Electronic – Linearity and time invariance

control systemsignal

If the input of an unknown system is shown by:

\$x(t)= u(t)-u(t-1)\$

which results in the following output:

\$y(t)=u(t)-u(t-3/2)\$

then what can be said about the linearity and time invariance of this system?

Best Answer

Nothing conclusive can be said about linearity and/or time invariance.

For linearity one would need at least (!) to know the response of the system to \$A u(t) - A u(t-1)\$. (e.g. \$2 u(t) - 2 u(t-1)\$ could result in (or in something completely different to) \$2 u(t) - 2 u(t-3/2)\$)

For time invariance one needs to know at least (!) the response to \$ u(t-t_0) - u(t-1-t_0)\$. It can, but does not need to be \$u(t-t_0) - u(t-3/2-t_0)\$. So it is inconclusive either.