[Math] In what sense is a function on a circle the same as a $2 \pi$ periodic function on $\mathbb{R}$

circlesfunctionsperiodic functionsreal-analysis

I was reading the appendix of Elias M Stein's Fourier Analysis and before proving the approximation lemma the author mentions the following

Recall that a function on a circle is the same as a $2 \pi$ periodic function on $\mathbb{R}$
Could someone explain me what this exactly means and how are the functions are the same?

Best Answer

What is meant here is that any $2\pi$-periodic function $f : \Bbb{R} \to \Bbb{C}$ yields a well-defined function

$$ g : S^1 \to \Bbb{C}, e^{i x} \mapsto f(x). $$

Note that this is well-defined, because $e^{i x } = e^{i y}$ implies $x-y \in 2\pi \Bbb{Z}$ and hence $f(x) = f(y)$, because $f$ is $2\pi$-periodic.

Conversely, any function $g : S^1 \to \Bbb{C}$ yields a $2\pi$-periodic function

$$ f : \Bbb{R} \to \Bbb{C}, x \mapsto g(e^{i x}). $$

Finally, you should verify that the two "transformations" $f \mapsto g$ and $g \mapsto f$ defined above are inverse to each other.

Hence, we have constructed a natural identification between both classes of functions.

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