Episode Synopsis "Fourier series"
This unit is concerned with the technique of expressing a periodic function as a sum of terms, where each term is a constant, a sine function or a cosine function. There is a strong analogy with the technique of expressing a (non-periodic) function as a Taylor series, which is a sum of terms that are powers of the independent variable(s); in both cases, working with just the first few terms generally gives a useful approximation. This unit assumes the following background knowledge: the definition of the period; forced oscillations and resonance; integration by parts. This study unit is just one of many that can be found on LearningSpace, part of OpenLearn, a collection of open educational resources from The Open University. Published in ePub 2.0.1 format, some feature such as audio, video and linked PDF are not supported by all ePub readers.