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Astro*Dictionary by Michael Erlewine

 

 

 

 

2 articles for "Fourier"

Fourier Series [Astro*Index]

Mathematical notion.

Any series formed by the sum of terms of the form:
Ckcos(kwt) + Sksin(kwt) where: k=0,1,2,3,...

Each term can also be expressed as:
Rkcos(kwt+Pk) where: Rk = sqrt(Ck2+Sk2) and Pk = arctan(-Sk,Ck)

Fourier Series are different from Harmonic Series.

See also:
♦ Harmonic
Fourier, Jean Baptiste Joseph, Baron [Astro*Index]

(foor-yay') (1768- hi1830) French mathematician.

Born at Auxerre, Yonne; died at Paris, France. He accompanied Napoleon to Egypt in 1798, and was made governor of part of it, which gave him the opportunity to explore the Upper Nile. Upon his return to France, in 1801, he directed his mathematical skill to the problem of heat flow within a body. This work led to the development of what is called Fourier's Theorem, which was announced in 1807. It states that any periodic oscillation can be represented as a mathematical series, all the terms of which are integer multiples of a fundamental frequency.

See also:

 

Astro*Index Copyright © 1997 Michael Erlewine