Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Oxford / 2023 / Prelims / Mathematics V / 4 / b / ii

The Fourier cosine series converges to the continuous even $2\pi$-periodic extension. If $r\in [-\pi ,\pi ]$ represents $x$ modulo $2\pi$, its value isIt has value zero at $x=2j\pi$, rises linearly with distance from these points until height $\pi /2$, and then stays flat until the next descending ramp. Thus the sketch on $[-3\pi ,3\pi ]$ has minima at $-2\pi ,0,2\pi$, and plateaux centred at the odd multiples of $\pi$. Its large partial sums round the corners and closely follow the whole graph.

The Fourier sine series converges, away from the odd multiples of $\pi$, to the odd $2\pi$-periodic extensionAt every odd multiple of $\pi$ its value is zero, the midpoint of the jump from $\pi /2$ to $-\pi /2$. At even multiples of $\pi$ it passes continuously through zero. Thus on every interval $((2j-1)\pi ,(2j+1)\pi )$ it has a negative plateau, a rising linear segment through $2j\pi$, and a positive plateau. The jump size is $\pi$.

The blue curves are the partial sums through $n=60$. The open endpoint circles and filled zero dots in the lower panel distinguish the one-sided limits from the value of the Fourier sine series at each jump. Near these jumps the partial sums exhibit the Gibbs phenomenon: the oscillations become concentrated in narrower regions as the number of terms grows, while their limiting overshoot remains about $0.08949$ times the jump, here about $0.281$.