Fourier Series - Revolutionary Article

Revolutionary Article

“

Multiplying both sides by, and then integrating from to yields:

”

—Joseph Fourier, Mémoire sur la propagation de la chaleur dans les corps solides. (1807)

This immediately gives any coefficient of the trigonometrical series for for any function which has such an expansion. It works because if has such an expansion, then (under suitable convergence assumptions) the integral

$\begin{align} a_k&=\int_{-1}^1\varphi(y)\cos(2k+1)\frac{\pi y}{2}\,dy \\ &= \int_{-1}^1\left(a\cos\frac{\pi y}{2}\cos(2k+1)\frac{\pi y}{2}+a'\cos 3\frac{\pi y}{2}\cos(2k+1)\frac{\pi y}{2}+\cdots\right)\,dy \end{align}$

can be carried out term-by-term. But all terms involving for j ≠ k vanish when integrated from −1 to 1, leaving only the kth term.

In these few lines, which are close to the modern formalism used in Fourier series, Fourier revolutionized both mathematics and physics. Although similar trigonometric series were previously used by Euler, d'Alembert, Daniel Bernoulli and Gauss, Fourier believed that such trigonometric series could represent any arbitrary function. In what sense that is actually true is a somewhat subtle issue and the attempts over many years to clarify this idea have led to important discoveries in the theories of convergence, function spaces, and harmonic analysis.

When Fourier submitted a later competition essay in 1811, the committee (which included Lagrange, Laplace, Malus and Legendre, among others) concluded: ...the manner in which the author arrives at these equations is not exempt of difficulties and...his analysis to integrate them still leaves something to be desired on the score of generality and even rigour.

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