I am a student taking engineering course and wish to learn more about Fourier Transforms. It seems very useful. Would highly appreciate it if anyone could advise me where to start.
Recommended books/links for Fourier Transform beginners?
-
1Well, th$a$t's $b$ecause of 1. a lot of things in applications can be couched in te$r$ms of Fourier transforms, and 2. there exists a speedy algorithm called the "fast Fourier transform" (FFT), and if you have a sleek-looking hammer, you tend to start looking for nails... – 2010-11-21
4 Answers
I first learned Fourier techniques from Bracewell's The Fourier Transform and Its Applications, but I'm digging the non-conventional treatment in Meikle's A New Twist to Fourier Transforms.
-
0I read some good reviews o$f$ Bracewell's book, but I can now say a$f$ter reading some of it that it is much worse than I had anticipated. It is long and full of poorly explained material. It makes many assumptions about the reader's knowledge, and does a poor job of explaining many difficult to grasp concepts. In addition, the flow and structure of the book is quite poor as well. Certainly not a book for anyone wishing to fully understand the Fourier transform in a clear, concise manner in my opinion – 2014-05-02
For a general engineering perspective, Erwin Kreyszig's book "Advanced Engineering Mathematics" would have some chapters on Fourier and other integral transforms.
For a more mathematical approach, but still with applications in mind, Sneddon's book Fourier Transforms is recommended. It has a lot of physics applications.
The book of Taub and Schilling on Principles of Communication Systems is very good from an electrical engineering point of view. I particularly liked this last book.
If you have an interest in engineering optics or linear systems, try Gaskill's book. It's good to start from.
David Kammler's book is also a a good introduction. The first part explains the connections between Fourier Series, Fourier Transform, DTFT, DFT very clearly which other books often gloss over.
This link is really, really good!
Fourier Transform in one day http://www.dspdimension.com/admin/dft-a-pied/