BCSSS

International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics

2nd Edition, as published by Charles François 2004 Presented by the Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science Vienna for public access.

About

The International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics was first edited and published by the system scientist Charles François in 1997. The online version that is provided here was based on the 2nd edition in 2004. It was uploaded and gifted to the center by ASC president Michael Lissack in 2019; the BCSSS purchased the rights for the re-publication of this volume in 200?. In 2018, the original editor expressed his wish to pass on the stewardship over the maintenance and further development of the encyclopedia to the Bertalanffy Center. In the future, the BCSSS seeks to further develop the encyclopedia by open collaboration within the systems sciences. Until the center has found and been able to implement an adequate technical solution for this, the static website is made accessible for the benefit of public scholarship and education.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z

FOURIER ANALYSIS 2)5)

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A mathematical technique created by the French mathematician Jean-Baptiste FOURIER that permits to decompose any continuous signal through a combination of various sine waves.

A FOURIER series is a sum of terms each with a defined amplitude and frequency, i.e. a sum of different sine waves.

This may lead to arbitrary representations as well as to a more or less adequate model of some complex process through the cyclical interferences of sine waves that may – or may not – correspond to different interconnected periodicities.

This method is also known as "Frequency analysis", "Harmonic analysis" or "Spectral analysis"

K. BOULDING however made the following ironic comment: "… spectral analysis (which) is an elegant way of detecting probably nonexistent cycles and throws no light on the real structures and processes which underlie fluctuations" (1972, p.70).

Indeed, as stated by D. BOHM and F.D. PEAT: "By means of FOURIER analysis, a particular arbitrary form can be built out of sets of periodic waves, each of which is of a global order"

… and: "While each simple wave represents a global order, when they are put together they add up to produce a complex local order as well" (1987, p.161-2).

The problem is that either that global or local order is very difficult to explain, or that the given explanation may be baseless. Anyhow, as observed by M. TALBOT, FOURIER transforms are the mathematical analogue of a hologram (1991, p.27).

Unfortunately, due to the resulting controversies about cycles and pseudo-cycles: "… economists seem virtually to have lost interest in the theory of fluctuations" (BOULDING, 1972, 4, p.70).

The subject deserves to be reconsidered, possibly using the WEIERSTRASS renormalization, the deterministic chaos models and the renewal in cycles studies started by K.DE GREENE.

Categories

  • 1) General information
  • 2) Methodology or model
  • 3) Epistemology, ontology and semantics
  • 4) Human sciences
  • 5) Discipline oriented

Publisher

Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science(2020).

To cite this page, please use the following information:

Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science (2020). Title of the entry. In Charles François (Ed.), International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics (2). Retrieved from www.systemspedia.org/[full/url]

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