Abstract

The study of signals and systems using sinusoidal representations is known as Fourier analysis (named after the French mathematician Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier, who developed Fourier series). In this chapter, we discuss the representation of periodic signals in terms of sinusoids. This lays the foundation for spectrum estimation, which is one of the most important topics in the study and applications of signals and systems. Since each sinusoid corresponds to a single frequency, the representation of signals using sinusoids leads us to frequency-domain understanding and interpretation of signals.