What is … a Fourier Series?

This page hosts information on Jerry Gagelman's talk "What is … a Fourier Series?" at the "What is …?" seminar. The talk will take place on Friday, May 7, 12:30pm at the BMS Loft at Urania. This talk will help you better understand the BMS Friday talk by Andrew Stuart, which will start at 2pm.

Abstract

Fourier's method of analyzing differential equations has inspired so many ideas in other areas of mathematics that the name has become seemingly ubiquitous -- in harmonic analysis, representation theory, number theory, and so on. In this talk I'll motivate one perspective on Fourier series through basic linear algebra. From only the most minimal theory (e.g., basic calculus), I'll explain a couple things that Fourier series reveal.

Comments