A note on Homework 4, Problem 1 I was asked a question after class today about the reference to A, B, C, D matrices in Problem 1.

= Ax + Bu where x is We have made several references in class this week to this terminology: x an n-dimensional state vector, A is an n n matrix (the state matrix) and Bu denotes an n k matrix B times a k-dimensional input vector (often k = 1 because often there is just one input). These A and B matrices are the first two matrices mentioned above on the first line of this message. The matrices C and D refer to two additional matrices that are present when some specific output variable (which is not necessarily a state variable) or, more generally, lets say m output variables are wanted. In this case a second equation is written: y = Cx + Du for which C is an m n matrix and D is an m k matrix. Taken together, these two parts of the systems description are often written as: = Ax + Bu x y = Cx + Du And then the equations are sometimes referred to as being in ABCD matrix form. When there is just one input variable (i.e., u is a scalar) and when just one output is generated (i.e., when y is a scalar too) then the dimensions of A, B, C, and D are, of course: A is n n , B is n 1 , C is 1 n and D is 1 1 .