INTRODUCTION:
This course has been taught at Rice University for several years as the introductory course for electrical engineering majors. It is structured somewhat differently than introductory electrical engineering courses taught at other universities. Instead of concentrating on circuits and practical systems, this course goes over virtually all topics in the signals-and-systems subfield, arguably the heart of electrical engineering. Once you complete this course, you will know the fundamentals to some depth in the field and understand the principles behind the design of cellular telephone, Wi-Fi and computer networks. I been asked by several students if the prerequisite of single-variable calculus suffices. That and a knowledge of complex numbers are all that is required. Reviewing complex numbers, addition/subtraction, multiplication/division and Cartesian/polar forms of representation would be a good idea. We really use complex numbers in electrical engineering a lot. The text for the course is online (http://cnx.org/content/col10040) and was written for this course. For those wanting a complete copy of the notes in pdf format, you can download them here (3MB). Each video has links to the appropriate online modules so that you can read the lecture material and, if you chose, work short exercises to test your understanding. Additional homework problems to those assigned in the course can be found at the end of each chapter. Can't wait to get started! Don H. Johnson