Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-year-1-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2025/paper-1/18/b/solution

A Fourier series represents a periodic function as a constant plus sine and cosine waves whose frequencies are integer multiples of its fundamental frequency. For period , use the convention
where the Fourier coefficients are
The coefficient formulas follow by multiplying by a basis sine or cosine and using their orthogonality over a full period. A Fourier series need not equal an arbitrary function at every point. The pointwise convergence of a piecewise smooth Fourier series theorem says that for a piecewise continuously differentiable function, the Fourier series converges at each point to the average of the two one-sided limits, and hence to wherever is continuous.

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