Suppose we want to find the Fourier transform of a nonperiodic
function p(t), shownin Fig. 17.1(a). We consider a periodic functionf (t)
whose shape over one period is the same as p(t), as shown in Fig. 17.1(b).
If we let the period T →∞, only a single pulse of width τ [the desired
nonperiodic function in Fig. 17.1(a)] remains, because the adjacent pulses
have been moved to infinity. Thus, the function f (t) is no longer periodic.
In other words, f (t) = p(t) as T →∞. It is interesting to consider the
spectrum of f (t) for A = 10 and τ = 0.2 (see Section 16.6). Figure 17.2
shows the effect of increasing T on the spectrum. First, we notice that
the general shape of the spectrum remains the same, and the frequency at
which the envelope first becomes zero remains the same. However, the
amplitude of the spectrum and the spacing between adjacent components
both decrease, while the number of harmonics increases. Thus, over a
range of frequencies, the sum of the amplitudes of the harmonics remains
almost constant. Since the total “strength” or energy of the components
within a band must remain unchanged, the amplitudes of the harmonics
must decrease as T increases. Since f = 1/T , as T increases, f or ω
decreases, so that the discrete spectrum ultimately becomes continuous.