
An Interactive Guide to the Fourier Transform - Schiphol
http://betterexplained.com/articles/an-interactive-guide-to-the-fourier-transform/
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matthewbauer
BetterExplained is a really great resource for any math that they cover. It's
the kind of explanations of math that I think Khan Academy was originally
going for but lately has seemed to drop in quality.

I really hope math teachers and professors can start to move more towards this
kind of "intuition" training as opposed to the arbitrary instruction found in
most textbooks. It won't get as good of grades on tests but it's much more
helpful in a students long term to have "knowledge" as opposed to
"instruction".

It's been frustrating because my high school Calculus teachers were really
good about teaching in that way. In college the teachers have been really
dismal at reaching any kind of usefulness. They've long abandoned any kind of
real understanding for the short term benefit of "just remember this formula"
on (their own) tests.

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kalid
(Kalid from BetterExplained here)

Thanks, really glad the site is resonating. My goal is to ask the genuine (and
slightly uncomfortable) question of "Did I experience the concept beyond the
technical definition?"

For something like Calculus, I could parrot out the formal definition of the
derivative, using limits. But could I describe it as "X-Ray vision", where I
look at a curve and see a sequence of tangent lines? A filled-in circle and
see the constituent rings?

I think we've forgotten to let people hear the song, not just memorize the
sheet music.

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vishnugupta
Came here to say "Thank You!". My interest in math got rekindled due no small
measure to your site. Now as I try to learn more math, I try very hard to look
for an "intuitive" meaning.

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kalid
That's awesome to hear, thanks. I realize learning is more than knowledge
transfer, you have to keep up the momentum to learn (for me, the joy of an
intuition keeps me cranking away at tough topics).

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sdk77
The style of the article reminds me of my all-time favorite book about DSP, by
Richard G Lyons: [http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Digital-Signal-
Processin...](http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Digital-Signal-Processing-
Edition/dp/0137027419)

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a-dub
+1

Great book. Although it can be a bit handwavey and a bit light on the math.
Honestly I think it's best supplemented with a good signals and systems text.

I like "Signal Processing and Linear Systems" by Lathi and "Digital Signal
Processing : principles, algorithms and applications" by Proakis.

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susi22
One thing I found interesting:

You can view the FT as a method that fits exponentials. You can even
generalize this idea and then you have the Prony method.

