Under the stated piecewise smooth hypotheses, the Dirichlet convergence theorem for Fourier series gives the average of the two one-sided limits of the corresponding periodic extension. The even extension is continuous at both endpoints, so the Fourier cosine series converges toThe odd extension agrees with on , but its left and right limits are at zero and at the join . Therefore the Fourier sine series converges toIndeed every partial sum of the Fourier sine series is already zero at both endpoints. The endpoint values agree with only when the corresponding boundary values vanish.
The Fourier cosine series on isIt is the Fourier series of the even extension to , repeated with period . The Fourier sine series isIt comes from the odd extension and its -periodic extension. These Fourier coefficient formulas follow by Fourier orthogonality, since every nonconstant sine or cosine has squared integral on , while the constant function has squared integral .
First, the Fourier coefficients of the Fourier cosine series decay as , whereas those of the Fourier sine series are of order . In particular, the absolute convergence bound for the Fourier cosine series gives a uniform tail estimateThus its tail is absolutely controlled using fewer Fourier harmonics. The Fourier sine series does not have an absolutely summable sequence of Fourier coefficients.
Second, the even extension is continuous, so its Fourier cosine series converges uniformly on the closed interval and approximates the nonzero endpoint limits correctly. The odd periodic extension has jumps, producing the Gibbs phenomenon in its Fourier sine series near zero and . Every Fourier sine series partial sum is zero at both endpoints, so by approaching from inside one obtainsHence the Fourier sine series approximation cannot converge uniformly even on the whole open interval, despite pointwise convergence at each interior point. The Fourier cosine series approximation has faster coefficient decay and avoids the persistent errors near the endpoints.
Take . It vanishes at both endpoints. Its odd periodic extension is continuously differentiable across the joins, whereas its even extension has corners because and are nonzero.
Two integrations by parts, with , giveThe Fourier coefficients are thereforeThe Fourier sine series has a uniform absolute tail , and each of its partial sums satisfies both zero boundary values exactly. The Fourier cosine series has an absolute tail bound ; at its omitted even-index Fourier coefficients have the same sign and yield an error of order . This verifies a strictly faster uniform error bound for the sine approximation in this example.
The theorem on pointwise convergence of a piecewise smooth Fourier series gives the average of the two one-sided values of the corresponding periodic extension. Under the usual piecewise smooth interpretation of the paper's derivative assumption, the even extension is continuous at and at the joined endpoints . ThusFor the odd extension, the values on either side of zero are and ; those on either side of are and . ThereforeThe endpoint values are also immediate because each sine term vanishes there. If or is nonzero, the Fourier sine series does not reproduce that endpoint value. Merely assuming that the derivative is locally piecewise continuous in the open interval would be weaker than the usual piecewise smooth hypothesis; the convergence assertion uses the standard endpoint regularity implicit in that hypothesis.
The Fourier cosine series and Fourier sine series use the respective formsTheir Fourier coefficients, obtained from Fourier orthogonality, areIn particular the constant term is . The Fourier cosine series is the Fourier series of the even extension , made -periodic. The Fourier sine series is the Fourier series of the odd extension, equal to for and for , again made -periodic.
Using the usual piecewise smooth interpretation of the derivative hypothesis, Dirichlet's theorem on Fourier series gives the average of the two one-sided limits of the appropriate periodic extension. The even extension is continuous at and at the identified endpoints , so the Fourier cosine series converges toFor the odd extension, the one-sided limits at zero are and , while at the periodic one-sided limits are and . Hence the Fourier sine series converges toAt an endpoint this equals precisely when is zero there. One can also see the zero endpoint values directly: every partial sum consists of sines that vanish at both endpoints.
For the Fourier cosine series, first take the even extension on , and then its -periodic extension. Evenness eliminates the sine terms. With the constant term written as , the Fourier coefficients and series areFor the Fourier sine series, take the odd extension for and for , and extend with period . Values assigned at isolated endpoints do not change the Fourier coefficients. Oddness eliminates the constant and cosine terms, leavingBoth formulas follow by orthogonality on and the parity of the extensions.