The book is an excellent basic introduction to the subject. It takes what can be a very difficult subject for students and provides a relatively clear path through the material. It doesn't assume very much mathematical background in the sense that there are plenty of very elementary problems in chapter one to remind you of the basics that you need for the rest of the book. Obviously if students have trouble with these problems they need to consider additional study to fill in some of the gaps in their knowledge on the mathematics side.

The worked examples in the chapters are excellent, although sometimes you have to ask yourself what you are supposed to be learning from each example or end of chapter problem. The first 20 problems at the end of each chapter really cover the chapter material, and subsequent problems delve into the material in a little more depth or in relation to more real-world problems. If you understand the chapter you should have no great difficulty in doing the first 20 problems in each chapter, and the answers are provided to help you make sure you aren't missing the point. I found some of the other problems a little less clear, and certainly the students had difficulties here. I provided well over a hundred pages of written solutions for my students to try to overcome this deficiency.

There is a solutions manual, but I don't recommend it all that highly. I found quite a lot of basic mistakes in the solutions manual. Several problems seemed to be done the "wrong way" compared to what I think the intention of the problem is. Also, some of the solutions in the solutions manual don't give enough guidance to students (at least not to the students I had in my course, and most likely not to many others judging by sorts of comments I've read in reviews here). On the other hand, I've probably made similar sorts of mistakes with the solutions I've provided, so I guess I can understand why the solutions manual has these deficiencies.

A few of the end of chapter problems (very, very few) didn't seem to have much point. Some seemed to involve a lot of work, for not much instructive gain. However, the large majority of problems are excellent and highly instructive.

As with all books there are possibly things which could be improved, but overall this book is excellent in terms of being a good basic introductory text for a Signals and Systems course. Such a course is something that many students are going to find difficult, but the book isn't to blame if that's the case.


Very Good Book   August 16, 2008
Cyrus
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

I am an Aerospace graduate student reading this book on my own time and pace (not taking the undergrad Electrical Engineering class that teaches/uses this book). I found out about this book because my friend (an EE student) was in that class and I asked him if I could look through it. After looking through it I decided to buy it, and I'm glad I did.

This is a VERY GOOD no-nonsense book. A brief personal background, I've read Control Systems Engineering by Norman S. Nise (Very good book!), and am now reading this book. I would say that this book is really not something you want to dive into without any prior background. Start with a good controls book (Nise, Ogata, etc) and learn the basics. THEN read this book to get the finer details.

Also, make sure you have the MATH background for this book. A lot of this book is dedicated to the fourier series, laplace xfrm, and z xfrm. If you have not had a formal class is fourier series, you might find this difficult to grasp. I would STRONGLY recommend you have a background of: SISO controls, ODEs, and PDEs.

If you have already taken these pre-reqs, this book is a great 'aha!' moment that nicely combines the concepts from all these areas and really gives you nice insights into how they are all related.

As for the problems, I'm not doing them. I'm reading this book for the material, not for a grade. I don't doubt the objections made that the problems are SIGNIFICANTLY harder than the examples. BUT, life is tough. I would recommend you look through my PDE book (Partial Differential Equations - Strauss) to see the BIG JUMP in the hw from the VERY skimpy examples. There are lots of books like this. They are made to be hard for a reason, you have to use your brain to think creatively. Dont expect every book to hold your hand through problem solving!

I would ignore the people who rate this book a 1 just because they cant solve the homework problems. The writing is VERY clear and to the point. Please note, this is NOT a book you want to rush through when reading. If you take your time you will find that its actually VERY insightful.

Given the fast pace of a normal semester, you might find this book to be very dense. In other words, you will have to absorb a TON of material in a short amount of time. So I can see this being a tough class to take. Reading it at your own pace, this book is pure bliss!


A very good introduction to signals and systems   May 7, 2006
S. K. (Israel)
9 out of 12 found this review helpful

As a non EE undergraduate, I needed a book to prepare my for the rigors of an MSC degree in DSP which builds heavily on basic foundations such as Fourier, Laplace and Z transforms. I spent 3 months reading the book (while working) before starting the MSc and I found that it was exactly what I needed. There are plenty of examples, which for me are a vital ingredient in any book that touches this area--there is no way to learn without examples and this book excels at them.

I recommend this book to the EE undergraduate who is attending his first "signal and systems" course or to MSc studnets like me who need an in depth discussion of the issues.



I love it so much   October 13, 2002
frank (Shanghai, China)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

I am a chinese undergraduate student in electronics engneering,
instand of giving out many hard to understand mathematical equations.it give you very basic understanding of signals & systems.it focused on why we should use this method,why we should think this way...instead of just teach you how to solve the n order differential equations,how to used complex and don't -know-why way to solve mathematical problems.
If you guys are lucky enough to gain the chinese text book we are using now on signals and systems.You will find it a piece of mathematics junk,in compare with this one.


Very Well Written   September 22, 2006
whitethunder (Los Angeles, CA)
6 out of 8 found this review helpful

It is probably the best book on the subject which I have had. It was the reference for my undergraduate signals and systems course. It is both good as a text book and a reference. Very well written! explains the concepts very clearly and has a lot of good examples and end of chapter problems.