EE202

EE202
SIGNALS & SYSTEMS

Properties of Signals
Prof. Young‐Gyu Yoon
School of EE, KAIST, 2025

Contributed by Profs. Jung‐Woo Choi, Hye Won Chung, Junmo Kim and Changdong Yoo
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Contents
• Signals
◦ CT vs. DT
◦ Periodic vs. aperiodc
◦ Odd vs. even
◦ Sinusoidal & exponential signals
◦ Impulse function: sampling property
◦ Step functions : closely related to impulse function

• Operation on signals
◦ Amplitude scaling, time translation, time scaling
• Energy & Power
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Revisit: what is signal

• A signal is a mathematical function of one or more
independent variables
◦ Independent variable: time, spatial coordinate, etc
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Continuous‐time vs. Discrete‐time

• A continuous‐time (CT) signal
is a varying quantity whose
domain, which is often time,
is a continuum
• A discrete‐time (DT) signal is
a time series consisting of
a sequence of quantities
• Note: the domain does not
necessarily have to be time
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Examples of CT/DT signals

• An audio signal (in real world) is a good
example of continuous‐time signal

• A digital image is a good example of discrete‐

time signal (however, the independent
variables are not time. i.e., I = f[x, y] )
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Even and odd signals

• Even signal
◦ x(t) = x(−t), x[n] = x[− n]

• Odd signal
◦ x(t) = − x(− t), x[n] = − x[− n]

For an arbitrary signal

◦ x(t) = xe(t) + xo(t)
◦ xe(t) = 0.5(x(t)+ x(− t))
◦ xo(t) = 0.5(x(t) − x(− t))
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Periodic signals
• CT periodic signal
◦ x(t) is a periodic signal with a period T, if
x(t)=x(t+T) for all t

• DT periodic signal
◦ x[n] is a periodic signal with a period N, if x[n] =
x[n+N] for all n

• Aperiodic signal
◦ Signal that is not periodic
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Sinusoidal signals
• Continuous‐time
◦ x(t) = A cos (ωt + θ) = A cos (2πft + θ) A

angular Initial
𝑡
amplitude frequency
frequency phase

T=2π/ω

• Discrete‐time
◦ x[n] = A cos [ωn + θ]
0
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Sinusoidal signals
• Characteristics of discrete‐time sinusoids
1 1 1

0.8 0.8 0.8

0.6 0.6 0.6

0.4

0.2
0.4

0.2
0.4

0.2
x[n] = A sin [Ωn + θ]
0 0 0

-0.2 -0.2 -0.2

-0.4 -0.4 -0.4

-0.6 -0.6 -0.6

-0.8 -0.8 -0.8

-1 -1 -1
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 0 20 40 60 80 100 120

Ω=0.02 π Ω=0.05 π Ω=0.5 π

1 1 1

0.8 0.8 0.8

0.6 0.6 0.6

0.4 0.4 0.4

0.2 0.2 0.2

0 0 0

-0.2 -0.2 -0.2

-0.4 -0.4 -0.4

-0.6 -0.6 -0.6

-0.8 -0.8 -0.8

-1 -1 -1
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 0 20 40 60 80 100 120

Ω=2.02 π Ω=2.05 π Ω=4.02 π

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Complex exponential: Euler’s equation

Complex exponential & sinusoids

can be thought of as (almost) the same thing…
they are just linear summations of one another

From now on, we will (conceptually) consider

complex exponentials as just sinusoids
although they are not exactly the same
Complex unit circle
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Complex exponential: Euler’s equation

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Complex exponential: Euler’s equation

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Exponential signals
• Continuous‐time

σ<0 σ=0 σ>0

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Exponential signals
• Discrete‐time

σ<0 σ=0 σ>0

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Impulse
• Discrete‐time (DT): Kronecker delta

• Continuous‐time: Dirac delta

and
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Impulse (physical understanding)

Let’s place an electron here • An electron is considered to have no size
(just a point)
◦ Ok, it would be more accurate to say that it is less than 10‐22 m, but let’s
not worry about that here

• The total amount of charge within certain

range can be evaluate by the integral of
Charge density charge density across space
• The charge density is non‐zero only at one
point (it’s zero everywere else)
• If the charge density (at the location of
electron) is finite, it’s integral is simply zero
Chanrge density is zero here Chanrge density is zero here • So, the charge density has to be infinite at
the location of elcetron
But, the charge within this range,
evaluated as the integral of charge density, is e‐
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Sampling property (DT)

• Sampling as a product with unit impulse

𝑥0 𝑥𝑛 𝑥 10 𝑥𝑛

0 𝑛 0 10 𝑛

𝛿𝑛 10
1 𝛿𝑛 1
0 𝑛 0 𝑛

𝑥0𝛿𝑛 𝑥 10 𝛿 𝑛 10

0 𝑛 0 𝑛
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Sampling property (CT)

• Sampling as a product with unit impulse
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Unit step
• Discrete‐time
1
⋯
0 𝑛

• Continuous‐time
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Unit step vs. impulse (DT)

1
⋯
0 𝑛

1
⋯
0 1 𝑛

0 𝑛
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Unit step vs. impulse (CT)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirac_delta_function
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distribution_(mathematics)
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Operation on signals: amplitude scaling

input output
signal “scaling signal
x(t) operation” y(t)

H: x(t)  y(t) = Kx(t)

H is a function that maps x(t) to y(t) = Kx(t)

H is an operator that acts on x(t) and produces y(t) = Kx(t)
H is a system that gives output y(t) = Kx(t) for input x(t)
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Operation on signals: amplitude scaling

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Operation on signals: time translation

input output
signal “translation signal
x(t) operation” y(t)

H: x(t)  y(t) = x(t−to)

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Operation on signals: time translation

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Operation on signals: time scaling

input output
signal “time scaling signal
x(t) operation” y(t)

H: x(t)  y(t) = x(t/a)

*special case: a= −1  time reverse

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Operation on signals: time scaling

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Operation on signals: combined

step-by-step

scale time-scale time-shift

Does order-of-operation matter?

scale time-shift time-scale

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Operation on signals
Original signal

Time shift

Time shift and reversal

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Energy & Power of Signals

• Total energy of a continuous signal x(t) over [t1, t2]
t2
E   x(t ) dt
2
t1

• Total energy of a discrete time signal x[n] over [n1, n2]:

E  n  n x[n]
n2 2

• Average power: energy divided by “time length” (t2 − t1 or n2−n1+1)

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Energy & Power over infinite time

• Total energy of a continuous signal x(t) and a discrete time signal x[n]
over an infinite time interval (−∞, ∞)
T 
E  limT   x(t ) dt   x(t ) dt
2 2
T 

E  lim N  n   N x[n]  n   x[n]

N 2  2

• Power of signals (can be used when E∞ does not converge)

1 T

2
P  limT  x(t ) dt
2T T

1

N 2
P  lim N  x[ n ]
2 N  1 n N
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Summary
• Signals
◦ CT vs. DT
◦ Periodic vs. aperiodc
◦ Odd vs. even
◦ Sinusoidal & exponential signals
◦ Impulse function: sampling property
◦ Step functions : closely related to impulse function
• Operation on signals
◦ Amplitude scaling, time translation, time scaling
• Energy & Power