DeltaFunctions:UnitImpulse

1. Introduction
In our discussion of the unitstep function u(t)wesaw that it was an
idealized model of a quantity that goes from 0 to 1 very quickly. In the
idealizationweassumeditjumpeddirectlyfrom0to1innotime.
Inthisnotewewillhaveanidealizedmodelofalargeinputthatacts
over a short time. We will call this model the delta function or Dirac delta
functionorunitimpulse.
Afterconstructingthedeltafunctionwewilllookatitsproperties. The
rstisthatitisnotreallyafunction. Thiswontbotherus,wewillsimply
callitageneralizedfunction. Thereasonitwontbotherusisthatthedelta
function is useful and easy to work with. Inside integrals or as input to
differentialequationswewillseethatitismuchsimplerthanalmostany
otherfunction.
2. DeltaFunctionasIdealizedInput
Supposethatradioactivematerialisdumpedinacontainer. Theequa-
tiongoverningtheamountofmaterialinthetankis
.
x+kx=q(t),
where,x(t)istheamountofradioactivematerial(inkg), kisthedecayrate
ofthematerial(in1/year), andq(t)istherateatwhichmaterialisbeing
addedtothedump(inkg/year).
The input q(t) is in units of mass/time, say kg/year. So, the total
amountdumpedintothecontainerfromtime0totimetis

t
Q(t) = q(u)du.
0
Equivalently
.
Q(t) =q(t).
To keep things simple we will assume that q(t) is only nonzero for a
short amount of time and that the total amount of radioactive material
dumpedoverthatperiodis1kg. Herearethegraphsoftwopossibilities
forq(t)andQ(t).
DeltaFunctions:UnitImpulse OCW18.03SC
t
1/2
2
q(t)
=
t
1/2
1
Q(t)
t
1/8
8
q(t)
=
t
1/8
1
Q(t)
Figure1:twopossiblegraphsofq(t)andQ(t),bothwithtotalinput=1.
ItiseasytoseethateachoftheboxesontheleftsideofFigure1hastotal
areaequalto1. Thus, thegraphsfor Q(t)riselinearlyto1andthenstay
equalto1thereafter.Inotherwords,thetotalamountdumpedineachcase
is1.
Nowletq
h
(t)beaboxofwidthhandheight1/h. Ash 0,thewidth
oftheboxbecomes0,thegraphlooksmoreandmorelikeaspike,yetitstill
hasarea1(seeFigure2).
t
1
1
h = 1
t
1
2
2
h = 1/2
t
1
16
16
h = 1/16
t
h 0, q(t) = (t)
Figure2:Boxfunctionsq
h
(t)becomingthedeltafunctionash 0.
Wedenethedeltafunctiontobetheformallimit
(t) =limq
h
(t).
h 0
Graphically (t) is represented as a spike or harpoon at t = 0. It is an
innitely tall spike of innitesimal width enclosing a total area of 1 (see
gure2,rightmostgraph).
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DeltaFunctions:UnitImpulse OCW18.03SC
Asaninputfunction(t)representstheidealcasewhere1unitofma-
terialisdumpedinallatonceattimet=0.

3. Propertiesof(t)
Welistthepropertiesof(t)below.
1. Fromtheprevioussectionwehave
0 ift =0,
(t) =

ift=0.
Thegraphisrepresentedasaspikeatt=0.(Seegure2
2. Because(t)isthelimitofgraphsofarea1,theareaunderitsgraphis1.
Moreprecisely:

1 ifc<0<d
(t)dt=
c
0 otherwise
3. Foranycontinuousfunction f(t)wehave
f(t)(t) = f(0)(t) and

d
f(t)(t)dt=

f(0) ifc<0<d
c
0 otherwise
Therststatementfollowsbecause(t)is0everywhereexceptatt=0.
Thesecondfollowsfromtherstandproperty(2).
4. Wecanplacethedeltafunctionoveranyvalueoft:
(ta)is0everywherebutatt=a.
Itstotalarearemains1.
Itsgraphisnowaspikeshiftedtobeovert=a;and
wehave

