OT Math rant, was Re: [sdiy] DSP book recommendation wanted

[David G. Dixon]

One thing which really burns me up is the assumption on the part of almost
all electronics textbook authors that the reader remembers how to calculate
the amplitude and phase angle of a transfer function.  They could easily
just put a little box in somewhere to remind us all how to do it.


> One example; I've been baffled for a long time by the e^jø stuff that
> I keep seeing in filter theory and whathaveyou. Yesterday I found an
> explanation on the dspguide.com. It turns out that it's a alternative
> way of writing a complex number as a vector (e.g. an angle and a
> magnitude, rather than a x,y coord).
> WELL, WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU JUST *SAY* SO??!!!
> The actual explanation and math behind the conversion from one form
> to the other is very simple and can easily be described in half a
> page. However, having read no end of stuff on the topic, I'd *never*
> come across such an explanation until yesterday. I doubt you'll find
> it quickly and easily on mathworld.