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What is the difference between the Magnitude and the Phase Spectrum of the Fourier Transform?

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  • $\begingroup$ Consider a sine wave. The magnitude corresponds to the frequency of the size wave, and the phase corresponds to where it hits zero. $\endgroup$ Commented May 31, 2020 at 10:07

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Fourier Transform changes basis from time (spatial data) to frequency. To encode frequency we need amplitude (magnitude) to know how strong is signal at given frequency and phase to know when sine started - in what moment of its phase we are now.

Example: take input signal $5\sin(x + \pi)$, here phase is $\pi$ and magnitude is $5$.

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