ECE 301 Fall 2011 Division 1

Homework 2 Solutions
Reading: textbook Chapter 1.
Problem 1. Determine whether or not each of the following signals is periodic. If the signal is
periodic, determine its fundamental period. Note that the signals in Parts (a)-(d) are continuous-time
and the signals in Parts (e)-(h) are discrete-time.
(a) x(t) = 2 cos(2t + /5).
Solution. This signal is a CT sinusoid so it is periodic. Its fundamental angular frequency is 2
rad/sec and hence its fundamental period is T = 2/0 = .
(b) x(t) = ej(t2) .
Solution. This signal is periodic and its fundamental angular frequency is rad/sec. Thus its
fundamental period is T = 2/ = 2.
(c) x(t) = [cos(4t + /3)]2 .
Solution. This signal can be rewritten as x(t) = 1/2 + 1/2 cos(8t + 2/3). We can see that
this signal is periodic since the first term is constant and the other term is a CT sinusoid. The
CT sinusoid term has fundamental angular frequency 8 rad/sec and thus x(t) is periodic with
fundamental period T = 2/8 = /4.
(d) x(t) =

n=

e(tn) u(t n).

Solution. For any real t, let the floor of t, denoted t, be the largest integer which is less than
or equal to t. Since t n 0 for all integer n t, and since t n < 0 for all integer n t + 1,
we have that

1 for all n t
u(t n) =
0 for all n t + 1
Therefore, we can rewrite the definition of x(t) given in the problem statement as follows:
x(t) =

t
X

e(tn) = et

n=

= et

em

m=t

et
1 e1

e(tt)
1 e1

where m = n. Since tt = (t+1)t + 1 for all t, we have: x(t+1) = x(t). Therefore, 1 is a

period of x. To see that it is the fundamental period of x, note that for any T such that 0 < T < 1,
the equation x(t) = x(t + T ) will not hold for any integer t. This is because, if t is integer and
T is a fraction between 0 and 1, then t t = 0 whereas t + T t + T = t + T t = T 6= 0.
Thus, no T such that 0 < T < 1 is a period of x. Hence, 1 is the smallest period of x and is
therefore the fundamental period.
1

Note that any signal of the form x(t) =

periodic with period T = k, as long as

n=

n=

f (t kn), where f (t) is any fixed function, is

f (t kn) converges. Its fundamental period may

or may not equal k, depending on the form of the function f .

(e) x[n] = sin(6n/7 1).

Solution. This DT sinusoid is periodic with fundamental period N = 7.

(f) x[n] = cos(n2 /4).

Solution. If n is odd then both n 1 and n + 1 are even, and either n 1 or n + 1 is divisible
by 4. Therefore, if n is odd then (n 1)(n + 1) = n2 1 is divisible by 8. Therefore, for odd
n, we have that (n2 1)/4 is always an integer multiple of 2, which means that
n2 /4 is /4
2
plus an integer multiple of 2. This implies that x[n] = cos(n /4) = cos(/4) = 2/2 for any
odd n. For an even n which is divisible by 4, n2 is divisible by 16, and therefore n2 /4 is an
integer multiple of 2, implying that x[n] = cos(n2 /4) = cos(0) = 1. For an even n which is
not divisible by 4, n2 is divisible by 4 but not by 8, and therefore n2 /4 is an integer multiple
of but not of 2, implying x[n] = cos(n2 /4) = cos() = 1.

Thus, the sequence x[n] is 1, 2/2, 1, 2/2, 1, 2/2, 1, 2/2, . . ., which is periodic with fundamental period 4.
(g) x[n] = cos(n/2) cos(n/4).
Solution. We can rewrite x[n] as x[n] = 1/2 cos(3n/4) + 1/2 cos(n/4). Thus, x[n] is the sum
of two DT sinusoidal signals of fundamental periods N1 = 8 and N2 = 8. Hence, x[n] is periodic
and its fundamental period is the least common multiple of 8 and 8 which is N = 8.
(h) x[n] = 2 cos(n/4) sin(n/8) + cos(n/2 /6).

