Posted by Sunny Kalara in Tuesday Physics Tattoos | 25 Comments
Must see : Fourier transform tattoo
Is this for real or is this photoshop?
There is a detailed explanation of the tattoo, which describes the physics behind the Fourier Transforms rather well.
Anyway, the tattoo shows the Fourier transform, one of the most extraordinary accomplishments in mathematics. It is due to Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier, 1768-1830. I won’t put his picture here because he’s butt ugly. Anyway JB realized that in a way, a different universe lives beside us. We are accustomed to x, y, z and t. x is horizontal, y is vertical, z is near-far, and t is time. Everything we can feel and intuit is expressed in these terms. But entangled in this Cartesian universe is another one, a jiggly world of images and sounds and signals and waves.
Anyway, sound is a frequency-domain phenomenon. You can’t understand it in the space-time domain. Some things are strictly space-time, and other things can be seen either way. You might be amazed at how useful it is to look at the visual world in the frequency domain. In fact, that’s how our brain does it. Everything passes through a kind of Fourier transform before the higher visual processing centers do anything with it. Visual computation, for the most part, follows frequency analysis. You have to admit–The Foomeister was definitely the man.
Source David Bradley’s blog (seems to be down for now)
There is a joke floating around that you know you are a real physicist, when you go to the beach and see the waves, and the first thing that comes to your mind is the Fourier Transforms! Talk Like a Physicist
David Bradley’s blog is inaccessible, maybe you could contact him, so he can fix it. I would, if I had his contact. :)
Your blog is great, by the way.
‘the foomeister’ ha ha! nice
The equation is wrong. If he has omega in the exponential, then he does not need the 2*pi.
The equation is wrong….
2*pi on the exp. have to be removed…
but..
it doesn’t realy matter… hehe….
quite nice tatoo.
FAIL! frequency isn’t angular speed and the limits of integration are -inf to +inf.
Do this guy got the anti-transform in the other arm? Wrong too?
The equation is right, the problem is that he used the omega letter to denote ordinary frequency.
It’s not photoshop, it’s real. The equation isn’t wrong, it just doesn’t use the usual symbol conventions. I like the way the omega looks so I used it instead; I figured no one would ever know the difference. So much for my assumption….
The anti-transform on the other arm is a great idea. Next time I get really drunk I’ll do that.
David Bradley
the limits of integration are pretty important, though
I understand the dude. I myself drive around with a vanity plate that says, “Fourier”. Honest. But I’m still searching for a portrait of Bracewell for my living room.
you stupid fuck, you got the equation wrong…
DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUHH
so this guy decided to use omega instead of “f”? bad call. omega is conveniently the symbol used for angular frequency and is probably used more commonly than “f” in transforms. i also probably would’ve used “j” instead of “i”, but thats just me :P
Dude, Nice tattoo, and if you were really drunk at the time you made it, it´s quite understandable the “misstake” at the omega instead the f… really freaking geek tattoo… and very cool!! haha peace out!
ai don’te espique ingrish ueri uell!!!
but, ai thimg , thiz gui like’s me!!! rot rot!!!!
rsrssrs
EE dude, you must be an engineer (oh… it just occurred to me that EE must stand for “electrical engineer”). Mathematicians tend to be fine with using omega in either context. In fact, we tend to allow for arbitrary scaling of variables. But I love the tatoo.
Nice idea with the tatoo!
Guys, he just used omega instead of f (if you look at the beginning, it’s G(w) and not G(f) ). Mathematically speaking, you can use sheeps instead of ‘f’, as long as you replace it everywhere.
For the other thing you argue about – integral’s limits. If not specified, it’s assumed to be -inf to +inf.
It looks well. It will definitely attract your children into physics really early. Or make them hate it really early, as well :P
omega is angular frequency 10 times out of 10. this guy looks retarded with the 2*pi*omega
not to be pedantic, but the fourier transform need the boundary in the integral…. minus, plus infinitive…..
….. by the way fantastic tatoo!!
…personally I’d have had a slightly smaller one; I mean, it’s not exactly discrete is it?
Boom boom ttsssss
The i should be a j. That’s the EE in me talking, though.
Agreed: angular frequency (omega) = 2*pi*f. The 2*pi on the tattoo is redundant. It would actually make the exponent 4*(pi^2)*f*i*x as it is seen.
Also agreed: you need the limits of integration. Why wouldn’t you include those?! It would “look cooler”, which is the whole point of this tattoo, right? To “look cool”?
Come on, dude. If you are going to be a math know-it-all-show-off… GET THE EQUATION CORRECT!
BTW, the backward hat and wife beater are soooo 1990s. ;)
lol^ the +- infinity can still be added. And stop hating for stupid reasons
Uh… the equation is fine. If you were actually comfortable with the Fourier transform you could care less if he used \omega or \xi. The domain being left off is fine too – how do you know it isn’t R^n?
Fourier transform is mostly for EE guy stuff so it must be correct even on a tough guy’s arm. omega and f can be understood as interchangeable each other, but omega is still 2*pi*f and requires integral’s limit so the equation must be correct whatsoever. j would also be look much better than i……Can he show his another arm for DFT verification?