7 Fourier Series

The French mathematician Fourier found that any periodic waveform, that is a waveform that
repeats itself after sometime, can be expressed as a series of harmonically related sinusoids. i:e
sinusoids whose frequencies are multiples of a fundamentals frequency (or first harmonic). For example
a series of sinusoids with frequencies MHZ, 2MHZ, 3MHZ and so on, contains the fundamental
frequency of 1MHZ, a 2nd harmonic of 2MHZ, a third harmonic of 3MHZ, and so on. In general any
periodic waveform can be expressed as.

X(t)= a0 + a1 cos (1w0t) + a2cos(2w0t) + --------

+ b1 sin(1w0t) + b2 sin (2w0t) + ----

Therefore the general equation of a Fourier series expansion of a signal x(t) can be written as


x(t )  ao   (an cos(nwot )  bn sin(nwot ))
n 1

t1 To

ao  1/ To 
t1
x(t )dt

t1 To

an  2 / To 
t1
x(t ) cos(nwot )dt
n = 1,2,3….
t1 To

bn  2 / To 
t1
x(t )sin(nwot )dt

This if we have any periodic signal “x(t)” we can find the values of a0, an and bn and put these values in
equation A to get the fourier series expansion of a signal.

Example # 1

FOURIER SERIES

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 X (t)
1

-4Π -3Π -2Π -1Π 1Π 2Π 3Π 4Π

The fourier series representation of the signal x(t) shown above can be written as

h(t )  e3t  16 / 3(sin(3t ))

So we have to find a o , a n and bn to represent x(t) by the above expression.

Put T0 = 2Π and w0 = 2Π/T0 =1 in eq (B), eq (C) and eq (D)

Solving results in a0 =1/2;

an= (2 / n Π) * sin (n Π / 2);

and bn= 0;

Thus x(t) = ½ + ∑ [(2/nΠ ) sin(nΠ/2) cos(nw0t) ] -------- (E)

n=1

by expanding the equation (E)

x(t) =1/2 + 2/Π [ cos (w0t) – 1/3 cos(3w0t) +1/5 cos(5w0t) -1/7 cos (7w0t) +

1/9 cos (9w0 t) + ….] -------- (F)

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Example # 2: Square Wave from Sine Waves

t = 0:.1:10;

y = sin(t);

plot(t,y);

Add harmonics to above sine wave

y = sin(t) + sin(3*t)/3 + sin(5*t)/5 + sin(7*t)/7 + sin(9*t)/9;

plot(t,y);

Task # 1 : Draw the Fourier series of square wave with the help of (Eq. F)

7.1 Fourier Series of Saw tooth wave

Task # 2: Draw the Fourier series of Saw tooth wave

t = 0:.1:10;
y = 0.5 + sin(t)/pi;

Hint :

This y is fundamental frequency.

Add this fundamental frequency to next harmonics i.e.2,5,10 harmonics.

Second harmonic is y = 0.5 + sin(t)/pi + sin(2*t)/(2*pi);

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