In
mathematics
Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...
, the discrete sine transform (DST) is a
Fourier-related transform
This is a list of linear transformations of functions related to Fourier analysis. Such transformations map a function to a set of coefficients of basis functions, where the basis functions are sinusoidal and are therefore strongly localized in t ...
similar to the
discrete Fourier transform
In mathematics, the discrete Fourier transform (DFT) converts a finite sequence of equally-spaced Sampling (signal processing), samples of a function (mathematics), function into a same-length sequence of equally-spaced samples of the discre ...
(DFT), but using a purely
real matrix
Matrix (: matrices or matrixes) or MATRIX may refer to:
Science and mathematics
* Matrix (mathematics), a rectangular array of numbers, symbols or expressions
* Matrix (logic), part of a formula in prenex normal form
* Matrix (biology), the m ...
. It is equivalent to the imaginary parts of a DFT of roughly twice the length, operating on real data with
odd symmetry
Symmetry () in everyday life refers to a sense of harmonious and beautiful proportion and balance. In mathematics, the term has a more precise definition and is usually used to refer to an object that is Invariant (mathematics), invariant und ...
(since the Fourier transform of a real and odd function is imaginary and odd), where in some variants the input and/or output data are shifted by half a sample.
The DST is related to the
discrete cosine transform
A discrete cosine transform (DCT) expresses a finite sequence of data points in terms of a sum of cosine functions oscillating at different frequency, frequencies. The DCT, first proposed by Nasir Ahmed (engineer), Nasir Ahmed in 1972, is a widely ...
(DCT), which is equivalent to a DFT of real and ''even'' functions. See the DCT article for a general discussion of how the boundary conditions relate the various DCT and DST types. Generally, the DST is derived from the DCT by replacing the
Neumann condition at ''x''=0 with a
Dirichlet condition. Both the DCT and the DST were described by
Nasir Ahmed, T. Natarajan, and
K.R. Rao in 1974.
The type-I DST (DST-I) was later described by
Anil K. Jain in 1976, and the type-II DST (DST-II) was then described by H.B. Kekra and J.K. Solanka in 1978.
Applications
DSTs are widely employed in solving
partial differential equation
In mathematics, a partial differential equation (PDE) is an equation which involves a multivariable function and one or more of its partial derivatives.
The function is often thought of as an "unknown" that solves the equation, similar to ho ...
s by
spectral methods
Spectral methods are a class of techniques used in applied mathematics and scientific computing to numerically solve certain differential equations. The idea is to write the solution of the differential equation as a sum of certain "basis functio ...
, where the different variants of the DST correspond to slightly different odd/even boundary conditions at the two ends of the array.
Informal overview
Like any Fourier-related transform, discrete sine transforms (DSTs) express a function or a signal in terms of a sum of
sinusoid
A sine wave, sinusoidal wave, or sinusoid (symbol: ∿) is a periodic wave whose waveform (shape) is the trigonometric sine function. In mechanics, as a linear motion over time, this is '' simple harmonic motion''; as rotation, it correspond ...
s with different
frequencies
Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit of time. Frequency is an important parameter used in science and engineering to specify the rate of oscillatory and vibratory phenomena, such as mechanical vibrations, audio ...
and
amplitude
The amplitude of a periodic variable is a measure of its change in a single period (such as time or spatial period). The amplitude of a non-periodic signal is its magnitude compared with a reference value. There are various definitions of am ...
s. Like the
discrete Fourier transform
In mathematics, the discrete Fourier transform (DFT) converts a finite sequence of equally-spaced Sampling (signal processing), samples of a function (mathematics), function into a same-length sequence of equally-spaced samples of the discre ...
(DFT), a DST operates on a function at a finite number of discrete data points. The obvious distinction between a DST and a DFT is that the former uses only
sine function
In mathematics, sine and cosine are trigonometric functions of an angle. The sine and cosine of an acute angle are defined in the context of a right triangle: for the specified angle, its sine is the ratio of the length of the side opposite that ...
s, while the latter uses both cosines and sines (in the form of
complex exponentials). However, this visible difference is merely a consequence of a deeper distinction: a DST implies different
boundary condition
In the study of differential equations, a boundary-value problem is a differential equation subjected to constraints called boundary conditions. A solution to a boundary value problem is a solution to the differential equation which also satis ...
s than the DFT or other related transforms.
The Fourier-related transforms that operate on a function over a finite
domain, such as the DFT or DST or a
Fourier series
A Fourier series () is an Series expansion, expansion of a periodic function into a sum of trigonometric functions. The Fourier series is an example of a trigonometric series. By expressing a function as a sum of sines and cosines, many problems ...
, can be thought of as implicitly defining an ''extension'' of that function outside the domain. That is, once you write a function
as a sum of sinusoids, you can evaluate that sum at any
, even for
where the original
was not specified. The DFT, like the Fourier series, implies a
periodic extension of the original function. A DST, like a
sine transform, implies an
odd extension of the original function.
