Factor 2 error in Inverse Laplace Transform
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg51232] Factor 2 error in Inverse Laplace Transform
- From: p-valko at tamu.edu (Peter Valko)
- Date: Sat, 9 Oct 2004 04:18:58 -0400 (EDT)
- Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com
Hi,
InverseLaplaceTransform is an extremely useful part of Mathematica
(since v 4.1).
However, in the following simple problem it gives the wrong answer:
Problem 1:
InverseLaplaceTransform[s/(s+1),s,t]
-1/(2*E^t)+DiracDelta[t]
where the factor 2 is completely wrong.
To see that I slightly rewrite Problem 1 into
Problem 1a:
InverseLaplaceTransform[Apart[s/(s+1)],s,t]
and then I get the correct answer:
-E^(-t)+DiracDelta[t]
Of course one can "Unprotect" InverseLaplaceTransform and teach it to
give the correct answer but that is not the point.
(Also one can start a long debate about the meaning of DiracDelta in
Mathematica, but that is also not the point here. )
There are several similar simple examples when the wrong factor of two
shows up, for instance
Problem 2:
InverseLaplaceTransform[ s ArcTan[1/s],s,t]
Using the Trace one can find out that all these "factor 2" errors have
a common origin.
Solving Problem 1 Mathematica calculates the convolution integral
Integrate[E^(-t+x)*Derivative[1][DiracDelta][x],{x,0,t}]
and because the lower limit is exactly zero,the factor 2 shows up in
-1/(2*E^t), that is Mathematica "halves" the Dirac delta and all its
derivatives at the origin.
I think the InverseLaplaceTransform function could be much improved if
the above convolution integral would be evaluated more carefully.
For instance, doing it in two steps:
res1=Integrate[E^(-t+x)*Derivative[1][DiracDelta][x],{x,-eps,t},
Assumptions -> eps>0];
res2=res1/.eps -> 0
would give the right result.
(This caution is necessary only, if generalized functions are involved
in the integration.)
I wonder if further examples/suggestions are welcome in this group
regarding InverseLaplaceTransform???
Peter