Solution. The fundamental periods of the individual DT sinusoidal signals are N1 = 8, N2 = 16,
and N3 = 4. Hence, x[n] is periodic and its fundamental period is the least common multiple of
8, 16, and 4 which is N = 16.

Problem 2. A CT signal x is defined for all t by

x(t) = 3u(t) 2u(t 2) u(t 3),
where u is the CT unit step. CT signals x1 and x2 are defined for all t by
x1 (t) = x(t/4)
x2 (t) = x(1 t)x(2 t)
(a) Sketch x as a function of t.
Solution. The plot of x(t) is shown in Fig. 1.
(b) Sketch x1 as a function of t.
Solution. The plot of x1 (t) is shown in Fig. 2.
2

x(t)

0
4

0
t

Figure 1: Plot of signal x(t) in Problem 2(a).

x1(t)

14 12 10 8 6 4 2

0
t

10

12

14

Figure 2: Plot of signal x1 (t) in Problem 2(b).

(c) Sketch x2 as a function of t.
Solution. The plots of signals x(1 t) and x(2 t) are shown in Figs. 3(a) and (b). The plot
of signal x2 (t) is found by multiplying the plots of the individual signals in Figs. 3(a) and (b).
The plot of signal x2 (t) is shown in Fig. 3(c).
(d) Let v be a CT signal such that
v(t) =

x2 ( )d,

for all t. Find and sketch v.

Solution. For t 1, we have:
v(t) =

0d = 0.

x(1t)

0
4

0
t

(a)

x(2t)

0
4

0
t

(b)
9
8
7

x (t)

6
5
4
3
2
1
0
4

0
t

(c)
Figure 3: The plot of (a) x(1 t), (b) x(2 t), and (c) x2 (t) in Problem 2(c).
4

For 1 t 0:
v(t) = 3
For 0 t 1:
v(t) = 3
For 1 t:
v(t) = 3

d = 3(t + 1).
1

d + 9
1

d + 9
1

d = 9t + 3.
0

d = 3 + 9 = 12.
0

Hence, we have that

0,

3(t + 1),
v(t) =
9t + 3,

12,

if
if
if
if

t 1
1t0
0t1
1t

The plot of signal v(t) is shown in Fig. 4.

12
11
10
9

v(t)

8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
4

0
t

Figure 4: Plot of signal v(t) in Problem 2(d).

Problem 3. Consider the following CT signal that depends on a positive real parameter, :

1/2 , if < t < 0

f (t) =
1/2 ,
if 0 < t <

0,
for all other values of t.
Find the following limits of f as 0:
(a) The pointwise limit.
Solution. For any fixed t > 0, all the values of f (t) are zeros for all values of such that
0 < < t, and hence the limit is zero. Similarly, for any fixed t < 0, all the values of f (t)
5

are zeros for 0 < < |t|, and hence the limit is also zero. For t = 0 and for any > 0, it
follows from the definition of f (t) given in the problem statement that f (t) = 0. Hence, the
pointwise limit is zero:
lim f (t) = 0,
0

for all t.
(b) The limit in the sense of generalized functions.
Solution. Let F (t) be the anti-derivative of a signal x(t).
lim

f (t)x(t)dt =
=
=
=


Z 0
Z
1
1
lim 2
x(t)dt + 2
x(t)dt
0

0


1
1
lim 2 [F (0) F ()] + 2 [F () F (0)]
0



F () 2F (0) + F ()
lim
0
2

F (0)


= x (0),

where we have used the definition of the second derivative to get F (0). Therefore, the limit (in
the sense of generalized functions) of f as 0, is the functional v defined by v(x) = x (0).
As explained in Section 2.5 of the textbook, this functional is where is the derivative of
the CT unit impulse.