Editing 26: Fourier
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| date = November 2, 2005 | | date = November 2, 2005 | ||
| title = Fourier | | title = Fourier | ||
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| image = fourier.jpg | | image = fourier.jpg | ||
| titletext = That cat has some serious periodic components | | titletext = That cat has some serious periodic components | ||
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==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
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− | A {{w|Fourier transform}} is a mathematical function | + | A {{w|Fourier transform}} is a mathematical function often used in physics and engineering. |
− | + | The theory is that any line graph can be represented as the sum of a bunch of sine waves of different frequencies, with each frequency having a different amplitude. (The most obvious application is in analysing a sound recording in terms of the different frequencies of sounds used.) So, for any line graph you can produce another graph of the frequencies and their amplitudes. To do this, there is a function where you put in one graph and you get the second graph as output, and this process of going from one to the other is a "transform". This function is actually shown in the third line of the comic [[55: Useless]]. | |
− | Cueball | + | Unfortunately Cueball has applied this "transform" to his cat... |
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+ | "Periodic components" in the title text refers to the spikes in the graph. Because sine waves repeat themselves as you go along, the presence of large amounts of one particular sine wave in the Fourier transform graph (each spike) shows that the overall result (the initial graph) is likely to have parts that also repeat themselves, like a {{w|periodic function}}. In other words, the cat has repeating parts. | ||
==Transcript== | ==Transcript== | ||
− | :[Cueball | + | :[Cueball talks on phone. Cat with many sharp points looks on.] |
− | :Cueball: Hi, Dr. Elizabeth? Yeah, uh... I accidentally took the Fourier transform of my cat... | + | :Cueball: Hi, Dr. Elizabeth? Yeah, uh ... I accidentally took the Fourier transform of my cat ... |
:Cat: Meow! | :Cat: Meow! | ||
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+ | ==Trivia== | ||
+ | *Original comments from [[Randall]]: "I like the idea of a graph meowing. Also, that cat has a lot of periodic components." | ||
+ | *This is the twenty-seventh comic originally posted to livejournal. The previous was [[25: Barrel - Part 4]]. The next was [[27: Meat Cereals]]. | ||
{{comic discussion}} | {{comic discussion}} | ||
− | + | [[Category:Comics posted on livejournal]] | |
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[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]] | [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]] | ||
[[Category:Math]] | [[Category:Math]] | ||
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