Unit Step Function
Unit Step Function
sometimes u or ), is a discontinuous functionwhose value is zero for negative argument and one for
positive argument. It is an example of the general class of step functions, all of which can be
represented as linear combinations of translations of this one.
It seldom matters what value is used for H(0), since H is mostly used as a distribution. Some
common choices can be seen below.
The function is used in operational calculus for the solution ofdifferential equations, and represents a
signal that switches on at a specified time and stays switched on indefinitely. Oliver Heaviside, who
developed the operational calculus as a method for telegraphic communications, represented the
function as 1.
It is the cumulative distribution function of a random variable which is almost surely 0. (See constant
random variable.)
The Heaviside function is the integral of the Dirac delta function: H = . This is sometimes written as
although this expansion may not hold (or even make sense) for x = 0, depending on which
formalism one uses to give meaning to integrals involving .
Discrete form[edit]
An alternative form of the unit step, as a function of a discrete variable n:
where n is an integer. Unlike the usual (not discrete) case, the definition of H[0] is
significant.
The discrete-time unit impulse is the first difference of the discrete-time step
where
Analytic approximations[edit]
For a smooth approximation to the step function, one can use the logistic
function
Integral representations[edit]
Often an integral representation of the Heaviside step function is
useful:
Zero argument[edit]
Since H is usually used in integration, and the value of a
function at a single point does not affect its integral, it rarely
matters what particular value is chosen of H(0). Indeed
when H is considered as a distribution or an element of
(see Lp space) it does not even make sense to talk of a value
at zero, since such objects are only defined almost
everywhere. If using some analytic approximation (as in
the examples above) then often whatever happens to be the
relevant limit at zero is used.
There exist various reasons for choosing a particular value.
Antiderivative and
derivative[edit]
The ramp function is the antiderivative of the
Heaviside step
function:
Fourier transform[edit]
The Fourier transform of the Heaviside step
function is a distribution. Using one choice of
constants for the definition of the Fourier
transform we have
Here
test function
value of
The limit
Hyperfunction
representation[edit]
This can be represented as
a hyperfunction as