be uniquely written as
n
X
x= ak ek
k=1

where ak = xT ek .

(a) In what sense, is this problem equivalent to finding the Fourier series coefficients of
a periodic signal f (t) = f (t + T )?
(b) In what sense, is this problem different from finding the Fourier series coefficients of
a periodic signal f (t) = f (t + T )?