SYDE 252Linear Systems and Signals
- Units
- 0.50
- Faculty
- Engineering
- Subject
- Systems Design Engineering
When it runs
- F24
- W25
- S25
- F25
- W26
- S26
- F26
- W27
- S27
Ran in 3 of the last 7 terms. Winter 2027: not on the schedule. Spring 2027: schedule not out yet.
Models and analysis of linear systems. Discrete time systems, continuous time systems; difference and differential equations; impulse and frequency response. Complex frequency, functions of complex variables, transform domain techniques: Z transforms; Fourier analysis, Laplace transform. Transfer functions and frequency response, frequency domain analysis of linear systems; sampling theory, stability, and linear filters.
Prerequisites
- Complete all of the following
- Students must be in level 2B or higher
- Enrolled in H-Mechanical Engineering, H-Mechatronics Engineering, or H-Systems Design Engineering
Antirequisites
Leads to
Fall 2026 sections
| Section | Class | Enrolled | Meets |
|---|---|---|---|
| LEC 001 | 4498 | 97 / 110 | TTh 09:00–10:20 |
| TUT 101 | 4499 | 97 / 110 | W 08:30–09:20 |
Resources
Around the web
Found by uwloo’s link finder, which checks that each page names SYDE 252.
- syde252-home Other · eng.uwaterloo.ca · posted on r/uwaterloo Nov 2015 Remove
Reviewed on UW Flow
58% liked it28% easy76% useful
From 118 ratings and 17 comments on UW Flow. The most helpful comments, quoted as written, without names. Read them all on UW Flow.
This course I think would have been very interesting and useful, if I had managed to learn anything from it. Zelek was so frustrating to learn from, he's such a nice guy and his heart is in the right place, but it's impossible to get the important information from his slides and his lectures. He would confuse us and himself while doing examples on the board, and his slides always had mistakes on them. The python assignments were a waste of time. The final exam was full of stuff we had barely brushed over in class, and there were several mistakes that he had to announce mid-exam. And then proceeded to return exam marks before the finals period had ended!! He had to change the "pass the final…
Apr 2020 · didn’t like it · 1 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this
We had a new prof and it was horrible, the concepts were extremely abstract and the Matlab assignments are extremely time consuming.
Jun 2016 · didn’t like it · 1 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this
this course was a little difficult to grasp at first because of how abstract the concepts were, but once you get into it's pretty interesting. Sucks a little bit that the final project was so constrained, but was interesting nonetheless.
Nima Maftoon's notes are a bit confusing if you didn't go to the lecture, but if you do go he's pretty clear and does his best. You can tell that he really cares that students understand the content.Dec 2025 · liked itOn UW FlowRemove this
content is pretty straightforward, and is not that bad. Not bad as in you're not cooked EVEN if u catch up the day before the midterm/final
Dec 2025 · liked itOn UW FlowRemove this
Important concepts to grasp for firmware (control systems) and hardware-aspiring students. Fun project, Maftoon is great
Nov 2025 · liked itOn UW FlowRemove this
Discussed on r/uwaterloo
16 posts and comments in 14 threads mention SYDE 252, November 2015 to December 2024. Quoted word for word, newest first; each reply sits under the post and the comment that started its branch. Search r/uwaterloo for newer posts.
Winter 2022
Undergrad courses I've taken tier list (details in comments) 161 points, 13 comments
u/MindTheGap9: “… - SYDE252 - Hard job for the professor, dealing with 3 courses worth of content in 1 course, but Prof. Jiang did his best. Super frustrating because it felt like SYDE bread & butter and nobody in my class could do it. …”
Average Gordon Savage Lecture 121 points, 19 comments
u/YuckieBoi: “The pain of having him two terms in a row”
u/YuckieBoi: “Syde 252 2B and then syde 351 3A”
Winter 2021
2B mechatronics 4 points, 3 comments
“what's 2B for tron like (esp for the mandems that took it online)? should i be concerned/in awe that there's a prof whos name is literally prof savage?”
u/QuestionTuesdayFTW: “Savage is bad, Barby also isn't great. It's 2B || !2B for a reason”
u/Holodexsex322: “… SYDE 252 is probably the second hardest course, really depends on the prof, which has changed pretty much every year so it's hard to know the best approach. Savage was 3A for me so unless he's teaching a new course this term you shouldn't have to worry until then. …”
SYDE 252 by Savage vs BME 252 by Maftoon 0 points, 5 comments
u/masterkuch: “Do both cover Laplace and Fourier transform? And who is the better professor?”
