Signals and Systems : a Consistent , Unified Approach

Abstr act { This paper addr essestwo problems associated with the traditional appr oach to teaching a junior level course in signals and systems. First, students are exp ectedto develop facility with a variety of transforms and we have observed that this overwhelms many, reducing them to simply \memorizing equations." Second, the usual treatment of Dir ac'sdelta as a function not only leads to serious contr adictionswith the standard calculus, but also leaves intr actable schisms surr ounding the transforms of important harmonic functions. We present a uni ed and consistent approach designed to ameliorate these problems using abstract linear algebr a and distribution theory. The appr oachwas implemented for four semesters and exit surveys were conducted to assess pedago gical e e ctiveness.