HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

In
mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...
, trigonometric series are a special class of
orthogonal In mathematics, orthogonality (mathematics), orthogonality is the generalization of the geometric notion of ''perpendicularity''. Although many authors use the two terms ''perpendicular'' and ''orthogonal'' interchangeably, the term ''perpendic ...
series of the form : A_0 + \sum_^\infty A_n \cos + B_n \sin, where x is the variable and \ and \ are
coefficient In mathematics, a coefficient is a Factor (arithmetic), multiplicative factor involved in some Summand, term of a polynomial, a series (mathematics), series, or any other type of expression (mathematics), expression. It may be a Dimensionless qu ...
s. It is an infinite version of a trigonometric polynomial. A trigonometric series is called the
Fourier series A Fourier series () is an Series expansion, expansion of a periodic function into a sum of trigonometric functions. The Fourier series is an example of a trigonometric series. By expressing a function as a sum of sines and cosines, many problems ...
of the integrable function f if the coefficients have the form: :A_n=\frac1\pi \int^_0\! f(x) \cos \,dx :B_n=\frac\displaystyle\int^_0\! f(x) \sin \, dx


Examples

Every Fourier series gives an example of a trigonometric series. Let the function f(x) = x on \pi,\pi/math> be extended periodically (see sawtooth wave). Then its Fourier coefficients are: :\begin A_n &= \frac1\pi\int_^ x \cos \,dx = 0, \quad n \ge 0. \\ ptB_n &= \frac1\pi\int_^ x \sin \, dx \\ pt&= -\frac \cos + \frac1\sin \Bigg\vert_^\pi \\ mu&= \frac, \quad n \ge 1.\end Which gives an example of a trigonometric series: :2\sum_^\infty \frac \sin = 2\sin - \frac22\sin + \frac23\sin - \frac24\sin + \cdots However, the converse is false. For example, :\sum_^\infty \frac = \frac + \frac + \frac+\cdots is a trigonometric series which converges for all x but is not a
Fourier series A Fourier series () is an Series expansion, expansion of a periodic function into a sum of trigonometric functions. The Fourier series is an example of a trigonometric series. By expressing a function as a sum of sines and cosines, many problems ...
.


Uniqueness of trigonometric series

The uniqueness and the zeros of trigonometric series was an active area of research in 19th century Europe. First,
Georg Cantor Georg Ferdinand Ludwig Philipp Cantor ( ; ;  – 6 January 1918) was a mathematician who played a pivotal role in the creation of set theory, which has become a foundations of mathematics, fundamental theory in mathematics. Cantor establi ...
proved that if a trigonometric series is convergent to a function f on the interval , 2\pi/math>, which is identically zero, or more generally, is nonzero on at most finitely many points, then the coefficients of the series are all zero. Later Cantor proved that even if the set ''S'' on which f is nonzero is infinite, but the derived set ''S of ''S'' is finite, then the coefficients are all zero. In fact, he proved a more general result. Let ''S''''0'' = ''S'' and let ''S''''k+1'' be the derived set of ''S''''k''. If there is a finite number ''n'' for which ''S''''n'' is finite, then all the coefficients are zero. Later, Lebesgue proved that if there is a countably infinite ordinal ''α'' such that ''S''''α'' is finite, then the coefficients of the series are all zero. Cantor's work on the uniqueness problem famously led him to invent transfinite
ordinal numbers In set theory, an ordinal number, or ordinal, is a generalization of ordinal numerals (first, second, th, etc.) aimed to extend enumeration to infinite sets. A finite set can be enumerated by successively labeling each element with the leas ...
, which appeared as the subscripts ''α'' in ''S''''α'' .


See also

* Denjoy–Luzin theorem


Notes


References

* * * * * {{series (mathematics) Fourier series