Week 11- Piecewise Functions; Periodic Functions

The following graphs depicts a periodic function. For each function,

(a) write the function in piecewise form,
(b) write the function using step functions, and
(c) find the Laplace transform of the function
1. Repeated step function with amplitude 5, period 4.
10

10

(a) In piecewise form,

5,

0,

5,
f (t) =
0,

5,

0<t<2
2<t<4
4<t<6
6<t<8
8 < t < 10
..
.

(b) In step form,

f (t) = 5(u0 u2 ) + 5(u4 u6 ) + . . .

(c) Taking the Laplace transform, we use the formula shown in class, based on a function
f1 which
is the same as the first period of the function on 0 < t < T (where T is the period),
and
has a value of zero for all t > T .
If we can define that function, then the transform of the entire periodic function is
L(f ) =

1
L(f1 )
1 eT s

In this case, the function f1 is simply f1 (t) = 5(u0 u2 ), and

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the period T = 4, so
1
L(5u0 5u2 )
1 e4s
 0s

1
e2s
e
=
5
5
1 e4s
s
s


2s
1
e
1
=

5
5
1 e4s
s
s

L(f ) =

2. Square wave, amplitude 2, period 10.

3

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

(a) In piecewise form,

2,

2,

2,
f (t) =
2,

2,

0<t<5
5 < t < 10
10 < t < 15
15 < t < 20
20 < t < 25
..
.

(b) In step form,

f (t) = 2(u0 u5 ) 2(u5 u10 ) + 2(u10 u15 ) + . . .
(c) Identifying the first period function f1 ,
f1 (t) = 2(u0 u5 ) 2(u5 u10 )
Note that at t = 10, the +/ combinations of step functions will have have a value of
zero, so f1 is zero for t > 10, as needed.
1
L(2u0 2u5 2u5 + 2u10 )
1 e10s
 0s

1
e5s
e10s
e
=
4
+2
2
1 e10s
s
s
s


1
e5s
e10s
1
=
+2
2 4
1 e10s
s
s
s

L(f ) =

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3. Ramp function with max value 8, period 4.
10
8
6
4
2
0

10 11 12 13 14 15 16

2
4

(a) In piecewise form,

2t,

2(t 4),
f (t) =
2(t 8),

0<t<4
4<t<8
8 < t < 12
..
.

(b) In step form,

f (t) = 2t(u0 u4 ) + 2(t 4)(u4 u8 ) + 2(t 8)(u8 u12 ) + . . .
(c) Identifying the first period function f1 ,
f1 (t) = 2t(u0 u4 )
At and after t = 4, the +/ combinations of step functions will have have a value of
zero, so f1 is zero for all t > 4, as needed.
1
L(2tu0 2tu4 )
1 e4s


1
=
2e0s L(t + 0) 2e4s L(t + 4)
4s
1e



4
1
1
4s 1
+
=
2 2 2e
1 e4s
s
s2 s

L(f ) =

4. Rectified sine wave, amplitude 100, period .

150

100

50

50

100

150

(a) In piecewise form,

100 sin(t),

100 sin(t ),
f (t) =
100 sin(t 2),

0<t<
< t < 2
2 < t < 3
..
.

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(b) In step form,
f (t) = 100 sin(t)(u0 u ) + 100 sin(t )(u u2 ) + . . .
(c) Identifying the first period function f1 ,
f1 (t) = 100 sin(t)(u0 u )
At and after t = , the +/ combinations of step functions will have have a value of
zero, so f1 is zero for all t > , as needed.
1
L(f ) =
L(100 sin(t)u0 100 sin(t)u )
1 es


1
e0s L(sin(t + 0)) es L(sin(t + pi))
= 100
s
1e
Noting that sin(t + ) = sin(t) ,



1
1
1
s
= 100

e
1 es s2 + 1
s2 + 1
For each of the following functions,
(a) find the inverse Laplace transform,
(b) write the t-domain version in piecewise form, and
(c) sketch the graph of f (t) = L1 (F (s)))


3 2e2s
e5s
1

5. F (s) =
1 e5s s
s
s
(a) Looking at the leading factor 1e15s , the function in the time domain is periodic with
period T = 5. To find its shape on one cycle, we look at the inverse transform of the
remainder of the function.


2e2s e5s
1 3
f1 (t) = L

s
s
s
= 3 2u2 u5
(b) In piecewise form, this would be

3,
f1 (t) = 1,

0,

0<t<2
2<t<5
5<t

However, with the period T = 5, the pattern between t = 0 and t = 5 would repeat
itself to create the entire function f (t):

3, 0 < t < 2

1, 2 < t < 5
f (t) = 3, 5 < t < 7

3, 7 < t < 10

..

