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I am new in Mathematica so I hope I'm doing this right..

Currently, I am trying to take the Fourier transform(characteristic function) of a normal distribution and then plot it. However, the plot function does not draw any graph. What am I doing wrong??

My code is as below.

graph1 := NormalDistribution[3, 1]

Plot[{PDF[graph1, x]}, {x, 0, 16}]
(The output shows a normal distribution graph that I wanted)


Plot[{CharacteristicFunction[graph1, t]}, {t, 0, 16}]
(The output shows an x-axis and a y-axis but no graph is drawn)
sabrinazuraimi
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1 Answers1

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Your characteristic function is a complex valued function. If you took a piece of paper, how would you plot the complex function f(t)=t+I*t? Right, it is not possible with a simple 2D curve. What you probably want is to look at the real and imaginary part:

Plot[Evaluate[ReIm@CharacteristicFunction[graph1, t]], {t, 0, 5},
 PlotRange -> All]

Mathematica graphics

halirutan
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