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Fourier series coefficients and plot

Short answer

For a periodic square wave of width 2T₁: a0 = 2T₁/T, ak = sin(kω₀T₁)/(kπ) for k≠0. With 50% duty cycle T=4T₁: a0=0.5, a1=1/π≈0.318, a3=-1/(3π)≈-0.106, even harmonics zero. Coefficients are real and even.

Find Fourier series coefficients of signal and plot the coefficients. [The signal is not printed on the paper.]

The paper does not print the signal. This answer takes the standard textbook case: a periodic square wave of period TT with x(t)=1x(t) = 1 for ∣t∣<T1|t| < T_1 and x(t)=0x(t) = 0 for T1<∣t∣<T/2T_1 < |t| < T/2.

 x(t)
  1     ___       ___       ___
       |   |     |   |     |   |
 ______|   |_____|   |_____|   |___ t
     -T1   T1  T-T1  T+T1
       (pulse centred at t = 0)

Coefficients

With ω0=2π/T\omega_0 = 2\pi/T, the DC term is

a0=1T∫−T1T11 dt=2T1Ta_0 = \frac{1}{T}\int_{-T_1}^{T_1} 1\,dt = \frac{2T_1}{T}

For k≠0k \ne 0:

ak=1T∫−T1T1e−jkω0tdt=1T[e−jkω0t−jkω0]−T1T1=2kω0T⋅ejkω0T1−e−jkω0T12j=sin⁡(kω0T1)kπ\begin{aligned} a_k &= \frac{1}{T}\int_{-T_1}^{T_1} e^{-jk\omega_0 t}dt = \frac{1}{T}\left[\frac{e^{-jk\omega_0 t}}{-jk\omega_0}\right]_{-T_1}^{T_1} \\ &= \frac{2}{k\omega_0 T}\cdot\frac{e^{jk\omega_0 T_1} - e^{-jk\omega_0 T_1}}{2j} = \frac{\sin(k\omega_0 T_1)}{k\pi} \end{aligned}

The coefficients are real, because x(t)x(t) is real and even.

Example values for T = 4T₁ (50% duty cycle)

Here ω0T1=π/2\omega_0 T_1 = \pi/2, so ak=sin⁡(kπ/2)kπa_k = \frac{\sin(k\pi/2)}{k\pi}:

k0±1±2±3±4±5
aka_k1/21/π1/\pi ≈ 0.3180−1/(3π)-1/(3\pi) ≈ −0.10601/(5π)1/(5\pi) ≈ 0.064

Plot of the coefficients

 a_k
  0.50                   |
  0.32                |  |  |
  0.06    |           |  |  |           |
  0  -----+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--- k
         -5 -4 -3 -2 -1  0  1  2  3  4  5
 -0.11          |                 |

The coefficients are samples, at ω=kω0\omega = k\omega_0, of the sinc-shaped envelope ω0π⋅sin⁡(ωT1)ω\frac{\omega_0}{\pi}\cdot\frac{\sin(\omega T_1)}{\omega}. Even harmonics vanish for a 50% duty cycle, and the odd ones decrease as 1/k1/k with alternating sign.

✓ Answer checked by Claude Opus 5.5 (high effort)

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