However, because DSTs operate on ''finite'', ''discrete'' sequences, two issues arise that do not apply for the continuous sine transform. First, one has to specify whether the function is even or odd at ''both'' the left and right boundaries of the domain (i.e. the min-''n'' and max-''n'' boundaries in the definitions below, respectively). Second, one has to specify around ''what point'' the function is even or odd. In particular, consider a sequence (''a'',''b'',''c'') of three equally spaced data points, and say that we specify an odd ''left'' boundary. There are two sensible possibilities: either the data is odd about the point ''prior'' to ''a'', in which case the odd extension is (−''c'',−''b'',−''a'',0,''a'',''b'',''c''), or the data is odd about the point ''halfway'' between ''a'' and the previous point, in which case the odd extension is (−''c'',−''b'',−''a'',''a'',''b'',''c'')
These choices lead to all the standard variations of DSTs and also
discrete cosine transform
A discrete cosine transform (DCT) expresses a finite sequence of data points in terms of a sum of cosine functions oscillating at different frequency, frequencies. The DCT, first proposed by Nasir Ahmed (engineer), Nasir Ahmed in 1972, is a widely ...
s (DCTs). Each boundary can be either even or odd (2 choices per boundary) and can be symmetric about a data point or the point halfway between two data points (2 choices per boundary), for a total of
possibilities. Half of these possibilities, those where the ''left'' boundary is odd, correspond to the 8 types of DST; the other half are the 8 types of DCT.
These different boundary conditions strongly affect the applications of the transform, and lead to uniquely useful properties for the various DCT types. Most directly, when using Fourier-related transforms to solve
partial differential equation
In mathematics, a partial differential equation (PDE) is an equation which involves a multivariable function and one or more of its partial derivatives.
The function is often thought of as an "unknown" that solves the equation, similar to ho ...
s by
spectral method
Spectral methods are a class of techniques used in applied mathematics and scientific computing to numerically solve certain differential equations. The idea is to write the solution of the differential equation as a sum of certain " basis funct ...
s, the boundary conditions are directly specified as a part of the problem being solved.
Definition
Formally, the discrete sine transform is a
linear
In mathematics, the term ''linear'' is used in two distinct senses for two different properties:
* linearity of a '' function'' (or '' mapping'');
* linearity of a '' polynomial''.
An example of a linear function is the function defined by f(x) ...
, invertible
function ''F'' : R
''N'' R
''N'' (where R denotes the set of
real number
In mathematics, a real number is a number that can be used to measure a continuous one- dimensional quantity such as a duration or temperature. Here, ''continuous'' means that pairs of values can have arbitrarily small differences. Every re ...
s), or equivalently an ''N'' × ''N''
square matrix
In mathematics, a square matrix is a Matrix (mathematics), matrix with the same number of rows and columns. An ''n''-by-''n'' matrix is known as a square matrix of order Any two square matrices of the same order can be added and multiplied.
Squ ...
. There are several variants of the DST with slightly modified definitions. The ''N'' real numbers ''x''
0,...,''x''
''N'' − 1 are transformed into the ''N'' real numbers ''X''
0,...,''X''
''N'' − 1 according to one of the formulas:
DST-I

:
The DST-I matrix is
orthogonal
In mathematics, orthogonality (mathematics), orthogonality is the generalization of the geometric notion of ''perpendicularity''. Although many authors use the two terms ''perpendicular'' and ''orthogonal'' interchangeably, the term ''perpendic ...
(up to a scale factor).
A DST-I is exactly equivalent to a DFT of a real sequence that is odd around the zero-th and middle points, scaled by 1/2. For example, a DST-I of ''N''=3 real numbers (''a'',''b'',''c'') is exactly equivalent to a DFT of eight real numbers (0,''a'',''b'',''c'',0,−''c'',−''b'',−''a'') (odd symmetry), scaled by 1/2. (In contrast, DST types II–IV involve a half-sample shift in the equivalent DFT.) This is the reason for the ''N'' + 1 in the denominator of the sine function: the equivalent DFT has 2(''N''+1) points and has 2π/2(''N''+1) in its sinusoid frequency, so the DST-I has π/(''N''+1) in its frequency.
Thus, the DST-I corresponds to the boundary conditions: ''x''
''n'' is odd around ''n'' = −1 and odd around ''n''=''N''; similarly for ''X''
''k''.
DST-II
Some authors further multiply the ''X''
''N'' − 1 term by 1/ (see below for the corresponding change in DST-III). This makes the DST-II matrix
orthogonal
In mathematics, orthogonality (mathematics), orthogonality is the generalization of the geometric notion of ''perpendicularity''. Although many authors use the two terms ''perpendicular'' and ''orthogonal'' interchangeably, the term ''perpendic ...
(up to a scale factor), but breaks the direct correspondence with a real-odd DFT of half-shifted input.
The DST-II implies the boundary conditions: ''x''
''n'' is odd around ''n'' = −1/2 and odd around ''n'' = ''N'' − 1/2; ''X''
''k'' is odd around ''k'' = −1 and even around ''k'' = ''N'' − 1.
DST-III
Some authors further multiply the ''x''
''N'' − 1 term by (see above for the corresponding change in DST-II). This makes the DST-III matrix
orthogonal
In mathematics, orthogonality (mathematics), orthogonality is the generalization of the geometric notion of ''perpendicularity''. Although many authors use the two terms ''perpendicular'' and ''orthogonal'' interchangeably, the term ''perpendic ...
