Time-invariant System - Abstract Example

Abstract Example

We can denote the shift operator by where is the amount by which a vector's index set should be shifted. For example, the "advance-by-1" system

can be represented in this abstract notation by

where is a function given by

with the system yielding the shifted output

So is an operator that advances the input vector by 1.

Suppose we represent a system by an operator . This system is time-invariant if it commutes with the shift operator, i.e.,

If our system equation is given by

then it is time-invariant if we can apply the system operator on followed by the shift operator, or we can apply the shift operator followed by the system operator, with the two computations yielding equivalent results.

Applying the system operator first gives

Applying the shift operator first gives

If the system is time-invariant, then

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