December 2025
Intermediate to advanced
480 pages
21h 45m
English
Content preview from Practical Signals Theory with MATLAB Applications, 2nd Edition
Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
O’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.I wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.I’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.I'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.
Chapter 1Practical MATLAB with Signals Theory
The study of signals theory is both mathematically intensive and visually rich. This is a subject traditionally tackled with a scientific calculator, a sharp pencil, and an ample supply of graph paper. While various high-level computer languages can be applied to advanced numerical computations and graphical output, their implementations often lack the convenience of being able to evaluate a single expression or to create a quick plot. By comparison, MATLAB® is a commercial computing environment1 that allows the execution of single statements from an integrated user interface while fully incorporating the classic transformations and algorithms that define modern signal processing.
This introductory chapter presents an overview of fundamental MATLAB-based tools and techniques relevant to the study of signals theory. Other MATLAB functions will be introduced as required, and Appendix E contains additional reference material.
In the context of this chapter, the term signal refers to a time-varying waveform described by a mathematical function of time, such as 
, while system implies any hardware or software with which a signal inevitably interacts. It follows that signals theory deals with the often conceptual study of signals and systems.
Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.
Read now
Unlock full access
More than 5,000 organizations count on O’Reilly
O’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.Julian F.
I wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.Addison B.
I’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.Amir M.
I'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.