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The sinc function is an entire function defined as sinc(0) = 0 and for nonzero x. The function is continuous at x = 0 since .
The term "sinc" (IPA-en: ˈsɪŋk) is a contraction of the function's full Latin name, the sinus cardinalis (cardinal sine). First introduced by Phillip M. Woodward in 1953.[1][2][3]
Normalized sinc function
In digital signal processing and information theory, the normalized sinc function is common.
The only difference between sinc and the normalized sinc function is the scaling of the independent variable (the x-axis) by a factor of π. It is called normalized because the integral over all is 1. All of the zeros of the normalized sinc function are at nonzero integer values of x. The Fourier transform of the normalized sinc function is the rectangular function with no scaling. This function is fundamental in the concept of reconstructing the original continuous bandlimited signal from uniformly spaced samples of that signal.
Reciprocal Gamma function
The domain can be extended to the complex plane via the reciprocal Gamma function
Properties
The sinc function crosses zero at nonzero multiples of π; zero crossings of the normalized sinc occur at nonzero integer values.
The local maxima and minima of sinc correspond to its intersections with the cosine function. That is, for all points where the derivative of is zero (and thus a local extremum is reached.)
Maclaurin series
where the numerators give the sequence (Cf. A033999)
- {1, -1, 1, -1, 1, -1, 1, -1, 1, -1, 1, -1, 1, -1, 1, -1, 1, -1, 1, -1, 1, -1, 1, -1, 1, -1, 1, -1, 1, -1, 1, -1, 1, -1, 1, -1, 1, -1, 1, -1, 1, -1, 1, -1, 1, -1, 1, -1, ...}
and the denominators give the sequence (Cf. A009445)
- {1, 6, 120, 5040, 362880, 39916800, 6227020800, 1307674368000, 355687428096000, 121645100408832000, 51090942171709440000, 25852016738884976640000, ...}
Product representations
The normalized sinc function has a simple representation as the infinite product
and is related to the gamma function by Euler's reflection formula
Euler discovered that
Integral representations
The continuous Fourier transform of the normalized sinc (to cycle frequency) is the rectangular function
where the rectangular function is 1 for argument between and , and zero otherwise. This corresponds to the fact that the sinc filter is the ideal (brick-wall, meaning rectangular frequency response) low-pass filter.
This Fourier integral, including the special case
is an improper integral and not a convergent Lebesgue integral, as
The normalized sinc function has properties that make it ideal in relationship to interpolation of sampled bandlimited functions
- It is an interpolating function, i.e. , and for nonzero integer .
- The functions form an orthonormal basis for bandlimited functions in the function space , with highest angular frequency (that is, highest cycle frequency .)
Other properties of the two sinc functions
Derivatives of the sinc functions
The unnormalized sinc is the zero th order spherical Bessel function of the first kind, . The normalized sinc is .
Integrals of the two sinc functions
Indefinite integrals of the two sinc functions
where is the sine integral.
Improper integrals of the two sinc functions
Ordinary differential equation for the sinc function
(unnormalized sync function) is one of two linearly independent solutions to the linear ordinary differential equation
The other is , which is not bounded at , unlike its sinc function counterpart.
Relationship to the Dirac delta distribution
The normalized sinc function can be used as a "nascent" Dirac delta function, meaning that the following weak limit holds
This is not an ordinary limit, since the left side does not converge. Rather, it means that
for any smooth function with compact support.
In the above expression, as approaches zero, the number of oscillations per unit length of the sinc function approaches infinity. Nevertheless, the expression always oscillates inside an envelope of , and approaches zero for any nonzero value of . This complicates the informal picture of as being zero for all except at the point and illustrates the problem of thinking of the delta function as a function rather than as a distribution. A similar situation is found in the Gibbs phenomenon.
Generalized sinc functions
Since the sinc function is related to the Fourier transform of a quantity distributed uniformly over a finite interval (i.e. a 1-dimensional sphere,) the sinc function may be generalized by considering the Fourier transform of a quantity distributed uniformly over an -dimensional sphere.[4]
Tanc function
By analogy with the sinc function, the tanc function is defined as[5]
where we have continuity at the removable singularity at , since .
See also
- {{sinc}} (mathematical function template)
Notes
- ↑ Poynton, Charles A. (2003). Digital video and HDTV. Morgan Kaufmann Publishers. p. 147. ISBN 1558607927.
- ↑ Woodward, Phillip M. (1953). Probability and information theory, with applications to radar. London: Pergamon Press. p. 29. ISBN 0890061033. OCLC 488749777.
- ↑ Also apparently earlier in: Woodward, P. M.; Davies, I. L. (March 1952). “Information theory and inverse probability in telecommunication”. Proceedings of the IEE - Part III: Radio and Communication Engineering 99 (58): pp. 37–44. doi:10.1049/pi-3.1952.0011. http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/freeabs_all.jsp?reload=true&arnumber=5241361.
- ↑ Stanislav Sýkora, K-Space Images of n-Dimensional Spheres and Generalized Sinc Functions, Copyright ©2007.
- ↑ Weisstein, Eric W., Tanc Function, from MathWorld—A Wolfram Web Resource.
References
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External links