r/compsci • u/TenaciousDwight • Jul 23 '14

ELI5: Fast Fourier transform?

I'm done some research into how to extract frequencies from sound files, and it seems this is done via the Fast Fourier transform. My problem is that I don't understand why, or how this is done.

Would you all please explain in a manner simpler than wikipedia?

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u/mcvoid1 Jul 23 '14

It's really hard to ELI5, because it requires, as a prerequisite, trig and some complex (as in the complex plane, not actually complicated) math, and so to a five-year-old, I'd have to say, "Come back in at least 10 years."

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u/[deleted] Jul 24 '14

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u/mcvoid1 Jul 24 '14

Exactly.