Do you need SYDE 311 for SYDE 556? 3 points, 6 comments
“What exactly are SYDE 556 prerequisites?”
u/Coolpanino: ““BME 252 or SYDE 252“ https://uwflow.com/course/syde556”
Spring 2020
Anyone here take CS 473? 3 points, 8 comments
“I'm a first year student and I'm planning my course selection for my CS degree. I am really into bioinformatics and neuroimaging in specific. …”
u/advmath: “… To prepare for it, you'll want to take either SYDE 252: Linear Systems and Signals, which is the formal prerequisite (you can also override into that), or, failing that, CS 370: Numerical Computation, which you can take in second year as soon as you're done with CS 246. …”
Winter 2020
[Serious] What should I expect from TRON? 36 points, 34 comments
u/tron_or_ece_hmm: “… ME: 119, 219, SYDE-182, 309, ME-321, ME-351, 322 ECE: 120, 262, 220, SYDE-252, 320, 325, ECE-484 I've read rants about many MTE courses, so I'm starting to question the quality of the content. Are they waste? A mess? Superficial? Boring? Fun? Well-structured? Theoretical? …”
u/ApatheticPost: “… Systems: - SYDE 252 - Linear Systems and Signals: Pretty mathy but it's foundational for later stuff. - SYDE 351 - Systems Models: Teaches you how to model many types of physical systems. Neat way of thinking about things. …”
Fall 2019
What's the greatest mark increase you've had from term mark to final mark? 14 points, 35 comments
“Looking for hope that I can still save my GPA despite almost failing most of my midterms lol :(”
u/RealisticTronStudent: “SYDE 252, 66 to 84”
[GDT] 2B SYDE vs SYDE 252 Game Day Thread 49 points, 12 comments
u/A_Vuchi: “Two years ago today the now 4A systems class tackled Midterm2 in SYDE 252. They warned us about this day back when our cohort was in 1A. The day has finally come. It is our turn to tackle this monster. There is no more we can do. …”
u/CMcAwesome: “I've got 10:1 odds on SYDE 252 winning today, place bets accordingly.”
Fall 2018
SYDE 252 CRYING THREAD 11 points, 1 comment
u/throwawaysyde252: “That is all”
Fall 2017
[GDT] 2B SYDE vs SYDE 212/252 Game Day Thread 20 points, 5 comments
u/RealisticSYDEStudent: “Fourier : Transformed Poisson : Distributed Butts : Lubed Are ya ready kid's? Final Score Team|Score :--|:-- 2B SYDE Students|0 SYDE 252|1”
Any way to disable UWCourseLinker from posting? 16 points, 26 comments
“posting a reply to my comment I find the bot annoying.”
u/Jackhofmann: “… SYDE 101 SYDE 101L SYDE 111 SYDE 113 SYDE 121 SYDE 161 SYDE 181 SYDE 182 SYDE 202 SYDE 212 SYDE 252 SYDE 262 SYDE 283 SYDE 286 SYDE 292 SYDE 292L SYDE 401 SYDE 411 SYDE 461 SYDE 533 SYDE 543 SYDE 553 SYDE 575 SYDE 631 SYDE 677 SYDE 682 SYDE 740 SYDE 750 SYDE 770 SYDE 780 TAX 600 …”
Check it elsewhere for Fall 2026
- Undergraduate Calendar, 2026–27The official entry
- Requirements for Fall 2026Waterloo’s requisite checker
- Schedule of Classes, Fall 2026Instructors, rooms, live seats
- Quest Class SearchWhere you enrol
- Course outlinesSyllabi from past terms (UW login)
- UW FlowStudent ratings and reviews
- WClassesPast sections back to 2004, and who taught them