A Why Is the Equality in This Spectral Analysis Proof Correct?

AI Thread Summary
The discussion revolves around understanding a proof from "Time Series Analysis and Its Applications with R examples" regarding spectral analysis. Participants are trying to clarify how certain terms in a summation cancel out or sum to zero, particularly focusing on the behavior of complex exponentials and their relationship to cosine functions. There is confusion about the notation and the implications of De Moivre's theorem, especially concerning non-integer powers. The conversation highlights the importance of correctly interpreting the summation and the specific cases where the proof holds, particularly excluding j = 0 and j = n/2. Overall, the participants are working through the mathematical details to arrive at a clearer understanding of the proof's validity.
Ma Xie Er
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I'm reading "Time Series Analysis and Its Applications with R examples", 3rd edition, by Shumway and Stoffer, and I don't really understand a proof. This is not for homework, just my own edification.

It goes like this:
Σt=1n cos2(2πtj/n) = ¼ ∑t=1n (e2πitj/n - e2πitj/n)2 = ¼∑t=1ne4πtj/n + 1 + 1 + e-4πtj/n = n/2.

I'm don't see how the last equality follows. I think, somehow, that the e4πtj/n and e-4πtj/n terms cancel out, but how?

Any ideas?
 
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Ma Xie Er said:
I think, somehow, that the e4πtj/n and e-4πtj/n terms cancel out, but how?
They don't need to cancel out if they are each 0 on their own.
 
Dale said:
They don't need to cancel out if they are each 0 on their own.

How are they zero on their own? If this is by De Moivre's theorem, then that doesn't apply to non-integers powers, i.e. (cos(x)+isin(x))n ≠(cos(nx) + i sin(nx)) for n ∉ℤ.
 
Ma Xie Er said:
How are they zero on their own?
Why don't you try it by hand for small n. Try writing out the sum for n=4.
 
Last edited:
Dale said:
Why don't you try it by hand for small n. Try writing out the sum for n=4.
Yes, I can see that, for n=4, j=1, but it doesn't work for j=2, n=4.
t=14 e4π i t 2/4 =∑t=14 eπ i (2t) = (-1)2 + (-1)4 + (-1)6 + (-1)8 ≠ 0.
 
Umm. Doesn't ##j=\sqrt{-1}## always?
 
Dale said:
Umm. Doesn't ##j=\sqrt{-1}## always?

No. n is a positive integer, and j= 1, ..., [[n/2]], where [[n/2]] is the floor or greatest integer function of n/2.
 
Dale said:
Umm. Doesn't ##j=\sqrt{-1}## always?
This text denotes i as √(-1)
 
Here's a link to the text http://www.stat.pitt.edu/stoffer/tsa3/tsa3.pdf. I was trying to solve Problem 2.10 on pg 77 (pg 87 of pdf). I don't quite understand footnote9, which is why I posted. I'm completely new to Fourier decomposition, so I'm having a hard time with this.
 
  • #10
Ma Xie Er said:
This text denotes i as √(-1)
Oh, then your summand is written wrong. You wrote.
$$ \sum _{t=1}^n e^{4\pi t j/n} + 1 + 1 + e^{-4\pi t j/n} $$
but it should be
$$ \sum _{t=1}^n e^{4\pi i t j/n} + 1 + 1 + e^{-4\pi i t j/n} $$

I'm not sure that fixes the proof, but it is important to write the problem clearly.
 
  • #11
OK, so I don't think that they individually sum to 0, but you can recombine them to get
$$ \sum _{t=1}^n \cos(4\pi t j/n) + 2 $$
 
  • #12
Dale said:
OK, so I don't think that they individually sum to 0, but you can recombine them to get
$$ \sum _{t=1}^n \cos(4\pi t j/n) + 2 $$

I think ##e^{ix}-e^{-ix}= 2 cos(x)##. In this case, ##e^{4 \pi t j/n}+ e^{- 4 \pi t j/n} = 2 cos(4 \pi t j/n)##, so shouldn't it be ##\sum_{t=1}^n 2 (1 + cos(4 \pi t j/n)## ?

And after this I'm still not sure how the series sums to 0.
 
  • #13
Right now I agree with you on that. It doesn't appear to work for j = n/2
 
  • #14
Just looked at the textbook. It specifically excludes the cases j = 0 and j = n/2. I think it works for all other j.
 
  • #15
Oops. You I forgot that case.

For ##j=1,.,,[[n/2]]-1##, I still don't see why it's true.
 
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