5
(c) The graph is shown below.
3

10

15

6. F (s) =

1
1
2 (1 2e4s + e8s )
8s
1e
s

(a) To compute the inverse transform, we need to express this function in a form entries
like the table, then each term multiplied by exponentials as necessary.
1
1
2 (1 2e4s + e8s )
8s
1e
s

1
1
4s 1
8s 1
2e
+e
=
1 e8s s2
s2
s2

F (s) =

From the leading factor, we know we are looking for a periodic function with period
T = 8. We focus on the second factor, which gives us the transform of the first period
of the function:


1
1
4s 1
8s 1
f1 (t) = L
2e
+e
s2
s2
s2
= t 2u4 (t 4) + u8 (t 8)
(b) In piecewise form,

t,
f1 (t) = (t 2t 8),

(t 2t 8 + t + 8),

0<t<4
t,
= 8 t, 4 < t < 8

0,
8<t
This means that the complete periodic function

t,

8 t,

(t 8),

f (t) = 8 (t 8),

(t 16),

8 (t 16),

0<t<4
4<t<8
8<t

f (t) will be
0<t<4
4<t<8
8 < t < 12
12 < t < 16
16 < t < 20
20 < t < 24
..
.

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(c) The graph of the periodic function f (t) is shown below.
4

12

16

20

24

Solve the following initial value problems using

0,
0
7. x + 4x = f (t), x(0) = 1, where f (t) = 8,

0,

Laplace transforms.
0<t<2
2 < t < 10
10 < t

Writing the non-homogeneous part using step functions, f (t) = 8u2 8u10
Taking the Laplace transform of both sides of the DE,
L(x0 + 4x) = L(8u2 8u10 )
e2s
e10s
8
s
s
2s
e10s
e
8
(s + 4)X(s) = 1 + 8
s
s
1
8
8
X(s) =
+ e2s
e10s
s+4
s(s + 4)
s(s + 4)

(sX(s) 1) + 4X(s) = 8

Solving for X(s),

Note that we need to find the partial fraction decomposition of

8
to proceed:
s(s + 4)

8
A
B
2
2
= +
= (some work) =
s(s + 4)
s
s+4
s s+4

We can then rewrite our form of X(s) to make it easier to find the inverse transform:




2
2
1
2s 2
10s 2
+e

X(s) =
e
s+4
s s+4
s s+4
so x(t) = e4t + (2 2e4(t2) )u2 (2 e4(t4) )u4
00
0
8. x
+ 9x = f (t), x(0) = 0, x (0) = 0, where f (t) is the periodic function defined by f (t) =

1, 0 < t < 2

0, 2 < t < 4
1, 4 < t < 6

0, 6 < t < 8

..

7
Writing the non-homogeneous part using step functions, f (t) = 1(u1 u2 ) + 1(u4 u6 ) + . . ..
This function is defined by its values over the first period, f1 (t) = 1(u1 u2 ). The period
of the function is T = 4. We use the formula for the transform of periodic functions,
1
L(f1 ), to help us take the Laplace transform of both sides of the DE.
L(f ) =
1 eT s
1
L(u0 u2 )
1 e4s 

1
1
2s 1

e
(s2 X(s) s 0 0) + 9X(s) =
1 e4s s
s


1
1
2
2s 1
(s + 9)X(s) =
e
1 e4s s
s


1
1
1
2s
e
Solving for X(s),
X(s) =
1 e4s s(s2 + 9)
s(s2 + 9)
L(x00 + 9x) =

Note that we need to find the partial fraction decomposition of

1
to proceed:
+ 9)

s(s2

A Bs + C
1/9
s/9
1
= + 2
= (some work) =
2
s(s2 + 9)
s
s +9
s
s +9

We can then rewrite our form of X(s) to make it easier to find the inverse transform:


1
1
1
2s
X(s) =

e
1 e4s s(s2 + 9)
s(s2 + 9)



1/9 1 s
1 s
1
2s 1/9

=
1 e4s
s
9 s2 + 9
s
9 s2 + 9

The first factor indicates that x(t) is periodic with period T = 4. We look at the inverse
transform of the second factor to obtain the definition of the function on its first period:
call this x1 (t).



1/9 1 s
1 s
2s 1/9
x1 (t) = L1

s
9 s2 + 9
s
9 s2 + 9
1
= [1 cos(3t) u2 (1 cos(3(t 2))]
9
The solution x(t) will be this function repeated periodically every T = 4 seconds.