The PROSAIC Laplace and Fourier Transform

Integral Transform methods play an extremely important role in many branches of science and engineering. The ease with which many problems may be solved using these techniques is well known. In Electrical Engineering especially, Laplace and Fourier Transforms have been used for a long time as a way to change the solution of differential equations into trivial algebraic manipulations or to provide alternate representations of signals and data. These techniques, while seemingly overshadowed by today's emphasis on digital analysis, still form an invaluable basis in the understanding of systems and circuits. A firm grasp of the practical aspects of these subjects provides valuable conceptual tools. This tutorial paper is a review of Laplace and Fourier Transforms from an applied perspective with an emphasis on engineering applications. The interrelationship of the time and frequency domains will be stressed, in an attempt to comfort those who, after living so much of their lives in the time domain, find thinking in the frequency domain disquieting