Fun With Fourier Series

Abstract

By using computers to do experimental manipulations on Fourier series, we construct additional series with interesting properties. We construct several series whose sums remain unchanged when the $n^{th}$ term is multiplied by $\sin(n)/n$. One example is this classic series for $\pi/4$: \[ \frac{\pi}{4} = 1 - \frac{1}{3} + \frac{1}{5} - \frac{1}{7} + \dots = 1 \cdot \frac{\sin(1)}{1} - \frac{1}{3} \cdot \frac{\sin(3)}{3} + \frac{1}{5} \cdot \frac{\sin(5)}{5} - \frac{1}{7} \cdot \frac{\sin(7)}{7} + \dots . \] Another example is \[ \sum_{n=1}^{\infty} \frac{\sin(n)}{n} = \sum_{n=1}^{\infty} \left(\frac{\sin(n)}{n}\right)^2 = \frac{\pi-1}{2}. \] This paper also discusses an included Mathematica package that makes it easy to calculate and graph the Fourier series of many types of functions.