Who Is Fourier A Mathematical Adventure Pdf

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· 103 ratings · 11 reviews

Start your review of Who Is Fourier? a Mathematical Adventure

Mar 12, 2014 Eleanor rated it really liked it

A really charming exploration of a number of mathematical principles. This book handles its main topic (Fourier series) particularly well, giving both a thorough explanation of the formulae involved and their derivation and simple analogy by which to understand these.

Though this book is clearly designed to be accessible to a younger reader, I found it perfectly agreeable; while informal and humorous it avoided being patronising.

There were some oddities however. I feel like the treatment of diff

Though this book is clearly designed to be accessible to a younger reader, I found it perfectly agreeable; while informal and humorous it avoided being patronising.

There were some oddities however. I feel like the treatment of differentiation and integration was made overly complicated and messy. I also found it odd that fractions and decimal points were explained on page 317 well after covering Fourier series, differentiation, integration, vectors and complex numbers.

I feel like there are better books for explaining the later topics, but for Fourier series alone it's pretty amazing.

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Dec 26, 2007 Cameron rated it liked it

The transnational college of lex maybe the coolest thing ever. A cartoon book that teaches Fourier theory? Could it be true?

Jan 27, 2019 Dick Harding rated it really liked it

I couldn't finish this book. So why am I giving it 4 stars? I find as I have become aged that it is more difficult to learn. Not impossible, I must have some motivation. The subject itself, though somewhat interesting to me, did not motivate me to really tackle the math. That being said, I really enjoyed the novel approach the book made to learning and I also liked the very upbeat way it presented material. I couldn't finish this book. So why am I giving it 4 stars? I find as I have become aged that it is more difficult to learn. Not impossible, I must have some motivation. The subject itself, though somewhat interesting to me, did not motivate me to really tackle the math. That being said, I really enjoyed the novel approach the book made to learning and I also liked the very upbeat way it presented material. ...more

Apr 10, 2019 Tina Samuel rated it it was amazing

The flow of this book is ideal for the learner who knows nothing about mathematics. The way that this book has helped me deeply understand and connect the dots in FFT has been phenomenal. I recommend this to everyone who wants to simply fall in love with our world and how our brains work and perceive sound.

BRILLIANT. I absolutely love the style and the gentle introduction to complex topics.

Feb 23, 2019 Robert rated it really liked it

Love this book, don't know how anyone could dislike this. Love this book, don't know how anyone could dislike this. ...more

Sep 01, 2015 Charles rated it it was amazing

I was impressed by the concept of LEX and this book

This book was originally written to convey the experiences of the Transnational College of LEX (TCL), also known as Torakare, to as many members of the Hippo Group as possible. The college was founded in Tokyo in 1984 as a place where people could study the relationships between human beings and languages. People of all ages, from recent high school graduates to grandparents, study there. It is a school with no homework or exams and no taking of attendance, although people do graduate. Senior fellows, scientists and academicians are also there to lecture and help direct the people in their studies. The Hippo Family Club is the name that the group went by before the LEX name was taken, so the members and graduates are often referred to by that legacy title.
The language studies conducted at LEX are amazing, the Hippo members practice speaking eleven different languages at the same time. Their approach is that every form of human endeavor, mathematics included, has its' own specific language. Therefore, the idea behind this book was to write a description of Fourier series that would be understandable by as many people as possible.
In that capacity, they have succeeded very well, they start with the basic idea that all speech is a set of waveforms that can be described by sine and cosine curves. Moving slowly from this point, the plotting of complex waveforms by combining different curves is demonstrated. The calculus operations of differentiation and integration are included and the final stop is at the Fast Fourier Transforms (FFTs).
Many diagrams are used along this journey, reflecting the incremental nature of the presentation. The slow speed of coverage makes it inappropriate as a textbook, but it would be an excellent book for individual study. However, if you knew some of the math, you would find those sections boring. In many ways, this book has the appearance of a children's workbook, only there are not very many exercises to work through.
While I often found the pace tedious, I remain impressed by the concept of LEX and this book. It is readily admitted early on that it is the work of amateurs, but the authors clearly had fun in writing it and they do explain the topic in complete detail.

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Dec 28, 2009 Mike rated it really liked it

This is a fantastic book in many ways. First the math is interesting and important, but second and more important is the way the math is taught to you. Everything is delivered in small incremental pieces that are intuitive and easy to understand. The reason for not giving it 5 stars is they kind of got away from this approach towards the end of the book

Nov 26, 2009 Steven rated it really liked it

This book clearly teaches the elementary principles of Fourier series. There was a lot of superfluous fluff that supposedly makes this more palatable to a younger audience. I am not sure if it does, but while at times I felt foolish reading it, it was amusing

Mar 02, 2015 Adam rated it it was amazing

Amazingly simple and clear introduction to Fourier Analysis.