Audio Edition: What Is the Fourier Transform? episode artwork

EPISODE · Jun 18, 2026 · 12 MIN

Audio Edition: What Is the Fourier Transform?

from The Quanta Podcast · host Quanta Magazine

Amid the chaos of revolutionary France, one man’s mathematical obsession gave way to a calculation that now underpins much of mathematics and physics. The calculation, called the Fourier transform, decomposes any function into its parts. The story What Is the Fourier Transform? first appeared on Quanta Magazine.

Amid the chaos of revolutionary France, one man’s mathematical obsession gave way to a calculation that now underpins much of mathematics and physics. The calculation, called the Fourier transform, decomposes any function into its parts.  The story What Is the Fourier Transform? first appeared on Quanta Magazine.

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Audio Edition: What Is the Fourier Transform?

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Amid the chaos of revolutionary France, one man’s mathematical obsession gave way to a calculation that now underpins much of mathematics and physics. The calculation, called the Fourier transform, decomposes any function into its parts. The story...

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