System Theory as an Extension of Curcuit Theory

The attitudes and techniques of circuit analysis and synthesis can profitably be extended to system analysis and design. The main problems of system analysis are characterization of components and combination of component characteristics into system characteristics. Techniques analogous to familiar circuit theory techniques are applicable to the study of noncircuit problems. As an example, the analysis of a discrete-data system is described. Such familiar network theory terms as transfer function, transform, stability, return difference, and error coefficients are used. Applications of system analysis techniques to the study of convergence of iterative methods for solving equations and to the study of error propagation are described.