https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/percussive_maintenance ftw
edit: I have to add, i just found out about the extent of the definition.
>make a malfunctioning device or person work.
edit: I have to add, i just found out about the extent of the definition.
>make a malfunctioning device or person work.
If you want to know how an unknown system reacts, first thing you do is to hit it hard.
What he meant was that applying the Heaviside function to the inputs of a system to determine the step response [1] is one of the first things we should do.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impulse_response
(Actually, our control classes told us to do both to get a basic view of a system.)