Fourier series and Fourier transform. Amplitude spectrum vs. Frequency... https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/1946343/fourier-series-and-f...

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Fourier series and Fourier transform. Amplitude spectrum vs. Frequency spectrum

I would like to know if there are any differences between amplitude spectrum and frequency spectrum. Is there any link between
these two notions?

(fourier-series ) (fourier-transform)

asked Sep 29 '16 at 10:56

Iuli
3,572 1 17 61

@tibL I never asked this question... I didn't delete any questions.. Iuli Sep 29 '16 at 11:37

ah yes sorry in the other question you were asking the fourier transform from the fourier series so indeed
not the same thing, sorry about that tibL Sep 29 '16 at 11:40

1 Answer

From here:

Any signal whose amplitude is a function of time has a corresponding frequency spectrum.
When the signals are viewed in the form of a frequency spectrum, certain aspects of the
signals or the underlying processes producing them are revealed. In some cases the
frequency spectrum may include a distinct peak corresponding to a sine wave component.
And additionally there may be peaks corresponding to harmonics of a fundamental peak,
indicating a periodic signal which is not simply sinusoidal.

The power spectral density (PSD) of the signal describes the power present in the signal as a
function of frequency, per unit frequency. Sometimes one encounters an amplitude spectral
density (ASD), which is the square root of the PSD. This is useful when the shape of the
spectrum is rather constant, since variations in the ASD will then be proportional to
variations in the signal's amplitude itself. But it is mathematically preferred to use the PSD,
since only in that case is the area under the curve meaningful in terms of actual power over
all frequency or over a specified bandwidth.

In short, when we use the word spectrum or frequency spectrum, we are referring to the
magnitude squared of its Fourier transform, which is a bit different from the PSD (See
the third paragraph of this section ). You may also refer to this question for more clarification
of the terms.

edited Apr 13 at 12:47 answered Oct 4 '16 at 7:07

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