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Fourier, (Francois Marie) Charles, 1772 – 1837. French social
theorist who believed that universal harmony could be achieved by
reorganizing society into small self-sustaining communal groups
called “phalanxes”.
Fourier, Baron Jean Baptiste Joseph, 1768 – 1830. French
mathematician and physicist who formulated a method for analyzing
periodic functions and studied the conduction of heat.
In a Fourier Transformation, a composite pattern is deconstructed
into its constituent parts as represented by an infinite sum of
sine waves. Sine wave or sine curve is the graph of the equation
Sin (theta) = Opposite / Hypotenuse. Each sine wave in the infinite
sum is associated with a specific amplitude and frequency. While
the amplitudes will vary freely according to that which is required
to best reproduce the composite pattern, the frequency of each term
will be a multiple of the base frequency within the Fourier Transform.
Although not a true Fourier Transform, the concept of taking a
composite community and examining the individual constituents carries
over into this piece. It is not a true Fourier Transform because
each component in this piece has the same frequency as can be determined
by the fact that the distance between peaks is constant.
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