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The rectangular function (also known as the rectangle function, rect function, Pi function, gate function, unit pulse, or the normalized boxcar function) is defined as:
Contents
- Relation to the boxcar function
- Fourier transform of the rectangular function
- Relation to the triangular function
- Use in probability
- Rational approximation
- Demonstration of validity
- References
Alternative definitions of the function define
Relation to the boxcar function
The rectangular function is a special case of the more general boxcar function:
Where u is the Heaviside function; the function is centered at X and has duration Y, from X-Y/2 to X+Y/2.
Another example is this: rect((t - (T/2)) / T ) goes from 0 to T, so in terms of Heaviside function u(t) - u((t-T) / T )
Fourier transform of the rectangular function
The unitary Fourier transforms of the rectangular function are
using ordinary frequency f, and
using angular frequency ω, where
Note that as long as the definition of the pulse function is only motivated by the time-domain experience of it, there is no reason to believe that the oscillatory interpretation (i.e. the Fourier transform function) should be intuitive, or directly understood by humans. However, some aspects of the theoretical result may be understood intuitively, finiteness in time domain corresponds to an infinite frequency response. (Vice versa, a finite fourier transform will correspond to infinite time domain response.)
Relation to the triangular function
We can define the triangular function as the convolution of two rectangular functions:
Use in probability
Viewing the rectangular function as a probability density function, it is a special case of the continuous uniform distribution with
and its moment generating function is:
where
Rational approximation
The pulse function may also be expressed as a limit of a rational function:
Demonstration of validity
First, we consider the case where
It follows that:
Second, we consider the case where
It follows that:
Third, we consider the case where
We see that it satisfies the definition of the pulse function.