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any power, exponential or logarithmic function, without a periodic portion, are non-periodic as well.
 
any power, exponential or logarithmic function, without a periodic portion, are non-periodic as well.
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== Periodicity Test for Exponentials==
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If <math>\,\!\frac{\omega_0}{2\pi}</math> is rational, then function is periodic
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so <math>\,\!e^{2} </math> is not periodic because <math>\,\!\frac{2}{2\pi}=\frac{1}{\pi}</math> is not rational

Revision as of 13:40, 4 September 2008

Periodic and Non-Periodic functions

Definition

A function is defined as periodic if it can be moved along the x axis to a place where it exactly matches its original form. In mathematical terms, x(t) is periodic if and only if:

$ \,\! x(t+T)=x(t) $

Examples of periodic and non-periodic functions

Periodic examples:Basically any trigonometric function

$ \,\!cos(t)=cos(t+2\pi) $

$ \,\!sin(t)=sin(t+4\pi) $

This example can be shown to be periodic by drawing a graph, or simply computing values

$ \,\!cos(\pi+2\pi)=cos(\pi)=-1 $

also, any square, triangle, or sawtooth waves are periodic

Non-Periodic examples

any algebraic function:

$ \,\!f(t)=2x+5 $

$ f(t)=\frac{2x^3+5}{4^x-x} $

$ \,\!f(t)=log(x)+e^{x+2} $

any power, exponential or logarithmic function, without a periodic portion, are non-periodic as well.


Periodicity Test for Exponentials

If $ \,\!\frac{\omega_0}{2\pi} $ is rational, then function is periodic

so $ \,\!e^{2} $ is not periodic because $ \,\!\frac{2}{2\pi}=\frac{1}{\pi} $ is not rational

Alumni Liaison

Ph.D. 2007, working on developing cool imaging technologies for digital cameras, camera phones, and video surveillance cameras.

Buyue Zhang