A System is to a Signal as...

I want to say "a system is to a signal as a function is to a variable".  
Indeed, I'm pretty sure that when you've gotten fully spun off into 
Hilbert spaces and other esoteric stuff (which I can't say that I fully 
understand), the above statement is pretty close if not entirely true.

But before I go and say it publicly in a seminar, I want to pass it by 
you sharks (uh, folks) and see if anyone has any strong objections that 
brush up close enough to real practice to make me want to change what I'm 
saying.

-- 
Tim Wescott
Control system and signal processing consulting
www.wescottdesign.com

Tim Wescott <tim@seemywebsite.please> wrote:
> I want to say "a system is to a signal as a function is to a variable".  
> Indeed, I'm pretty sure that when you've gotten fully spun off into 
> Hilbert spaces and other esoteric stuff (which I can't say that I fully 
> understand), the above statement is pretty close if not entirely true.

I think it sounds fine. I might not have thought of it, though.

Mathematically, as well as I know, they like "operator" for
something that isn't a function. 

The derivative operator, sometimes written D, is a linear operator.

I think operator could work, but system allows for more complicated
combinations of operations.

> But before I go and say it publicly in a seminar, I want to pass it by 
> you sharks (uh, folks) and see if anyone has any strong objections that 
> brush up close enough to real practice to make me want to change what I'm 
> saying.

-- glen

On Feb 8, 1:18&#4294967295;am, Tim Wescott <t...@seemywebsite.please> wrote:

> I want to say "a system is to a signal as a function is to a variable".


I knew it, I knew it!  That Signals and Systems course that
I took **should** have been titled Functions and Variables.
I asked my professor why we were studying math and calling
it electrical engineering, and he just laughed and said that
when I got older, I would find out.  Well, I am older but I
never found out.

Dilip Sarwate
"Growing older is mandatory; growing wiser is optional."

>On Feb 8, 1:18=A0am, Tim Wescott <t...@seemywebsite.please> wrote:
>
>> I want to say "a system is to a signal as a function is to a variable".
>
>
>I knew it, I knew it!  That Signals and Systems course that
>I took **should** have been titled Functions and Variables.
>I asked my professor why we were studying math and calling
>it electrical engineering, and he just laughed and said that
>when I got older, I would find out.  Well, I am older but I
>never found out.

Maybe you just aren't old enough. You should have checked the required age
when you had the chance.

Steve

On Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:35:14 +0000, glen herrmannsfeldt wrote:

> Tim Wescott <tim@seemywebsite.please> wrote:
>> I want to say "a system is to a signal as a function is to a variable".
>> Indeed, I'm pretty sure that when you've gotten fully spun off into
>> Hilbert spaces and other esoteric stuff (which I can't say that I fully
>> understand), the above statement is pretty close if not entirely true.
> 
> I think it sounds fine. I might not have thought of it, though.
> 
> Mathematically, as well as I know, they like "operator" for something
> that isn't a function.
> 
> The derivative operator, sometimes written D, is a linear operator.
> 
> I think operator could work, but system allows for more complicated
> combinations of operations.
> 
>> But before I go and say it publicly in a seminar, I want to pass it by
>> you sharks (uh, folks) and see if anyone has any strong objections that
>> brush up close enough to real practice to make me want to change what
>> I'm saying.
> 
> -- glen

Well, it's more that I want to give a simile that will be close enough to 
materially advance folks' understanding, without putting too many 
pitfalls in their understanding down the road.

-- 
Tim Wescott
Control system and signal processing consulting
www.wescottdesign.com

... a GI track is to a taco.


-- 

r b-j                  rbj@audioimagination.com

"Imagination is more important than knowledge."

On Feb 8, 12:12&#4294967295;pm, robert bristow-johnson <r...@audioimagination.com>
wrote:

> ... a GI track is to a taco.

Did you mean footprints or tract? The difference is alimentary ;-)

Clay

On Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:18:12 -0600, Tim Wescott <tim@seemywebsite.please> wrote:

>I want to say "a system is to a signal as a function is to a variable".  

Hmm ... I'm not quite comfortable with that.

A signal contains information that is used by a system, or affects the operation
of a system, or describes the state of a system.

So I think a better analogy would be "... as a function is to a parameter". A
parameter is used by a function, or affects the operation of a function, or
describes the output of a function.

Greg

On 2/8/12 12:18 PM, Clay wrote:
> On Feb 8, 12:12 pm, robert bristow-johnson<r...@audioimagination.com>
> wrote:
>
>> ... a GI track is to a taco.
>
> Did you mean footprints or tract? The difference is alimentary ;-)
>

i dunno, Clay.  you tell me.

waiting with baited breath.


-- 

r b-j                  rbj@audioimagination.com

"Imagination is more important than knowledge."

On Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:51:08 -0500, robert bristow-johnson wrote:

> On 2/8/12 12:18 PM, Clay wrote:
>> On Feb 8, 12:12 pm, robert bristow-johnson<r...@audioimagination.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> ... a GI track is to a taco.
>>
>> Did you mean footprints or tract? The difference is alimentary ;-)
>>
>>
> i dunno, Clay.  you tell me.
> 
> waiting with baited breath.

Did you mean 'equipped with bait', or bated, as in 'held, temporarily 
stopped'?

And -- why these ad homonym attacks on RBJ?

-- 
My liberal friends think I'm a conservative kook.
My conservative friends think I'm a liberal kook.
Why am I not happy that they have found common ground?

Tim Wescott, Communications, Control, Circuits & Software
http://www.wescottdesign.com