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Encyclopedia Britannica

HARMONIC ANALYSIS

This article appears in Volume V12, Page 957 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: HAN-HEG

HARMONIC ANALYSIS , in mathematics, the name given by Sir William Thomson (Lord Kelvin) and P. G. Tait in their treatise on Natural Philosophy to a general method of investigating physical questions, the earliest applications of which seem to have been suggested by the study of the vibrations of strings and the analysis of these vibrations into their fundamental tone and its harmonics or overtones.
The motion of a uniform stretched

string

STRING

fixed at both ends is a periodic motion; that is to say, after a certain interval of time, called the fundamental period of the motion, the form of the

string

STRING

and the velocity of every part of it are the same as before, provided that the energy of the motion has not been sensibly dissipated during the period.
There are two distinct methods of investigating the motion of a uniform stretched string. One of these may be called the wave method, and the other the harmonic method. The wave method is founded on the theorem that in a stretched string of infinite length a wave of any form may be propagated in either direction with a certain velocity, V, which we may define as the " velocity of propagation." If a wave of any form travelling in the positive direction meets another travelling in the opposite direction, the form of which is such that the lines joining corresponding points of the two waves are all bisected in a fixed point in the line of the string, then the point of the string corresponding to this point will remain fixed, while the two waves pass it in opposite directions. If we now suppose that the form of the waves travelling in the positive direction is periodic, that is to say, that after the wave has travelled forward a distance 1, the position of every particle of the string is the same as it was at first, then 1 is called the wave-length, and the time of travelling a wave-length is called the periodic time, which we shall denote by T, so that 1= VT.
If we now suppose a set of waves similar to these, but reversed in position, to be travelling in the opposite direction, there will be a

series

SERIES (a Latin word from serere, to join)

of points, distant Zl from each other, at which there will be no motion of the string; it will therefore make no difference to the motion of the string if we suppose the string fastened to fixed supports at any two of these points, and we may then suppose the parts of the string beyond these points to be removed, as it cannot affect the motion of the part which is between them. We have thus arrived at the case of a uniform string stretched between two fixed supports, and we conclude that the motion of the string may be completely represented as the resultant of two sets of periodic waves travelling in opposite directions, their wave-lengths being either twice the distance between the fixed points or a submultiple of this wave-length, and the form of these waves, subject to this condition, being perfectly arbitrary.
To make the problem a definite one, we may suppose the initial displacement and velocity of every particle of the string given in terms of its distance from one end of the string, and from these data it is easy to calculate the form which is common to all the travelling waves. The form of the string at any subsequent time may then be deduced by calculating the positions of the two sets of waves at that time, and compounding their displacements.
Thus in the wave method the actual motion of the string is considered as the resultant of two wave motions, neither of which is of itself, and without the other, consistent with the condition that the ends of the string are fixed. Each of the wave motions is periodic with a wave-length equal to twice the distance between the fixed points, and the one set of waves is the

reverse

REVERSE

of the other in respect of displacement and velocity and direction of propagation; but, subject to these conditions, the form of the wave is perfectly arbitrary. The motion of a particle of the string, being determined by the two waves which pass over it in opposite directions, is of an equally arbitrary type.
In the harmonic method, on the other hand, the motion of the string is regarded as compounded of a

series

SERIES (a Latin word from serere, to join)

of vibratory motions (normal modes of vibration), which may be infinite in number, but each of which is perfectly definite in type, and is in fact a particular solution of the problem of the motion of a string with its ends fixed.
A simple harmonic motion is thus defined by Thomson and Tait ( 53) :When a point Q moves uniformly in a circle, the perpendicular QP,

drawn

DRAWN

from its position at any instant to a fixed

diameter

DIAMETER (from the Cr. &a, through, µErpov, measure)

AA' of the circle, intersects the

diameter

DIAMETER (from the Cr. &a, through, µErpov, measure)

in a point P whose position changes by a simple harmonic motion.
The amplitude of a simple harmonic motion is the range on one side or the other of the middle point of the course.
The period of a simple harmonic motion is the time which elapses from any instant until the moving-point again moves in the same direction through the same position.
The phase of a simple harmonic motion at any instant is the fraction of the whole period which has elapsed since the moving-point last passed through its middle position in the positive direction.
In the case of the stretched string, it is only in certain particular cases that the motion of a particle of the string is a simple harmonic motion. In these particular cases the form of the tring at any instant is that of a curve of sines having the line joining the fixed
points for its

axis

AXIS (Lat. for " axle ")

