Introduction to the Fourier Series

A detailed tutorial on the solving of Fourier series. Step by step tutorial including several examples of how to solve the Fourier series for reference.

The Fourier series is very common in differential equations and partial differential equations. What a Fourier series does is decompose a periodic function into the sum of simple oscillating functions, like sine and cosine. Fourier series are part of Fourier analysis and were first introduced by Joseph Fourier to solve the heat equation. So another name for the Fourier series is the heat equation, although they are considered different things. Both the heat equation and the Fourier series are partial differential equations.