(mathematics)
A generalization of the Fourier transform to finite sets of data; for a function ƒ defined at N data values, 0, 1, 2, …, N - 1, the discrete Fourier transform is a function, ƒ, also defined on the set (0, 1, 2, …, N - 1, the discrete Fourier transform is a function, ƒ, also defined on the set (0, 1, 2, …, N - 1), whose value at n is the sum over the variable r, from 0 through N-1, of the quantity N -1ƒ(r) exp (-i 2π nr / N).