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1. Signals and Systems

Access the textbook via Google Books or Google Play Books.

Access the lecture slides via Google Books or Google Play Books.

1.1 Other Textbooks by the Author

The author also has the following (open-access) textbook:

1.2 About the Textbook

This textbook covers continuous-time and discrete-time signals and systems at an introductory level appropriate for undergraduate students. This textbook has been used by the author to teach a number of undergraduate courses on signals and systems, and the student feedback on this textbook has been extremely positive. Therefore, in order that other students may benefit from this textbook, the author has decided to make it publically available under an open-access license.

1.3 About the Author

For more details about the author, please visit his home page.

1.4 Textbook Abstract

The abstract for the textbook is as follows:

This book is intended for use in teaching undergraduate courses on continuous-time and/or discrete-time signals and systems in engineering (and related) disciplines. It provides a detailed introduction to continuous-time and discrete-time signals and systems, with a focus on both theory and applications. The mathematics underlying signals and systems is presented, including topics such as: signal properties, elementary signals, system properties, continuous-time and discrete-time linear time-invariant systems, convolution, continuous-time and discrete-time Fourier series, the continuous-time and discrete-time Fourier transforms, frequency spectra, and the bilateral and unilateral Laplace and z transforms. Applications of the theory are also explored, including: filtering, equalization, amplitude modulation, sampling, feedback control systems, circuit analysis, Laplace-domain techniques for solving differential equations, and z-domain techniques for solving difference equations. Other supplemental material is also included, such as: a detailed introduction to MATLAB, a review of complex analysis, an introduction to partial fraction expansions, an exploration of time-domain techniques for solving differential equations, and information on online video-lecture content for material covered in the book. Throughout the book, many worked-through examples are provided. Problem sets are also provided for each major topic covered.

1.5 Textbook and Lecture Slides License

The textbook and lecture slides are each licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License . This license allows for a work to be distributed freely, subject to certain quite reasonable conditions (e.g., no commercial use). Refer to the above link for more details on the license.
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1.6 Obtaining the Textbook and Lecture Slides (E-Book and Print)

Note: New editions of the textbook and/or lecture slides are announced on the author's Twitter feed (@mdadams16).

Each of the textbook and lecture slide documents is identifed by a edition/version (such as edition "3.0" or version "2013-09-11"). The edition appears on most pages of the document, allowing different editions to be easily distinguished.

All editions of the textbook and lectures slides that are currently available are listed below. All editions of these documents are available in electronic form (i.e., PDF format) for download from this web page. (See below.) Some editions of these documents are also available in print form via online order from the University of Victoria Bookstore.

It is strongly recommended that the most recent edition of the textbook (and lecture slides) be employed whenever possible, as it will typically contain new and improved material as well as corrections that older editions lack. Some older editions of the textbook (and lecture slides) also continue to be made available for instructors who have adopted earlier editions for their courses.

1.6.1 Textbook

The available editions of the textbook are as follows:

1.6.2 Lecture Slides

The available editions of the lecture slides are as follows:

1.7 Video Lectures

1.7.1 2020-05 ECE260 Video Lectures

The author has prepared video lectures for all of the continuous-time material in edition 2.0 of the textbook. These video lectures have been (or are being) used to teach the 2020-05 and 2020-09 offerings of the course ECE260, titled "Continuous-Time Signals and Systems", in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Victoria. The video lectures for this course can be found in the following YouTube playlist:

1.7.1.1 Video-Lecture Catalog

To help students more easily locate and navigate the complete set of video lectures, a catalog of the video lectures is also available. This catalog contains a list of all slides covered in the lectures, where each slide in the list has a link to the corresponding time offset in the YouTube video where the slide is covered. By using this catalog, it is a trivial exercise to jump to the exact point in the video lectures where a specific slide/topic is covered. The above items can be accessed via the following links:

An information package for the lecture videos is available that includes:

  • the edition of the lecture slides used in the lecture videos
  • a fully-cataloged list of the slides covered in the lectures, where each slide in the list has a link to the corresponding time offset in the YouTube video where the slide is covered
  • numerous supplemental documents referenced by the slide deck

This package is available in the form of a Zip archive:

The errata for the video lectures can be found in the following document:

1.8 Git Repository

The textbook has a companion Git repository that is hosted by GitHub. This repository contains numerous code examples using MATLAB. The URL for the main web page associated with the repository is:

The URL for the Git repository itself is:

1.9 Information for Instructors

A solutions manual and a full set of lecture slides have also been developed for the textbook. The solutions manual is only available to instructors, and requires proof of faculty status. If you are an instructor who is interested in using the textbook to teach one of your courses, please contact the author for more information regarding the solutions manual. An electronic copy of the lecture slides can be downloaded from the Obtaining the Textbook and Lecture Slides section of this web page.

1.10 Solutions Manual

The solutions manual presents complete solutions for the problem sets appearing in the textbook. Each problem from the textbook is given along with a detailed solution.

Proof of faculty status is required in order to obtain the solutions manual. All versions of the solutions manual in e-book form can be requested directly from the author. The versions of the solutions manual published by the University of Victoria can be ordered in paperback from the University of Victoria Bookstore.

Several versions of the solutions manual are available, corresponding to the various versions of the textbook. The versions available are as follows:

  • Edition 5.0 (Most Recent Edition)
    • M. D. Adams, Solutions Manual for Signals and Systems, Edition 5.0, Dec. 2022, iv + 722 pages, ISBN 978-1-990707-01-8 (PDF).
  • Edition 4.0
    • M. D. Adams, Solutions Manual for Signals and Systems, Edition 4.0, Jan. 2022, iv + 634 pages, ISBN 978-0-9879197-8-6 (PDF).
  • Edition 3.0
    • M. D. Adams, Solutions Manual for Signals and Systems, Edition 3.0, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada, Dec. 2020, iv + 578 pages, ISBN 978-1-55058-676-3 (PDF), ISBN 978-1-55058-675-6 (print).
  • Edition 2.0
    • M. D. Adams, Solutions Manual for Continuous-Time Signals and Systems, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada, Feb. 2020, iv + 370 pages, ISBN 978-1-55058-660-2 (PDF), ISBN 978-1-55058-659-6 (print).
  • Version 2015-10-25 (informally Edition 1.1)
    • M. D. Adams, Solutions Manual for Continuous-Time Signals and Systems, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada, Oct. 2015, iv + 306 pages, ISBN 978-1-55058-572-8 (PDF), ISBN 978-1-55058-571-1 (print).
  • Version 2013-09-11 (informally Edition 1.0)
    • M. D. Adams, Solutions Manual for Continuous-Time Signals and Systems, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada, Sept. 2013, iv + 189 pages, ISBN 978-1-55058-505-6 (PDF), ISBN 978-1-55058-504-9 (print).