Questions about the delta function

Join the discussion
Ask a follow-up here, or get your own question answered by working scientists, mathematicians and engineers — people, not an autocomplete.
Real named experts · corrections over time · the nuance an AI answer skips
4 replies · 2K views
rmiller70015
Messages
110
Reaction score
1

Homework Statement


I just have a quick question about the delta function, I'm pretty confident in most other cases but in this simple one I'm not so sure.

$$\int_{-\infty}^{\infty} \phi (x)\delta (-x)dx$$

Homework Equations

The Attempt at a Solution


[/B]
$$\int_{-\infty}^{\infty} \phi (x)\delta (-x)dx$$
Using substitution where u=-x and du=-dx:
$$\int_{-\infty}^{\infty} \phi (-u)\delta (u)(-du) = -\phi (0)$$
Is this correct?
 
Physics news on Phys.org
BvU said:
Wouldn't that yield ##\phi(-0)## instead of ##-\phi(0)## ?
I'm not entirely sure. I do realize that there should be a negative inside the phi test function but I omitted it because it's zero anyway and I would have had to account for it if the delta function was something like (x-a), but here I didn't. However, when I do the substitution I have to deal with a negative u differential which makes the whole function negative in my mind.
 
Ahh the bounds so when I do the substitution I get:
$$-\int_{\infty}^{-\infty} \phi (-u)\delta (u)du$$
Then I change my limits and lose the negative.
Thank you.