(up to a scale factor), but breaks the direct correspondence with a real-odd DFT of half-shifted output.
The DST-III implies the boundary conditions: ''x''
''n'' is odd around ''n'' = −1 and even around ''n'' = ''N'' − 1; ''X''
''k'' is odd around ''k'' = −1/2 and odd around ''k'' = ''N'' − 1/2.
DST-IV
The DST-IV matrix is
orthogonal
In mathematics, orthogonality (mathematics), orthogonality is the generalization of the geometric notion of ''perpendicularity''. Although many authors use the two terms ''perpendicular'' and ''orthogonal'' interchangeably, the term ''perpendic ...
(up to a scale factor).
The DST-IV implies the boundary conditions: ''x''
''n'' is odd around ''n'' = −1/2 and even around ''n'' = ''N'' − 1/2; similarly for ''X''
''k''.
DST V–VIII
DST types I–IV are equivalent to real-odd DFTs of even order. In principle, there are actually four additional types of discrete sine transform (Martucci, 1994), corresponding to real-odd DFTs of logically odd order, which have factors of ''N''+1/2 in the denominators of the sine arguments. However, these variants seem to be rarely used in practice.
Inverse transforms
The inverse of DST-I is DST-I multiplied by 2/(''N'' + 1). The inverse of DST-IV is DST-IV multiplied by 2/''N''. The inverse of DST-II is DST-III multiplied by 2/''N'' (and vice versa).
As for the
DFT, the normalization factor in front of these transform definitions is merely a convention and differs between treatments. For example, some authors multiply the transforms by
so that the inverse does not require any additional multiplicative factor.
Computation
Although the direct application of these formulas would require O(''N''
2) operations, it is possible to compute the same thing with only O(''N'' log ''N'') complexity by factorizing the computation similar to the
fast Fourier transform
A fast Fourier transform (FFT) is an algorithm that computes the discrete Fourier transform (DFT) of a sequence, or its inverse (IDFT). A Fourier transform converts a signal from its original domain (often time or space) to a representation in ...
(FFT). (One can also compute DSTs via FFTs combined with O(''N'') pre- and post-processing steps.)
A DST-III or DST-IV can be computed from a DCT-III or DCT-IV (see
discrete cosine transform
A discrete cosine transform (DCT) expresses a finite sequence of data points in terms of a sum of cosine functions oscillating at different frequency, frequencies. The DCT, first proposed by Nasir Ahmed (engineer), Nasir Ahmed in 1972, is a widely ...
), respectively, by reversing the order of the inputs and flipping the sign of every other output, and vice versa for DST-II from DCT-II. In this way it follows that types II–IV of the DST require exactly the same number of arithmetic operations (additions and multiplications) as the corresponding DCT types.
Generalizations
A family of transforms composed of sine and
sine hyperbolic functions exists; these transforms are made based on the
natural
Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the laws, elements and phenomena of the physical world, including life. Although humans are part ...
vibration
Vibration () is a mechanical phenomenon whereby oscillations occur about an equilibrium point. Vibration may be deterministic if the oscillations can be characterised precisely (e.g. the periodic motion of a pendulum), or random if the os ...
of thin square plates with different
boundary conditions
In the study of differential equations, a boundary-value problem is a differential equation subjected to constraints called boundary conditions. A solution to a boundary value problem is a solution to the differential equation which also satis ...
.
References
Bibliography
* S. A. Martucci, "Symmetric convolution and the discrete sine and cosine transforms," ''IEEE Trans. Signal Process.'' SP-42, 1038–1051 (1994).
* Matteo Frigo and
Steven G. Johnson: ''FFTW''
FFTW Home Page A free (
GPL) C library that can compute fast DSTs (types I–IV) in one or more dimensions, of arbitrary size. Also M. Frigo and S. G. Johnson,
The Design and Implementation of FFTW3" ''Proceedings of the IEEE'' 93 (2), 216–231 (2005).
* Takuya Ooura: General Purpose FFT Package
Free C & FORTRAN libraries for computing fast DSTs in one, two or three dimensions, power of 2 sizes.
* {{Citation , last1=Press , first1=WH , last2=Teukolsky , first2=SA , last3=Vetterling , first3=WT , last4=Flannery , first4=BP , year=2007 , title=Numerical Recipes: The Art of Scientific Computing , edition=3rd , publisher=Cambridge University Press , location=New York , isbn=978-0-521-88068-8 , chapter=Section 12.4.1. Sine Transform , chapter-url=http://apps.nrbook.com/empanel/index.html#pg=621 , access-date=2011-08-13 , archive-date=2011-08-11 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110811154417/http://apps.nrbook.com/empanel/index.html#pg=621 , url-status=dead .
* R. Chivukula and Y. Reznik,
Fast Computing of Discrete Cosine and Sine Transforms of Types VI and VII" ''Proc. SPIE'' Vol. 8135, 2011.
Discrete transforms
Fourier analysis
Indian inventions