(New page: Since <math>e^{2jt}\rightarrow t e^{-2jt}</math> and <math>e^{-2jt}\rightarrow t e^{2jt}</math>, we can conclude that the system performs the function <math>x(t)\rightarrow t x(-t)</m...)
 
 
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==The Obvious Answer==
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Since
 
Since
  
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since cosine is an even function.
 
since cosine is an even function.
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==The Correct Answer==
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It was pointed out by those commenting on my answer that my original method for solving the problem works in only a subset of cases, something I did not think about when answering this question.  A better way to approach this problem is to write the cosine function as a sum of complex exponentials.
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<math>cos(x)=\frac{1}{2}\left[e^{jx}+e^{-jx}\right]</math>
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The response to each of these complex exponential terms was given in the problem statement, so we can apply linearity to arrive at the response.
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<math>e^{2jt}\rightarrow t e^{-2jt}</math> and
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<math>e^{-2jt}\rightarrow t e^{2jt}</math>.
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The system is given to be linear, so we can take the coefficient of each term and apply it to the corresponding term in the output.  Then we have
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<math>cos(t)=\frac{1}{2}\left[e^{jt}+e^{-jt}\right] \rightarrow [system] \rightarrow \frac{1}{2} \left[t e^{-2jt}+ t e^{2jt} \right] = \frac{1}{2}t \left[ e^{2jt}+e^{-2jt} \right] = t cos(2t)</math>
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We arrive at the same answer using both methods, but in general, we would not.  The most correct way to solve a problem of this type is to use complex exponentials.

Latest revision as of 05:12, 18 September 2008

The Obvious Answer

Since

$ e^{2jt}\rightarrow t e^{-2jt} $

and

$ e^{-2jt}\rightarrow t e^{2jt} $,

we can conclude that the system performs the function

$ x(t)\rightarrow t x(-t) $.

Therefore, we assume the response to our input is

$ cos(2t)\rightarrow t cos(-2t) = t cos(2t) $,

since cosine is an even function.


The Correct Answer

It was pointed out by those commenting on my answer that my original method for solving the problem works in only a subset of cases, something I did not think about when answering this question. A better way to approach this problem is to write the cosine function as a sum of complex exponentials.

$ cos(x)=\frac{1}{2}\left[e^{jx}+e^{-jx}\right] $

The response to each of these complex exponential terms was given in the problem statement, so we can apply linearity to arrive at the response.

$ e^{2jt}\rightarrow t e^{-2jt} $ and

$ e^{-2jt}\rightarrow t e^{2jt} $.

The system is given to be linear, so we can take the coefficient of each term and apply it to the corresponding term in the output. Then we have

$ cos(t)=\frac{1}{2}\left[e^{jt}+e^{-jt}\right] \rightarrow [system] \rightarrow \frac{1}{2} \left[t e^{-2jt}+ t e^{2jt} \right] = \frac{1}{2}t \left[ e^{2jt}+e^{-2jt} \right] = t cos(2t) $

We arrive at the same answer using both methods, but in general, we would not. The most correct way to solve a problem of this type is to use complex exponentials.

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