1/6/2017

PeriodicfunctionWikipedia

Periodicfunction
FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Inmathematics,aperiodicfunctionisafunctionthatrepeatsitsvaluesinregularintervalsorperiods.Themost
importantexamplesarethetrigonometricfunctions,whichrepeatoverintervalsof2radians.Periodicfunctions
areusedthroughoutsciencetodescribeoscillations,waves,andotherphenomenathatexhibitperiodicity.Any
functionwhichisnotperiodiciscalledaperiodic.

Contents
1
2
3
4
5
6

Definition
Examples
Properties
Doubleperiodicfunctions
Complexexample
Generalizations
6.1 Antiperiodicfunctions
6.2 Blochperiodicfunctions
6.3 Quotientspacesasdomain
7 Seealso
8 References
9 Externallinks

Anillustrationofaperiodicfunctionwithperiod

Definition
AfunctionfissaidtobeperiodicwithperiodP(Pbeinganonzeroconstant)ifwehave

forallvaluesofxinthedomain.Ifthereexistsaleastpositive[1]constantPwiththisproperty,itiscalledthe
fundamentalperiod(alsoprimitiveperiod,basicperiod,orprimeperiod.)AfunctionwithperiodPwillrepeat
onintervalsoflengthP,andtheseintervalsarereferredtoasperiods.
Geometrically,aperiodicfunctioncanbedefinedasafunctionwhosegraphexhibitstranslationalsymmetry.
Specifically,afunctionfisperiodicwithperiodPifthegraphoffisinvariantundertranslationinthexdirection
byadistanceofP.Thisdefinitionofperiodiccanbeextendedtoothergeometricshapesandpatterns,suchas
periodictessellationsoftheplane.
Afunctionthatisnotperiodiciscalledaperiodic.

Examples
Forexample,thesinefunctionisperiodicwithperiod

,since

forallvaluesof .Thisfunctionrepeatsonintervalsoflength
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Periodic_function

(seethegraphtotheright).
1/4

1/6/2017

PeriodicfunctionWikipedia

Everydayexamplesareseenwhenthevariableistime
forinstancethehandsofaclockorthephasesofthe
moonshowperiodicbehaviour.Periodicmotionis
motioninwhichtheposition(s)ofthesystemare
expressibleasperiodicfunctions,allwiththesame
period.
Agraphofthesinefunction,showingtwocompleteperiods

Forafunctionontherealnumbersorontheintegers,
thatmeansthattheentiregraphcanbeformedfrom
copiesofoneparticularportion,repeatedatregularintervals.

Asimpleexampleofaperiodicfunctionisthefunction thatgivesthe"fractionalpart"ofitsargument.Itsperiod
is1.Inparticular,

Thegraphofthefunction isthesawtoothwave.
Thetrigonometricfunctionssineandcosinearecommon
periodicfunctions,withperiod2(seethefigureontheright).
ThesubjectofFourierseriesinvestigatestheideathatan
'arbitrary'periodicfunctionisasumoftrigonometricfunctions
withmatchingperiods.
Accordingtothedefinitionabove,someexoticfunctions,for
exampletheDirichletfunction,arealsoperiodicinthecaseof
Dirichletfunction,anynonzerorationalnumberisaperiod.

Properties
Ifafunction isperiodicwithperiod ,thenforall inthe
domainof andallpositiveintegers ,

If

isafunctionwithperiod ,then

Aplotof
and
functionsareperiodicwithperiod2.

both

,where isanonzerorealnumber,isperiodicwithperiod

Forexample,

hasperiod

therefore

willhaveperiod

Doubleperiodicfunctions
Afunctionwhosedomainisthecomplexnumberscanhavetwoincommensurateperiodswithoutbeingconstant.
Theellipticfunctionsaresuchfunctions.("Incommensurate"inthiscontextmeansnotrealmultiplesofeach
other.)

Complexexample
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Periodic_function

2/4

1/6/2017

PeriodicfunctionWikipedia

Usingcomplexvariableswehavethecommonperiodfunction:

Asyoucansee,sincethecosineandsinefunctionsareperiodic,andthecomplexexponentialaboveismadeupof
cosine/sinewaves,thentheabove(actuallyEuler'sformula)hasthefollowingproperty.IfListheperiodofthe
functionthen:

Generalizations
Antiperiodicfunctions
Onecommongeneralizationofperiodicfunctionsisthatofantiperiodicfunctions.Thisisafunctionfsuchthat
f(x+P)=f(x)forallx.(Thus,aPantiperiodicfunctionisa2Pperiodicfunction.)Forexample,thesineor
cosinefunctionisantiperiodicand2periodic.

Blochperiodicfunctions
AfurthergeneralizationappearsinthecontextofBlochwavesandFloquettheory,whichgovernthesolutionof
variousperiodicdifferentialequations.Inthiscontext,thesolution(inonedimension)istypicallyafunctionofthe
form:

wherekisarealorcomplexnumber(theBlochwavevectororFloquetexponent).Functionsofthisformare
sometimescalledBlochperiodicinthiscontext.Aperiodicfunctionisthespecialcasek=0,andanantiperiodic
functionisthespecialcasek=/P.

Quotientspacesasdomain
Insignalprocessingyouencountertheproblem,thatFourierseriesrepresentperiodicfunctionsandthatFourier
seriessatisfyconvolutiontheorems(i.e.convolutionofFourierseriescorrespondstomultiplicationofrepresented
periodicfunctionandviceversa),butperiodicfunctionscannotbeconvolvedwiththeusualdefinition,sincethe
involvedintegralsdiverge.Apossiblewayoutistodefineaperiodicfunctiononaboundedbutperiodicdomain.
Tothisendyoucanusethenotionofaquotientspace:
.
Thatis,eachelementin
functionlike

isanequivalenceclassofrealnumbersthatsharethesamefractionalpart.Thusa
isarepresentationofa1periodicfunction.

Seealso
Listofperiodicfunctions
Periodicsequence
Almostperiodicfunction
Amplitude
Definitepitch
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Periodic_function

3/4

1/6/2017

PeriodicfunctionWikipedia

Doublyperiodicfunction
Floquettheory
Frequency
Oscillation
Quasiperiodicfunction
Wavelength
Periodicsummation
Secularvariation

References
1.Forsomefunctions,likeaconstantfunctionortheindicatorfunctionoftherationalnumbers,aleastpositive"period"
maynotexist(theinfimumofpossiblepositivePbeingzero).

Ekeland,Ivar(1990)."One".ConvexitymethodsinHamiltonianmechanics.ErgebnissederMathematikund
ihrerGrenzgebiete(3)[ResultsinMathematicsandRelatedAreas(3)].19.Berlin:SpringerVerlag.
pp.x+247.ISBN3540506136.MR1051888.

Externallinks
Hazewinkel,Michiel,ed.(2001),"Periodicfunction",EncyclopediaofMathematics,Springer,ISBN9781
556080104
PeriodicfunctionsatMathWorld(http://mathworld.wolfram.com/PeriodicFunction.html)
Retrievedfrom"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Periodic_function&oldid=756980580"
Categories: Calculus Elementarymathematics Fourieranalysis Typesoffunctions
Thispagewaslastmodifiedon28December2016,at01:25.
TextisavailableundertheCreativeCommonsAttributionShareAlikeLicenseadditionaltermsmayapply.
Byusingthissite,youagreetotheTermsofUseandPrivacyPolicy.Wikipediaisaregisteredtrademark
oftheWikimediaFoundation,Inc.,anonprofitorganization.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Periodic_function

4/4