Talk:Spectral leakage

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Spectral leakage is not caused by the DFT. It is caused by windowing. The DFT is actually a way to create the illusion that there is no leakage. That's what is going on when the input signal does not have "frequency components that lie between [DFT] reference frequencies". (Another requirement for the illusion is that you use a rectangular window function.) Anyhow, this article off to a bad start. A better start is at Window_function#Spectral_analysis. But it does not [yet] customize the discussion for the discrete-time case, which is what most people are used to dealing with. --Bob K 20:58, 12 December 2005 (UTC)

A common misconception is that spectral leakage is caused by the

Huh? An article with this title should start by saying what spectral leakage is. And it should follow Wikipedia's bolding convention. And this link that superficially looks like a self-link should be put elsewhere and it should be clear what it is. Michael Hardy 22:01, 15 December 2005 (UTC)

Right. That's why it's a stub and always has been. But the stuff I replaced was worse, because it was misinformation. As I say in an embedded comment: "Can't redirect to a subtopic (Window_function#Spectral_analysis), or else I would be tempted." --Bob K 23:10, 15 December 2005 (UTC)