Fourier Arbitrary-Phase Sinusoid Series

fourier analysisfourier serieslinear-transformationstransformationtrigonometry

A Fourier Cosine Series uses an infinite sum of only cosine waves to represent a target function whose left endpoint is $0$, by considering its even extension. The even extension seems to amount to just adding a reflected version of the original function to the original function.

A Fourier Sine Series uses an infinite sum of only sine waves to represent a target function whose left endpoint is $0$, by considering its odd extension. The odd extension seems to amount to just adding a rotated version of the original function to the original function.

On one hand, these cases do seem to have a certain special simplicity to them. However, there are many other types of transformations, as well as many other sinusoid phases. Is it possible, then, to create a different extension by adding a differently-transformed version of the original function to itself, with the end goal of using something other than $sin(x)$ or $cos(x)$ as the fundamental wave in its own Fourier ____ Series?

As a hypothesized example, would it be possible to add a version of a function to itself, which had undergone a transformation "half way between a reflection and a rotation," to create a Fourier Half-way-between-cosine-and-sine Series that uses $\cos(x – \frac{\pi}{4})$ as the fundamental wave? If not, is there any other way to create such a series with $\cos(x – \frac{\pi}{4})$ (or an arbitrary-phase sinusoid) as the fundamental wave?

Best Answer

You can represent a shifted square wave with a shifted Fourier series.


For example the shifted square wave with peak-to-peak amplitude $2$ and period $2 \pi$ defined as follows

$$f(t)=\left\{ \begin{array}{cc} -1 & -\frac{\pi }{4}\leq t<\frac{3 \pi }{4} \\ 1 & \frac{3 \pi }{4}\leq t<\frac{7 \pi }{4} \\ f(t-2 \pi\ \text{sgn}(t)) & \text{True} \\ \end{array} \right.\tag{1}$$

can be represented by the following shifted Fourier series:

$$f(t)=\underset{N\to\infty }{\text{lim}}\left(\sum_{n=1}^N a(n) \cos \left(n \left(t-\frac{\pi }{4}\right)\right)\right)\tag{2}$$

where

$$a(n)=\frac{2 \left(\sin \left(\frac{3 \pi n}{2}\right)-\sin \left(\frac{\pi n}{2}\right)\right)}{\pi n}\tag{3}$$


The following plot illustrates formula (2) for $f(t)$ in orange overlaid on the reference function defined in formula (1) in blue where formula (2) is evaluated using an upper evaluation limit of $N=16$.


Illustration of Formula (2) for f(t)

Figure 1: Illustration of Formula (2) for $f(t)$


As another example the shifted square wave with peak-to-peak amplitude $2$ and period $2 \pi$ defined as follows

$$g(t)= \left\{ \begin{array}{cc} -1 & -\frac{3 \pi }{4}\leq t<\frac{\pi }{4} \\ 1 & \frac{\pi }{4}\leq t<\frac{5 \pi }{4} \\ g(t-2 \pi\ \text{sgn}(t)) & \text{True} \\ \end{array} \right.\tag{4}$$

can be represented by the following shifted Fourier series:

$$g(t)=\underset{N\to\infty }{\text{lim}}\left(\sum_{n=1}^N b(n) \sin\left(n \left(t-\frac{\pi }{4}\right)\right)\right)\tag{5}$$

where

$$b(n)=-\frac{2 \left((-1)^n-1\right)}{\pi n}\tag{6}$$


The following plot illustrates formula (5) for $g(t)$ in orange overlaid on the reference function defined in formula (4) in blue where formula (5) is evaluated using an upper evaluation limit of $N=16$.


Illustration of Formula (5) for g(t)

Figure 2: Illustration of Formula (5) for $g(t)$

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