Rectangular function: Difference between revisions

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==History==

The ''rect'' function has been introduced 1953 by [[Philip Woodward|Woodward]]<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Klauder |first=John R |title=The Theory and Design of Chirp Radars |pages=745–808 |journal=Bell System Technical Journal |year=1960 |volume=39 |issue=4 |doi=10.1002/j.1538-7305.1960.tb03942.x |url=https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/6773600 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> in "Probability and Information Theory, with Applications to Radar"<ref>{{Cite book |last=Woodward |first=Philipp M |title=Probability and Information Theory, with Applications to Radar |publisher=Pergamon Press |pages=29 |year=1953 }}</ref> as an ideal [[Window function#Rectangular window|cutout operator]], together with the [[Sinc function|''sinc'' function]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Higgins |first=John Rowland |title=Sampling Theory in Fourier and Signal Analysis: Foundations |pages=4 |publisher=Oxford University Press Inc. |year=1996 |isbn=0198596995 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Zayed |first=Ahmed I |title=Handbook of Function and Generalized Function Transformations |pages=507 |publisher=CRC Press |year=1996 |isbn=9780849380761 }}</ref> as an ideal [[Whittaker–Shannon interpolation formula|interpolation operator]], and their counter operations which are [[Sampling (signal processing)|sampling]] ([[Dirac comb#Dirac-comb identity|''comb'' operator]]) and [[Periodic summation|replicating]] ([[Dirac comb#Dirac-comb identity|''rep'' operator]]), respectively.

==Relation to the boxcar function==

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The [[Fourier transform#Tables of important Fourier transforms|unitary Fourier transforms]] of the rectangular function are<ref name="wolfram"/>

<math display="block">\int_{-\infty}^\infty \operatorname{rect}(t)\cdot e^{-i 2\pi f t} \, dt

=\frac{\sin(\pi f)}{\pi f} = \operatorname{sinc}(\pi f) =\operatorname{sinc}_\pi(f),</math>

using ordinary frequency {{mvar|f}}, where [[sinc function|<math>\operatorname{sinc}_\pi</math>]] is the normalized form<ref>Wolfram MathWorld, https://mathworld.wolfram.com/SincFunction.html</ref> of the [[sinc function]] and

<math display="block">\frac{1}{\sqrt{2\pi}}\int_{-\infty}^\infty \operatorname{rect}(t)\cdot e^{-i \omega t} \, dt

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For <math>\operatorname{rect} (x/a)</math>, its Fourier transform is<math display="block">\int_{-\infty}^\infty \operatorname{rect}\left(\frac{t}{a}\right)\cdot e^{-i 2\pi f t} \, dt

=a \frac{\sin(\pi af)}{\pi af} = a\ \operatorname{sinc}_\pi{(a f)}.</math>

=a \frac{\sin(\pi af)}{\pi af} = a\ \operatorname{sinc}_\pi{(a f)}.</math>Note that as long as the definition of the pulse function is only motivated by its behavior in the time-___domain experience, 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, as 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:

<math display=block>\operatorname{tri}(t/T)} = \operatorname{rect}(2t/T)} * \operatorname{rect}(2t/T)}.\,</math>

==Use in probability==

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==See also==

*[[Fourier transform]]

*[[Square wave (waveform)|Square wave]]

*[[Step function]]

*[[Top-hat filter]]