Do inequalities of functions holds through Fourier transform

dirac deltafourier transforminequalitysignal processing

I'm an electrical engineer, so please be forgive notation miscues.

Let's say I have two functions (in $\omega$): $X(\omega)$ and $Y(\omega)$ with corresponding real inverse Fourier transform pairs $F^{-1} \{X(\omega)\}=x(t)$ and $F^{-1}\{Y(\omega)\}=y(t)$.

I have found a relationship between these functions that follows:

$$ -1 \leq x(t) + y(t) \leq 1$$

Now, if I were to Fourier transform the entire expression, I would get:

$$ -2\pi \delta (\omega) \leq X(\omega) + Y(\omega) \leq 2\pi \delta(\omega) $$

The appearance of $\delta$-functions in this particular scenario frightens me, so I come asking:

  1. Is the step of taking the Fourier Transform of the entire inequality expression valid? (Did I overthink it?)
  2. (Bonus) If so, can anyone come up with a physical interpretation of the $\omega$-domain inequality?

For context, $x(t)$ and $y(t)$ are real time-domain voltage signals whose amplitudes add up $|x+y|$ to be less than 1 volt. Then, if the $\omega$-domain inequality were true, the magnitude of $X+Y$ must be within $\pm 2\pi \delta(\omega)$? I was taught to never treat $\delta$-functions as actual functions, so I'm not sure how to interpret their presence here. Maybe the could inequality be physically meaningful if the limits in the Fourier transform do not approach infinity (e.g., limited bandwidth)?

Best Answer

If you have an inequality $a \le x \le b$ and $f(x)$ is a monotonically increasing function, then the inequality $f(a) \le f(x) \le f(b)$ holds. This is not true if $f(x)$ is not monotonically increasing. The Fourier transform of any function does not result in a monotonically increasing function, in general. So, the inequality does not hold in general when the Fourier transform is applied to the expressions in the inequality.

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