These twenty lectures have been developed and refined by Professor Siebert during the more than two decades he has been teaching introductory Signals and Systems courses at MIT. The lectures are designed to pursue a variety of goals in parallel: to familiarize students with the properties of a fundamental set of analytical tools; to show how these tools can be applied to help understand many important concepts and devices in modern communication and control engineering practice; to explore some of the mathematical issues behind the powers and limitations of these tools; and to begin the development of the vocabulary and grammar, common images and metaphors, of a general language of signal and system theory.

Although broadly organized as a series of lectures, many more topics and examples (as well as a large set of unusual problems and laboratory exercises) are included in the book than would be presented orally. Extensive use is made throughout of knowledge acquired in early courses in elementary electrical and electronic circuits and differential equations.

Contents: Review of the "classical" formulation and solution of dynamic equations for simple electrical circuits; The unilateral Laplace transform and its applications; System functions; Poles and zeros; Interconnected systems and feedback; The dynamics of feedback systems; Discrete-time signals and linear difference equations; The unilateral Z-transform and its applications; The unit-sample response and discrete-time convolution; Convolutional representations of continuous-time systems; Impulses and the superposition integral; Frequency-domain methods for general LTI systems; Fourier series; Fourier transforms and Fourier's theorem; Sampling in time and frequency; Filters, real and ideal; Duration, rise-time and bandwidth relationships: The uncertainty principle; Bandpass operations and analog communication systems; Fourier transforms in discrete-time systems; Random Signals; Modern communication systems.

William Siebert is Ford Professor of Engineering at MIT. Circuits, Signals, and Systems is included in The MIT Press Series in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, copublished with McGraw-Hill.

Review

As one of the standard undergraduate texts in signals and linear systems theory, this manual is geared toward an advanced undergraduate student with a strong background in calculus and a previous introductory course in differential equations. The author uses a circuit analysis framework to introduce several key ideas such as state-space descriptions of differential and difference equations, Laplace and z-transforms, continuous-time and discrete-time Fourier transforms, and sampling, filtering, and modulation schemes. Through enthusiastic prose and numerous worked-out examples, Siebert conveys his intuitive feel for the meaning behind the mathematics as well as a deep familiarity with electrical engineering applications of the theory. The book is fast-paced and challenging, but not overly terse. This text is perfect for a student and an excellent reference (as well as an enjoyable read) for practicing engineers and academics.

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