##Why Fourier series possible? We first begin with a few basic identities on the size of sets. Show that the set of possible functions representing sets is not larger than the set of available functions? ##Why Fourier series is plausible? To show that Fourier series is plausible, let us consider some arbitrary trignometric functions and see if it is possible to express them as the sum of sines and cosines: $1.\quad\sin^2(x) = ?$ Based on the double angle formula, $\qquad\cos(2x) = 1 - 2 \sin^2(x)$ Rearranging, $\qquad\sin^2(x) = \frac{1-\cos(2x)}{2}$ $2.\quad\sin(2x)\cdot\cos(2x) = ?$ Based on the double angle formula, $\qquad\sin(2x) = 2\sin(x)\cos(x)$ Rearranging, $$\begin{array}{ccl} \sin(2x)\cdot\cos(x) & = & [2\sin(x)\cos(x)]\cdot\cos(x)\\ & = & 2 \sin(x) [ 1 - \sin^2(x)]\\ & = & 2\sin(x) - 2\sin^3(x)\\ \end{array}$$ Based on the double angle formula, $\qquad\sin(3x) = 3\sin(x) - 4\sin^3(x)$ Rearranging, $\qquad\sin^3(x) = \frac{3\sin(x)-\sin(3x)}{4}$ Substituting back in the former equation, we get $$ \begin{array} {ccl} \sin(2x) & = & 2\sin(x) - 2 [\frac{3\sin(x)-\sin(3x)}{4}]\\ & = & \frac{1}{2}\sin(x) + \frac{1}{2}\sin(3x)\\ \end{array} $$ Thus, we see that both these functions could be expressed as sums of sines and cosines. It is possible to show that every product of trignometric functions can be expressed as a sum of sines and cosines: $$ \begin{array}{ccl} e^{i\theta} & = & \cos \theta + i \sin \theta\\ \end{array} $$ ##What is the Fourier series actually? ##Why is Fourier series useful?