- #1
JoAuSc
- 198
- 1
If you have a function f(x), you can decompose it as an infinite sum of sine waves of the form sin(nx) and cos(nx) for increasing n. If you have a function g(theta,phi), you can decompose it into spherical harmonics; for each order l you have 2l+1 spherical harmonics. Is there anything special about this fact, that for nth order behavior of f(x) you only need 2 functions for each step (sin and cos), but for lth order behavior of g(theta,phi) you need 2l+1 functions?