[Math] The coefficients of the Fourier series of the product of two real valued functions

fourier series

Consider two piecewise continuous, twice integrable functions $f, g: [-\pi, \pi] \rightarrow \mathbb{R}$, and suppose they have the following convergent Fourier series expansions:

$$
\begin{aligned}
f(x) & = \frac{a_0}{2} + \sum_{n = 1}^{\infty}\left(a_n \cos(n x) + b_n \sin(n x)\right) \\
g(x) & = \frac{\alpha_0}{2} + \sum_{n = 1}^{\infty}\left(\alpha_n \cos(n x) + \beta_n \sin(n x)\right)
\end{aligned}
$$

Define $h := fg$ and suppose $h$ is again twice integrable and has the following convergent Fourier series expansion:

$$
h(x) = \frac{A_0}{2} + \sum_{n = 1}^{\infty}\left(A_n \cos(n x) + B_n \sin(n x)\right)
$$

Can $h$'s coefficients be expressed in terms of $f$ and $g$'s coefficients? If the general question cannot be easily answered, how about the case $g = \sin$ or $g = \cos$?

Best Answer

Here's how I would motivate the solution:

First, the problem will be VASTLY simpler if you replace $\cos(nx)$ with one half the sum of a positive and negative complex exponential and $\sin(nx)$ as one half the difference between the positive and negative complex exponential, and then once the two series are expressed in terms of complex exponentials, then multiplication of Fourier terms becomes easy.

That's because the coefficient of the $m$-th term in the product will contain terms from the two multiplier series whose indices add to $m$, such as $(m-2,2)$, $(m-1,1)$, $(m,0)$, $(m+1,-1)$, $(m+2,-2)$, and so on, where the first index in each pair refers to the first series and the second index refers to the second series, and this is where the convolution on indices comes from.

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