10.5 Periodic and Piecewise Continuous Input Functions
Mathematical models of mechanical or electrical systems often involve functions with discontinuities corresponding to external forces that are turned abruptly on or off. One such simple on–off function is the unit step function that we introduced in Section 10.1. Recall that the unit step function at is defined by
The notation indicates succinctly where the unit upward step in value takes place (Fig. 10.5.1), whereas connotes the sometimes useful idea of a “time delay” a before the step is made.
In Example 8 of Section 10.1 we saw that if then
FIGURE 10.5.1.
The graph of the unit step function at
Because ...
Get Differential Equations and Linear Algebra, 4th Edition now with O’Reilly online learning.
O’Reilly members experience live online training, plus books, videos, and digital content from 200+ publishers.