21 Nov
2007
21 Nov
'07
noon
Hallo!
"The main reason we use complex numbers in electronic music is because they magically automate trigonometric calculations. We frequently have to add angles together in order to talk about the changing phase of an audio signal as time progresses (or as it is shifted in time, as in this chapter). It turns out that, if you multiply two complex numbers, the argument of the product is the sum of the arguments of the two factors."
so, is that where 'fast' fourier transform comes from then?
No - the term "fast" fourier transform comes from the special algorithm how the DFT (discrete fourier transform) is calculated (see e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fft)
LG Georg