Structure and Interpretation of Signals and Systems

by Pravin Varaiya Edward A. Lee

This book provides and accessible introduction to signals and systems for electrical engineering, computer engineering, and computer science students, and is based on several years of successful classroom use at University of California, Berkeley. The material starts with an early introduction to applications, well before students have built up enough theory to fully analyze the applications. This motivates students to learn the theory and allows students to master signals and systems at the sophomore level. The material motivates signals and systems through sound and images, as opposed to circuits, and as such calculus is the only prerequisite. The book is accompanied by a robust website with detailed notes and illustrative applets for most every topic. These applets include interactive manipulation of sound and images, making the material dynamic and understandable to all students. The book also contains extensive lab material. This lab material is based on Matlab and Simulink, and helps students build a bridge between the "what is" aspects of signals and systems as taught in the text, and the "how to" aspects of signals and systems as used in the real world.

Paperback

First published August 22, 2002

Reviews

[Steven Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Back when I wanted to possibly spin off into a deeper networking/telecommunications focus I wanted to self-educate on applied theories and the mathematics behind most electrical engineering principles. I did not have the time or the money to go back to school myself. I did a lot self-educating and found this textbook to be the single most important learning tool and reference during that journey. It requires prior knowledge of physics, discrete math, and probably a semester of calculus.

[Mark Lacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Purchased this, entertaining fantasies of reviewing things I learned in graduate school as well as picking up some new knowledge. I would like to think I might work my way through this book, doing all the exercises, just for the mental stimulation if nothing else. Or maybe I'm just being wistful about the joy of learning advanced math in graduate school so many decades ago. I am rating this 4 stars in anticipation of how much I will appreciate this text.