Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 2 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge / 2007 / Paper 1 / 3 / i / Solution

Extend $f$ evenly to $F(x)=f(|x|)$ on the whole real line, and use the Fourier transform convention $\hat{F}(k)={\int }_{\mathbb{R}}F(x)e^{-ikx}dx$. Its odd sine contribution vanishes, giving $\hat{F}(k)=2{\int }_0^{\infty }f(x)\cos (kx)dx={\hat{f}}_c(k)$ for $k>0$; the transform is also even. The Fourier inversion theorem therefore gives, for $x>0$,This is the inverse Fourier cosine transform with the factor-of-two forward convention used here.