Where Can I Find Helpful Tutorials on Fourier Series?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion centers around finding helpful tutorials and video lectures on Fourier series, exploring various resources and approaches to understanding the topic. Participants share links to online materials, including video lectures, websites, and blog posts, while also touching on the mathematical concepts underlying Fourier series.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Homework-related

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants request tutorials or video lectures specifically focused on Fourier series.
  • Several links to video lectures and educational websites are shared, including resources from YouTube and MIT OpenCourseWare.
  • One participant emphasizes the importance of understanding integration of trigonometric functions as foundational for grasping Fourier series.
  • Another participant suggests that Fourier series is a special case of broader concepts, mentioning terms like orthogonality, basis states, and fast Fourier transform (FFT) as relevant topics for further exploration.
  • Some participants note the distinction between Fourier series and Fourier transforms, with one providing a humorous analogy regarding their relationship.
  • A participant shares a personal recommendation for a comprehensive lecture series that covers not only Fourier series but also related topics such as convolutions and discrete Fourier transforms.
  • Multiple participants express appreciation for specific video lectures, highlighting the teaching style and clarity of explanations.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally agree on the value of the shared resources, but there is no consensus on a single best approach or tutorial. The discussion remains open-ended with various perspectives on the mathematical foundations and applications of Fourier series.

Contextual Notes

Some participants mention the need for a solid understanding of related mathematical concepts, but the specific prerequisites and depth of knowledge required are not fully resolved.

cgw
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Looking for Fourier series tutorials or even better video lectures on the subject.
 
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In that vein, can anybody put together a few links to help learn/understand the math behind the Fourier series? Just from eyeballing I'd guess a solid understanding of integration of trigonometric functions, but I'm sure there's more to it.
 
matticus said:
these video lectures are pretty good, this is the first one but there's tons.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=WScEpfGYQhY

This guy needs some valium!
Glad I don't have lectures with him at 9 on monday mornings :smile:

good lecturer though.
 
By far the only one I saw but I REALLY liked it

http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Physics/8-03Fall-2004/VideoLectures/index.htm

11th lecture

The explanation is great. He shows the contribution of every single sin and cos and then shows some vibrations with a computer program which show all the harmonics which contribute to building the periodic function.
 
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naele said:
In that vein, can anybody put together a few links to help learn/understand the math behind the Fourier series? Just from eyeballing I'd guess a solid understanding of integration of trigonometric functions, but I'm sure there's more to it.

Naele~

Fourier Series is a *special case* of a more general concept. Perhaps some key words you could look up online or in textbooks would be : orthogonality, basis states, fast Fourier transform (FFT), orthonormal basis, maybe even Hilbert Space, or Gram Schmidt, or Legendre polynomials, or Sturm-Liouville.
 
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  • #10
sceadu said:
I came across these a little while ago:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZNm7L96pfY&fmt=18"

(I know that Fourier series and the transform itself aren't the same thing, but I thought you might still like the videos)

I watched the whole 30 lecture series and they are very very good. I got so much out of it. Topics covered are Fourier Series, Fourier Transforms, convolutions, how they apply to linear systems in general, sampling, discrete Fourier Transforms, and higher dimensional Fourier Transforms. He also goes into good depth into how distributions like the Dirac Delta function are rigorously defined by Mathematicians. He's a great teacher and explains everything in such a way that it all seems natural. He's also quite funny too. You can download the whole course from iTunes U as well.
 
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  • #11
sceadu said:
(I know that Fourier series and the transform itself aren't the same thing, but I thought you might still like the videos)

a Fourier transform is like a Fourier series of a periodic function where the period is infinite :smile:
 
  • #12
A blog post on http://learntofish.wordpress.com/2009/08/28/understanding-the-fourier-transform-intuitively/" .
 
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  • #13
matticus said:
these video lectures are pretty good, this is the first one but there's tons.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=WScEpfGYQhY


Wow. And I thought my linear algebra professor flew through material like crazy!:eek:
 

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