Fourier analysis

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Contents 1 Introduction 2 Basics 3 The trigonometric form 4 The exponential form

[edit] Introduction

Fourier analysis is a method of analysing functions. These functions may be electrical signals (say, from an electronic circuit being tested), pure mathematical functions, or any kind of data being analysed on a computer. Regardless, if the function is single-valued, Fourier analysis can be used to produce an imperfect approximation.

[edit] Basics

[edit] The trigonometric form

Fourier analysis works by breaking down the function being considered into a Fourier Series. The Fourier Series, in simplest terms, is a summation of sine and cosine functions. Each of these trigonometric functions looks something like this:

a_ncos(ω_nt) + b_nsin(ω_nt)

[edit] The exponential form