Definition of a Signal

Definition. A real discrete-time signal is defined as any time-ordered sequence of real

numbers. Similarly, acomplex discrete-time signal is any time-ordered sequence
of complex numbers.
Mathematically, we typically denote a signal as a real- or complex-valued function of
an integer, e.g.,

number in the signal, and

. Thus,

is the

th real (or complex)

represents time as an integer sample number.

Using the set notation

, and to denote the set of all integers, real numbers, and
complex numbers, respectively, we can express that is a real, discrete-time signal by
expressing it as a function mapping every integer (optionally in a restricted range) to a
real number:

Alternatively, we can write

for all

Similarly, a discrete-time complex signal is a mapping from each integer to a complex

number:

i.e.,

It is useful to define

as the signal space consisting of all complex signals

is a complex number for every integer

).

We may expand these definitions slightly to include functions of the form

,
, where
denotes the sampling interval in seconds. In this case, the time
index has physical units of seconds, but it is isomorphic to the integers. For finite-

duration signals, we may prepend and append zeros to extend its domain to all
integers .
Mathematically, the set of all signals

can be regarded a vector space5.2

in which

every signal is a vector in the space (

). The th sample of ,
, is
regarded as the th vector coordinate. Since signals as we have defined them are
infinitely long (being defined over all integers), the corresponding vector space
is infinite-dimensional. Every vector space comes with a field of scalars which we
may think of as constant gain factors that can be applied to any signal in the space.
For purposes of this book, ``signal'' and ``vector'' mean the same thing, as do
``constant gain factor'' and ``scalar''. The signals and gain factors (vectors and scalars)
may be either real or complex, as applications may require.
By definition, a vector space is closed under linear combinations. That is, given any
two vectors

and

vector

for all

which satisfies

, and any two scalars

and

, there exists a

, i.e.,

A linear combination is what we might call a mix of two signals

and

using

mixing gains and (

). Thus, a signal mix is represented
mathematically as a linear combination of vectors. Since signals in practice can
overflow the available dynamic range, resulting in clipping (or ``wrap-around''), it is
not normally true that the space of signals used in practice is closed under linear
combinations (mixing). However, in floating-point numerical simulations, closure is
true for most practical purposes.5.3

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``Introduction to Digital Filters with Audio Applications'', by Julius O. Smith III, (September 2007 Edition).
Copyright 2010-12-28 by Julius O. Smith III
Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA), Stanford University