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3:StepFunctions
Some of the most interesting elementary applications of the
Laplace Transform method occur in the solution of linear
equations with discontinuous or impulsive forcing functions.
In this section, we will assume that all functions considered
are piecewise continuous and of exponential order, so that
their Laplace Transforms all exist, for s large enough.
0, t c
uc (t )
1, t c
A negative step can be represented by
1, t c
y (t ) 1 uc (t )
0, t c
Example 1
Sketch the graph of
h(t ) u (t ) u2 (t ), t 0
Solution: Recall that uc(t) is defined by
0, t c
uc (t )
1, t c
Thus
0, 0 t
h(t ) 1, t 2
0 2 t
LaplaceTransformofStepFunction
The Laplace Transform of uc(t) is
L uc (t ) e uc (t )dt e st dt
st
lim e dt lim
b c
b
st
e bs e cs
lim
b
s
s
e cs
1
e st
s
TranslatedFunctions
Given a function f (t) defined for t 0, we will often want to
consider the related function g(t) = uc(t) f (t - c):
0,
tc
g (t )
f (t c), t c
Example 2
Sketch the graph of
g (t ) f (t 1)u1 (t ), where f (t ) t 2 , t 0.
Thus
0 t 1
0,
g (t )
2
(
t
1
)
, t 1
Theorem6.3.1
If F(s) = L{f (t)} exists for s > a 0, and if c > 0, then
L uc (t ) f (t c) e cs L f (t ) e cs F ( s )
Example 3
Find the Laplace transform of
0 t 1
0,
f (t )
2
(
t
1
)
, t 1
Thus
L f (t ) L u1 (t )(t 1) e L t
2
2e s
3
s
Example 4
Find L{ f (t)}, where f is defined by
0t /4
sin t ,
f (t )
sin t cos(t / 4), t / 4
s2 1
Example 5
Find L-1{F(s)}, where
3 e 7 s
F (s)
s4
Solution:
7 s
3
1 e
f (t ) L 4 L 4
s
s
1
1 1 3! 1 1 7 s 3!
L 4 L e 4
2 s 6
s
1
1
3
t 3 u7 (t ) t 7
2
6
Theorem 6.3.2
If F(s) = L{f (t)} exists for s > a 0, and if c is a constant,
then
L e ct f (t ) F ( s c), s a c
Conversely, if f (t) = L-1{F(s)}, then
e ct f (t ) L1 F ( s c)
Thus multiplication f (t) by ect results in translating F(s) a
distance c in the positive t direction, and conversely.
Proof Outline:
L e f (t ) e e f (t )dt e ( s c )t f (t )dt F ( s c)
ct
st ct
Example 4
Find the inverse transform of
s 1
G(s) 2
s 2s 5
s 1
s 1
s 1
s 2 2 s 5 s 2 2 s 1 4 s 1 2 4
Since
s
cos 2t
2
s 4
f (t ) L1 F ( s ) L1
it follows that
L1 G ( s ) L1 F ( s 1) e t f (t ) e t cos 2t