PART I:

1.0

FOURIER SERIES

Introduction

Fourier series are series of cosine and sine terms and arise in the important practical task of representing general periodic functions. They constitute a very important tool in solving problems that involve ordinary and partial differential equations.(1)

1.1

Periodic Functions and Trigonometric Series.

Definition 1 A function f(x) is said to be periodic if its function values repeat at regular intervals of the independent variable. The regular interval between repetitions is the period of the oscillations.

Definition 2 A function f(x) is called periodic if it is defined for all real x and if there is some positive number p such that, for all x,

The number p is called a period of f(x). The graph of such a function is obtained by periodic repitition of its graph in any interval of length p. Periodic phenomena and functions occur in many applications. Examples of periodic functions are sine and cosine functions, the function f = c = constant (because it satisfies the condition for every positive p). Examples of functions that are not periodic are and .

Example 1 Graphs of y = A sin nx i. y = sin x

ii.

y = 5 sin 2x i. The amplitude is 5 ii. The period is 180 and there are two complete cycles in 360

iii.

y = A sin nx Amplitude Period No. of cycles in 360 = = = ................. ................. .................

How about graphs of y = A cos nx ?

Exercise 1 State the amplitude and the period for the following functions.
i. ii. iii. iv. v. vi. vii. viii.

y = 3 sin 5x y = 2 cos 3x

y = 4 sin 2x y = 5 cos 4x y = 2 sin x y = 3 cos 6x

Definition 3 (Harmonics) A function f(x) is sometimes expressed as a series of a number of different sine components. The component with the largest period is the first harmonic, or fundamental of f(x).

Example 2
is the first harmonic or fundamental is the second harmonic

is the third harmonic is the ............. harmonic with ............. amplitude and period ..............

Definition 4 (Non-sinusoidal periodic functions) A function can be periodic without being sinusoidal in appearance.

Example 3

Period = 8 ms

Period = ?

Period = ?

Definition 5 A periodic function can be defined analytically in many cases.

Example 4 i.

ii.

iii.

Exercise 2 Define analytically the periodic functions below.

Exercise 3 Sketch the graphs of the following functions:

i. {

ii.

iii.

iv.

v. {

1.2

Fourier Series for periodic functions of period 2

From the definition of a periodic function, it can be seen that

[ ]

and, for any integer n,

Therefore 2p, 3p, 4p, ... are also periods of f(x). If f(x) and g(x) have periods p, then the function

also has the period p. Some simple functions period p = 2 are 1, cos x, sin x, cos 2x, sin 2x, ... , cos nx, sin nx, ...

These functions will be used as representation of various functions of period p = 2. A trigonometric series of the form below will arise from this connection:

where a0, a1, a2, ... ,b1, b2, b3, ... are real constants. The an and bn are called the coefficients of the series. This series has the period 2, and if the series converges, its sum will be a function of period 2.

Definition 6 A Fourier series is to represent periodic function by trigonometrical series of the form

where A0 is a constant term; c1, c2, c3, ..., cn denote the amplitudes of the compound sine terms; 1, 2, 3, ... are constant auxiliary angles. In the definition, nth harmonic of f(x). Each sine term, is the fundamental or first harmonic of f(x) and, is the

can be expanded as

Finally, the whole series becomes

where n is a positive integer.

1.2.1

Fourier Coefficients

Definition 7 The Fourier coefficients can be obtained by the following formulas:

Example 5 Determine the Fourier series to represent the periodic function shown.

Example 6 Find the Fourier series for the function shown.

Example 7 Find the Fourier Series for the function defined by

1.2.2

Odd and Even Functions

Definition 8 (Even function) A function f(x) is said to be even if f(-x) = f(x) The function value for a particular negative value of x is the same as that for the corresponding positive value of x. The graph of an even function is therefore symmetrical about the y-axis.

Definition 9 (Odd function) A function f(x) is said to be odd if f(-x) = -f(x) The function value for a particular negative value of x is numerically equal to that for the corresponding positive value of x but opposite in sign. The graph of an odd function is thus symmetrical about the origin.

Example 8

Example 9

Example 10

Definition 10 Products of odd and even functions are as follow: (even) (even) = (even) (odd) (odd) = (even) (odd) (even) = (odd)

Theorem 1 If f(x) is defined over the interval - < x < and f(x) is even, the the Fourier series for f(x) contains cosine terms only.

Theorem 2 If f(x) is an odd function defined over the interval - < x < , the the Fourier series for f(x) contains sine terms only.

1.3

Half-Range Series

Sometimes a function of period 2 is defined over the range 0 to , instead of the normal to or 0 to 2. Then, there are three types of Fourier series that can be derived. For example, if between x = 0 and x = , f(x) = 2x, the period is 2 but there is no evidence of how the function behaves between x = - and x = 0.

If the waveform were as in (a), the function can be an even function, symmetrical about the y-axis, and the series would have only cosine terms (including possibly a0).

On the other hand, if the waveform were as in (b), the function would be odd, being symmetrical about the origin and the series would have only sine terms.

Of course, if something quite different was chosen, such as in (c), for the waveform between x = - and x = 0, then f(x) will neither be odd nor even and the series will then contain both sine and cosine terms (including a0).

Example 11 A function f(x) is defined by

{

Obtain a half-range cosine series to represent the function.

Example 12 Determine a half-range sine series to represent the function f(x) is defined by
{

1.4

Functions with periods other than 2

In practice, functions defined over periodic intervals other than 2 are often encountered. For example, from 0 to T, to .

1.4.1

Functions with period T to , that is has a period T, then this can be converted to an

If y = f(x) is defined in the range

interval of 2 by changing the units of the independent variable. In many practical cases involving physical oscillations, the independent variable is time (t) and the periodic interval is normally denoted by T, that is

Each cycle is therefore completed in T seconds and the frequency f hertz (oscillations per second) of the periodic function is therefore given by defined by , then . If the angular velocity, radians per second, is

The angle, x radians, at any time t is therefore function can be expressed as which can also be written in the form for n = 1, 2, 3, ...

and the Fourier series to represent the

1.4.2

Fourier coefficients

With the new variable, the Fourier coefficients become where

The limits can be 0 to T, complete period.

to

to

, 0 to

etc as is convenient, as long as they cover a

Example 13 Determine the Fourier Series for a periodic function defined by

{

1.4.3

Half-range series

The theory behind the half-range sine and cosine series still applies with the new variable. (a) Even function Half-range cosine series
{

symmetrical about the y-axis. With an even function, bn = 0, and where

(b)

Odd function Half-range sine series

{

symmetrical about the origin. With an even function, a0 = 0 and an = 0, and where

Example 14 A function f(t) is defined by f(t) = 4 t, 0 < t < 4. Find the half-range cosine series to represent this function.

Example 15 A function f(t) is defined by

{

Obtain the half-range sine series for the function in this range.