Signals and Systems

This book presents basic concepts related to linear systems. When I studied the book, I did not have time to work the problems, but the problems form a very large part of the book. On the other hand, I did work to understand the book, and found that, for the most part, I was able to do this adequately. I did find that Chapter 7 on sampling was difficult, and I had to expend a fair amount of effort to understand it.The text discussed Fourier series, Fourier transforms, the Laplace transform and the z-transform. I have had some previous exposure to all of these topics, but still found their discussions interesting and useful. My previous experience was from the viewpoint of pure mathematics, and an applied perspective like this can bring additional insight over purely mathematical treatments.The authors placed the discussion in the context of both continuous and discrete systems. I have had a fair amount of experience working with discrete systems, so this posed no great problem to me.Completely new to me were sampling, communications, and linear feedback systems. I really enjoyed their treatment of these subjects.They present numerous examples, which I found to be very helpful. In addition, although they would discuss continuous and discrete situations side by side, they were very clear, and I did not find this confusing.My overall assessment is that, with my background, this was suitable for self-study. I would place its intellectual level at about the sophomore or junior level, but I believe many people who come to this book with a less extensive background than I would find it very difficult to read, as there would be many new concepts and principles to digest. I found that I often had to read and re-read, working carefully through the text, in the areas with which I had no familiarity.I really enjoyed reading about linear systems, and I feel that this book presents this in a way that one can appreciate it as a really profound contribution to civilization. I also feel that it provides, even when one does not work the problems, as I did not, a really solid base from which to continue study in signal processing. I recommend it highly, for the well-prepared reader, for self-study.

This is one of the finest text books I have read. It is a bit difficult but that is just the nature of the subject. If you struggle with the book, get the one by Lathi to help you bridge the gap.The book by Lathi explains some background knowledge that you are supposed to have in more details than Oppenheim. For instance, it explains the difference between zero state response and zero input response in a great detail. But Oppenheim has a few better chapters on somewhat more advanced topics, for instance on sampling. So, get both if you can. I use both book often when learning this subject.The topics covered in signals and system are so critical and interesting. I wish I had taken such a course before. I would recommend that all engineering students take this course. This course is somewhat difficult among undergrad level courses. But there are excellent resources to help you. The two books mentioned are excellent. UC Berkely offers a free video course on this. MIT has free course material on its web site also. The one by UC Berkely is quite easy, and the one by MIT is more challenging. Do the homework offered by MIT, and they are interesting and rewarding. The one by MIT follows Oppenheim's book precisely, another benefit for self-learners.Two years after I used this book to learn the subject, I am now doing some signal processing. I went back to this book for some information. I now appreciate more about this book. It is very clear. It may be wordy for experienced people. But you could always skip certain sections. But if a book misses some details you need, it is much worse. I only wish the author could add a chapter on DFT. I had to go to another book for DFT.

This book is a classic in Signals and Systems. The explanations are extremely rigorous and clear and every word in this book is for a purpose. It is enormously useful in understanding the material. I wish other areas of engineering and science I'm interested in had books like this, because without such a book, it takes years to get to the bottom of things in a new area. With this book, you understand Signals and Systems very quickly. If you don't understand something in this book, it means that you skipped something in the previous chapters.I don't understand how anybody can dare to give it less than 5 stars. This book is like a Bible - it is perfect - you cannot add to it or subtract to it (proof: if it were possible, Oppenheim would have done it already). This is a joke of course, but still, this book is written extremely well.To the people who complain about long explanations - what would you prefer:(1) adequately long explanations of every point, which you can skip if you don't need them, but they are always here to help you if you need help, or(2) a short book with brief or missing explanations, which means you can read it quickly, but also means that if you got stuck on some concept, you're on your own?If you prefer (2)... well, perhaps you're smart enough to figure everything yourself, but I will gladly take (1).

This book is really good in terms of explaining the concepts in a very in-depth and thorough way. However, improvements can be made. First, it's a little bit old school and does not talk about how to use software such as Matlab for signal analysis/processing. Second, the exercises are not very accessible. There's too many of them, and if you are learning the material independently, it's really hard to choose which ones you should solve. In addition, many of the harder ones are really tedious yet not particularly useful/practical.