Electronic – Use of Heaviside operator versus Laplace transform in electrical engineering

laplace transform

Is there a significant difference between Heaviside Operator p and Laplace transform operator s?

I'm wondering why Laplace transform is more commonly used to solve electrical circuits than using Heaviside operator?

Most books do not tell even about Heaviside but mostly Laplace transform. Is one method superior to the other one?

Best Answer

The operator method introduced by Heaviside was empirical. It did work, but no formal proof was given.

The Laplace transform has a mathematical foundation and can even be used to show the correctness of the operator method.

The Heaviside method is not as general as the Laplace transform, for example it is not possible to have initial conditions.

So the Laplace transform is the more modern and more advanced method and is therefore preferred.