f(
d
t)(ta) = f(a)(

ta).
f(t)(ta)dt=
f(a) ifc<a<d
c
0 otherwise
t
a
(t a)
5. (t) = u

(t), where u(t) is the unit step function. Because u(t) has a
jumpat0,(t)isnotaderivativeintheusualsense,butiscalledagen-
eralizedderivative.Thisisexplainedbelow.
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DeltaFunctions:UnitImpulse OCW18.03SC
6. Wedened (t)asalimitofasequenceofboxfunctions, allwithunit
area and which, in the limit, become a innite spike over t = 0. Box
functions are simple, but not special. Any sequence of functions with
thesepropertieshas(t)asitslimit.
7. Inpracticalterms,youshouldthinkof(t)asanyfunctionofunitarea,
concentratedveryneart=0.
8. (t)isnotreallyafunction.Wecallitageneralizedfunction.
9. In arriving at these properties we have skipped over some important
technicaldetailsintheanalysis.Generallyproperty(3)istakentobethe
formaldenitionof(t),fromwhichtheotherpropertiesfollow.
4. Examplesofintegration
Properties (3) and (2) show that (t) is very easy to integrate, as the
followingexamplesshow:

5
Example1. 7e
t
2
cos(t)(t)dt=7.Allwehadtodowasevaluatethe
integrandatt=
5
0.

5
Example 2. 7e
t
2
cos(t)(t2)dt=7e
4
cos(2). All we had to do was
5
evaluatetheintegrandatt=2.

1
Example3. 7e
t
2
cos(t)(t2)dt=0.Sincet = 2isnotintheinterval
5
ofintegrationtheintegrandis0ontheentireinterval.
Thevaluet =0

representstheleft-sideof0andt =0
+
istheright-
side.So,0isintheinterval[0

,)andnotin[0
+
,).Thus

(t)dt=1 and (t)dt=0.

0

0
+
Infact,sincealltheareaunderthegraphisconcentratedat0,wecaneven
write

0
+
(t)dt=1.
0

5. GeneralizedDerivatives
Ourgoalinthissectionistoexplainproperty(5). Alookatthegraph
oftheunitstepfunctionu(t)showsthatithasslope0everywhereexcept
4
DeltaFunctions:UnitImpulse OCW18.03SC

att=0andthatitsslopeisatt=0.
t
1
u(t)
Thatis,itsderivativeis
u

(t) =
0 ift=0
ift=0.
Since u(t)has a jump of 1 at t = 0 this derivative matches properties (1)
and(2)of(t)andweconcludethatu

(t) =(t).
Nowthisderivativedoesnotexistinthecalculussense. Thefunction
u(t)isnotevendenedat0.Sowecallthisderivativeageneralizedderiva-
tive.
We can also explain property (5) by looking at the anti-derivative of
(t).Let

t
f(t) = ()d.

The fundamental theorem of calculus leads us to say that f

(t) = (t).
(Again,thisisonlyinageneralizedsensesincetechnicallythefundamental
theoremofcalculusrequirestheintegrandtobecontinuous.) Property(3)
makesiteasytocompute
0 ift<0
f(t) =
1 ift>0.
Thatis, f(t) =u(t),sou(t)istheantiderivativeof(t).
Ingeneral,ajumpdiscontinuitycontributesadeltafunctiontothegen-
eralizedderivative.
Example4. Suppose f(t)hasthefollowinggraph.
t
f(t) = t
2
f(t) = 2
f(t) = 3t 7
2
-1
2
5
DeltaFunctions:UnitImpulse OCW18.03SC
Theformulaforeachpieceofthegraphisindicated. Forthesmoothparts
ofthegraphthederivativeisjusttheusualone. Eachjumpdiscontinuity
addsadeltafunctionscaledbythesizeofthejumpto f

(t).

2t ift<0
f

(t) =2(t)3(t2) +

0 if 0<t<2
3 if 2<t
In the graph for f

(t) we represent the delta functions as spikes with the

magnitudewrittennexttothespike. Thesignisindicatedbythedirection
ofthespike.Therestofthe f

(t)isplottednormally.
t
2
3
Wesay f

(t)isageneralizedfunction. In18.03ageneralizedfunction
will mean a sum of a regular function and a linear combination of delta
functions. (Inthewiderworldofmathematicsthereareothergeneralized
functions.)
If we want to refer to the different parts of a generalized function we
willcallthedeltafunctionpiecesthesingularpartandtheremainderwill
becalledtheregularpart.Ifthesingularpartcontainsamultipleof(ta)
wewillsaythefunctioncontains(ta).
Example.Consider f(t) =u(t) +(t) +e
t
+3(t2). Theregularpart
of f is u(t) +e
t
. Thesingularpartis (t) +3(t2). Thefunction
contains(t)and(t2).Itdoesnotcontain(t1).
Important:Inthisunit,wheneveradiscontinuousfunctionisdifferentiated
wewillmeanthegeneralizedderivative.
6
MIT OpenCourseWare
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18.03SC Differential Equations
Fall 2011
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