MATLAB Multiple Choice Questions on “Laplace Transform – 1”.
1. The default Laplace transform, of functions, computed by MATLAB is __________
a) Unilateral
b) Bilateral
c) Multipolar
d) Cannot be computed
Answer: a
Clarification: The default laplace transform computed by MATLAB is the Unilateral Laplace transform. Bilateral Laplace transform can be computed separately but it’s not the default process.
2. The laplace transform of step function, u(t), can be calculated by using _____
a) syms t; laplace(t/t)
b) laplace(1)
c) laplace(t/t)
d) sym t; laplace(t/t)
Answer: a
Clarification: The laplace command won’t understand 1 is a unit function. Also, if we don’t define t as symbolic, it won’t be able to understand ‘t/t’. Finally, sym t doesn’t properly define t for using it in the laplace command so we need to write t=sym(‘t’) while using the sym command. Instead of this, we write syms t to define it, as a symbolic variable, for the laplace command.
3. How many time domain representations of the following signal is possibly stable?
F(s)=2s+4/(s2+4s+3)…. Where s is the Laplacian frequency
a) 2 for sigma>-1 4. The Transfer Function of an L.T.I. system is ___________
b) 2 for sigma>-3
c) Only 1 for -3
Answer: c
Clarification: One of the conditions in condition for stability is that the R.O.C of the signal should include the imaginary axis. In options 2 for sigma>-1 and 2 for sigma>-3, the condition is satisfied but there is only 1 time domain representation in such case. We also have option Only 1 for -3
a) the impulse response with 0 initial conditions
b) the impulse response with some initial conditions
c) the ramp response with 0 initial conditions
d) the step response with 0 initial conditions
Answer: a
Clarification: The transfer function of the system is determined with 0 initial conditions. Since it’s the laplace transform of the impulse response, the impulse response should not have any initial conditions.
5. What will be the output of the following code?
syms ‘-t’; laplace(4*(-t))
a) Syntactical Error
b) The laplace transform of the time reversed ramp function.
c) -4/s2
d) Logical Error
Answer: a
Clarification: We cannot define ‘-t’ as symbolic i.e. we can only define an alphabet as symbolic but not a character symbol like ‘-‘ or ‘+’. This leads to a syntactical error. There is no logical error.
6. What is the output of the following code?
a) Error
b) z=0,p=0
c) z=0,p=1
d) z=1,p=0
Answer: a
Clarification: The output would’ve been option b but we have given z,p within parentheses. They should be placed within [] to get the proper output since the command tf2zp evaluates.
7. The final value theorem is applicable if __________
a) Poles lie on right half of s plane
b) Poles lie on left half of s plane
c) Poles lie on the imaginary axis
d) Zeros lie on left half of s plane
Answer: b
Clarification: If poles don’t lie on the left half of s-plane, the system is not stable. An unstable system yields an erroneous final value which i.e an erroneous steady state response. They also cannot lie on the imaginary axis. Hence, the theorem is applicable only in case of poles lie on right half of s plane.
8. What is the output of the following code?
a) A gamma function
b) Error due to []
c) Error due to ‘’
d) Cannot be determined
