The Padé–Laplace method is an interesting yet relatively unknown method for determining the exponential time constants in a decaying signal. We apply it to data from a simple electronic circuit specifically designed for investigations of signal averaging. Possible decays of the voltage include single, multi-exponential, and predominantly logarithmic. Students in our computer-interfacing course write a LABVIEW program that collects the data and performs the signal averaging.
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2005
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