If there's a mathematical idea that applies itself to almost everything in everyday life but is almost unknown outside the scientific world, the Fourier transform has to be the most unsung contender.

The Fourier transform underpins so much of our technological lives, in most cases probably without our realising it. The ability to mathematically split a waveform into its frequency components and ...

What is the maximum rate at which information can be transmitted error-free in fibre–optic communication systems? For linear channels, this was established in classic works of Nyquist and Shannon.