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When I first studied this book, and other related bits of Engineering Maths, I remember being completely marveled by Laplace and Z transform methods. I could le

When I first studied this book, and other related bits of Engineering Maths, I remember being completely marveled by Laplace and Z transform methods. I could learn to manipulate them and use them to solve equations, it felt like black magic for a very long time even having working through all of the basic derivations. A book that did a lot to bring my understanding around was Complex Variables and the Laplace Transform for Engineers by LePage. It's more-or-less a pretty thorough introduction to complex analysis, but developed in the context of linear systems and transfer functions. I would absolutely recommend it as a sequel to this book.

claudiawerner 8y ago
I feel similarly about using root locus diagrams in control theory with Laplace transforms. I'm just beginning the DSP part of my EE degree.
- HeyLaughingBoy 8y ago
  Ha! The first time I did root locus diagrams in Linear Systems (or whatever the course was called), we did everything by hand and I hated it. 10 years after graduation I was in a certificate class for Mechatronics and we had Matlab. The difference was night and day. Suddenly I could play with root locations and see the effect immediately without having to do half an hour of tedious hand calculation. It's amazing how much your attitude improves when the work becomes "fun."
krtzer 8y ago
Same here. The Laplace transform and it's consequences changed my life. I also took a class in college about some stochastic signal processing where I learned about Autocorrelation. The application was finding signals in very noisy environments. The professor who taught it was measuring electrical signals from the auditory system in rabbits. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autocorrelation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autocorrelation
TrackerFF 8y ago
Same for when I studied Electrical Engineering - we had analyzed circuits, and solved diff. equations the lengthy way, often times a real pain in the ass (the more complex a network was). Then in our electronics class we were introduced to Laplace transforms, and it almost felt like cheating. For some reason, we got the formal introduction to transforms (Fourier, Laplace, Z, etc.) the semester after in our calculus and diff. eq classes, but method was simple and intuitive enough that anyone with Calc 1 could jump into it - at least for the application of electronics.

claudiawerner 8y ago

I feel similarly about using root locus diagrams in control theory with Laplace transforms. I'm just beginning the DSP part of my EE degree.

HeyLaughingBoy 8y ago
Ha! The first time I did root locus diagrams in Linear Systems (or whatever the course was called), we did everything by hand and I hated it. 10 years after graduation I was in a certificate class for Mechatronics and we had Matlab. The difference was night and day. Suddenly I could play with root locations and see the effect immediately without having to do half an hour of tedious hand calculation. It's amazing how much your attitude improves when the work becomes "fun."

krtzer 8y ago

Same here. The Laplace transform and it's consequences changed my life. I also took a class in college about some stochastic signal processing where I learned about Autocorrelation. The application was finding signals in very noisy environments. The professor who taught it was measuring electrical signals from the auditory system in rabbits. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autocorrelation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autocorrelation

TrackerFF 8y ago

Same for when I studied Electrical Engineering - we had analyzed circuits, and solved diff. equations the lengthy way, often times a real pain in the ass (the more complex a network was). Then in our electronics class we were introduced to Laplace transforms, and it almost felt like cheating. For some reason, we got the formal introduction to transforms (Fourier, Laplace, Z, etc.) the semester after in our calculus and diff. eq classes, but method was simple and intuitive enough that anyone with Calc 1 could jump into it - at least for the application of electronics.