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What Is the Fourier Transform?

(www.quantamagazine.org)
474 points rbanffy | 2 comments | | HN request time: 0.528s | source
1. ThrowawayR2 ◴[] No.45133986[source]
Kind of a tangent but why are there so many articles and videos popularizing the Fourier transform and practically none for the Laplace transform? The first person to do a well done 3Blue1Brown style video that focuses on intuition and visualization would probably be an overnight sensation (well, among engineers at least).
replies(1): >>45134333 #
2. artyom ◴[] No.45134333[source]
My take on this is that Fourier is easier to understand, has more immediate and relatable practical applications, and can be explained to "common folk" with just-enough sophistication and some tangible analogies (like the wool picture from the article).

Explaining Laplace to solve differential equations with analogies it's a bit more... complicated.