, and passing through these two points, and there-fore having for its wave-length either twice the length of the string or some submultiple of this wave-length. The amplitude of the curve of sines is a simple harmonic

function

FUNCTION

of the time, the period being either the fundamental period or some submultiple of the fundamental period. Every one of these modes of vibration is dynamically possible by itself, and any number of them may coexist independently of each other.
By a proper adjustment of the initial amplitude and phase of each of these modes of vibration, so that their resultant shall represent the initial state of the string, we obtain a new representation of the whole motion of the string, in which it is seen to be the resultant of a series of simple harmonic vibrations whose periods are the fundamental period and its submultiples. The determination of the amplitudes and phases of the several simple harmonic vibrations so as to satisfy the initial conditions is an example of harmonic analysis.
We have thus two methods of solving the partial differential equation of the motion of a string. The first, which we have called the wave method, exhibits the solution in the form containing an arbitrary

function

FUNCTION

, the nature of which must be determined from the initial conditions. The second, or harmonic method, leads to a series of terms involving sines and cosines, the coefficients of which have to be determined. The harmonic method may be defined in a more general manner as a method by which the solution of any actual problem may be obtained as the sum or resultant of a number of terms, each of which is a solution of a particular case of the problem. The nature of these particular cases is defined by the condition that any one of them must be conjugate to any other.
The mathematical test of conjugacy is that the energy of the system arising from two of the harmonics existing-together is equal to the sum of the energy arising from the two harmonics taken separately. In other words, no part of the energy depends on the product of the amplitudes of two different harmonics. When two modes of motion of the same system are conjugate to each other, the existence of one of them does not affect the other.
The simplest case of harmonic analysis, that of which the treatment of the vibrating string is an example, is completely investigated in what is known as

Fourier

's theorem.

Fourier

's theorem asserts that any periodic function of a single variable period p, which does not become infinite at any phase, can be expanded in the form of a series consisting of a constant term, together with a

double

series of terms, one set involving cosines and the other sines of multiples of the phase.
Thus if '(E) is a periodic function of the-variable t having a period p, then it may be expanded as follows:
(i) =Ao+l A;cos2p Bism 2ilrt
(I)
The part of the theorem which is most frequently required, and which also is the easiest to investigate, is the determination of the values of the coefficients Ao, Ai, Bi. These are
h 2 f ? 21ir 2 ~? Zia Ao=- f 4,(E)dt; Ai=p fo op(S)cos A; Bi=i gyp( )sin--A.
This part of the theorem may be verified at once by multiplying both sides of (I) by A, by cos (2ia /p)/dE or by sin (2i7ri;/p))/dE, and in each case integrating from o to p.
The series is evidently single-valued for any given value of . It cannot therefore represent a function of which has more than one value, or which becomes imaginary for any value of . It is convergent, approaching to the true value of 4( ) for all values of such that if t varies infinitesimally the function also varies infinitesimally.
Lord Kelvin, availing himself of the disk, globe and cylinder integrating machine invented by his brother, Professor James Thomson, constructed a machine by which eight of the integrals required for the expression of Fourier's series can be obtained simultaneously from the recorded trace of any periodically variable quantity, such as the height of the tide, the temperature or pressure of the atmosphere, or the intensity of the different components of terrestrial magnetism. If it were not on account of the waste of time, instead of having a curve

drawn

DRAWN

by the action of the tide, and the curve afterwards acted on by the machine, the time

axis

AXIS (Lat. for " axle ")

of the machine itself might be driven by a clock, and the tide itself might

work

WORK

the second variable of the machine, but this would involve the constant presence of an expensive machine at every tidal
station. (J. C. M.)
For a discussion of the restrictions under which the expansion of a periodic function oft in the form (i) is valid, see FOURIER'S SERIES. An account of the contrivances for mechanical calculation of the coefficients Ai, Bi . . . is given under CALCULATING

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