Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-year-2-of-the-earth-sciences-geology-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2024/paper-3/7/b/solution

Multiply the complex Fourier series by and integrate over one period. Fourier orthogonality removes every term except the one with index , giving
For general square-integrable functions, this is an orthogonal projection onto the corresponding Fourier mode. It remains valid when the expansion converges only in L2 space: integrate finite Fourier partial sums first, then pass to the limit using the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality. No unjustified pointwise exchange of an infinite series and an integral is needed.

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