Diskret signalbehandling

The inverse Z-transform and polynomial division

Assume that we want to compute the inverse z-transform of a rational function
Tz b 1 z −1 b 2 z −2 ...b N z −N Nominator
Hz  Nz  ab 0a z −1 a z −2 ...a z −M

0 1 2 M Denominator
For simplicity we assume that this is a right-sided sequence. The convergence region for the z-transform will be outside the outermost pole. Similar results
can be derived for left-sided sequences.

It is possible to compute the inverse z-transform in various ways, but let’s look at two approaches which both uses polynomial division in the first step:

Tz Rz
1. Using partial fraction expansion finding the quotient Qz such that Hz  Nz
 Qz  Nz
. The remainder Rz must be such that
Rz  r 0  r 1 z −1  r 2 z −2 . . . r K z −K and K  M.
Tz b 0 b 1 z −1 b 2 z −2 ...b N z −N
2. Using power series expansion such that Hz  
Nz a 0 a 1 z −1 a 2 z −2 ...a M z −M
 x0  x1z −1  x2z −2  x3z −3 . . . .

We’ll illustrate these two approaches by an example:

2z −1 −z −2
Assume Hz  1−1.6z −1 −0.8z −2
Assume that hn is right-sided, i.e. hn  0, n  0. Could alternatively have been specified by the convergence region.

With the first approach we must remove the term z −2 in the nominator, giving the remainder Rz a lower degree in z −1 (less negative power in z, z −1
has lower degree than z −3 ) than the denominator Nz. This is done by figuring out which factor the denominator polynomial must be multiplied with
to remove the the term with the highest power in z −1 from the nominator by subtraction. This factor is multiplied by the denominator polynomial,
and the result is then subtracted from the denominator polynomial. We continue doing this until the remainder has lower degree in z −1 than the
denominator polynomial. This approach can only be used when the degree of the nominator polynomial is greater than or equal the degree of the
denominator polynomial.

Per J. Nicklasson 02.02.04

Diskret signalbehandling
1
0.8

1 − 1. 6z −1 − 0. 8z −2 |−z −2  2z −1
− −z −2 − 2z −1  1
0.8

4z −1 − 1
0.8
(Rest)
This gives
2z −1 −z −2 4z −1 − 0.8
1
Hz  1−1.6z −1 −0.8z −2  0.8  1−1.6z −1 −0.8z −2
1

The rest of the operation to find the inverse z-transform consists of dividing the last fraction into two parts, and translating the resulting total
expression into a discrete-time sequence hn by table look up. This is left out in this example, since the focus in this note is on polynomial division.

With the second approach, a polynomial division must be carried out in order to get a quotient polynomial of rising degree z −1 (since this is a
right-sided sequence).

2z −1  2. 2z −2  5. 12z −3 . . .
1 − 1. 6z −1 − 0. 8z −2 |−z −2  2z −1
− −1. 6z −3 − 3. 2z −2  2z −1 
1. 6z −3  2. 2z −2
− −1. 76z −4 − 3. 52z −3  2. 2z −2 
1. 76z −4  5. 12z −3

We start by figuring out which factor the denominator polynomial must be multiplied with to remove the lowest power of z −1 (less negative) from the
nominator polynomial, and then the result of the multiplication of this factor with the denominator polynomial is subtracted from the nominator
polynomial. This approach continues until we have as many terms as we want.

Per J. Nicklasson 02.02.04

Diskret signalbehandling
Application of this approach results in
Hz  2z −1  2. 2z −2  5. 12z −3 . . .
and we then find that
hn  2n − 1  2. 2n − 2  5. 12n − 3 . . .

If the two approaches are compared, we notice that we start by looking at the highest (most negative) and lowest ( least negative) power
in z −1 of the nominator polynomial when the division is to be carried out.

Per J. Nicklasson 02.02.04