fftw3 inverse transform not work

Question

I'm writing a simple code for complex to complex DFT in c with fftw3 library. i have written a file with input array double data so I can compare with matlab fft function. I try to execute the reverse transform from transform array but results and first input array are different. this is my results:

FFTW3 TRANSFORM WELCOME <<<<<

enter the number (integer) N of samples (Bit: 64) (preferably power of 2):8

SAMPLE INPUT
in[0][0] = -216448918.015237        in[0][1] = 0.000000 
in[1][0] = 948904790.062151         in[1][1] = 0.000000
in[2][0] = 826811206.185300         in[2][1] = 0.000000
in[3][0] = 1868763250.342451        in[3][1] = 0.000000
in[4][0] = 703135606.077152         in[4][1] = 0.000000
in[5][0] = -1989016445.622210       in[5][1] = 0.000000
in[6][0] = 1912963650.704585        in[6][1] = 0.000000
in[7][0] = 811527262.805480         in[7][1] = 0.000000

 Hit enter to continue ... 


 FORWARD TRANSFORM COEFFICIENTS

out[0][0] = 4866640402.539672       out[0][1] = 0.000000
out[1][0] = 410260768.150135        out[1][1] = -1738850319.926936
out[2][0] = -2253088168.827970      out[2][1] = 3720402168.707990
out[3][0] = -2249429816.334913      out[3][1] = -3911155208.965507
out[4][0] = 1586282687.363928       out[4][1] = 0.000000
out[5][0] = -2249429816.334913      out[5][1] = 3911155208.965507
out[6][0] = -2253088168.827970      out[6][1] = -3720402168.707990
out[7][0] = 410260768.150135        out[7][1] = 1738850319.926936
do you want to calculate the inverse-transform? (y/n) 
y


INVERSE TRANSFORM COEFFICIENTS
rev[0][0] = -1731591344.121896      rev[0][1] = 0.000000
rev[1][0] = 7591238320.497208       rev[1][1] = 0.000000
rev[2][0] = 6614489649.482399       rev[2][1] = 0.000000
rev[3][0] = 14950106002.739609      rev[3][1] = 0.000000
rev[4][0] = 5625084848.617215       rev[4][1] = 0.000000
rev[5][0] = -15912131564.977680        rev[5][1] = 0.000000
rev[6][0] = 15303709205.636681      rev[6][1] = 0.000000
rev[7][0] = 6492218102.443840       rev[7][1] = 0.000000

As you see 'in' and 'rev' arrays are different but direct transform is correct. I've compared it with matlab and results are the same. When I execute the inverse transform with matlab I obtain the input array. What can I do?

this is my c code:

#include <fftw3.h>
#include <math.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#define PI 3.141592653589

int main()
{

  fftw_complex *in, *out, *rev;
  int i,f0,A,N;
  char no;  
  FILE *fp;
  fftw_plan p;

  printf("\n\n>>>>> FFTW3 TRANSFORM WELCOME <<<<<");
  printf("\n\n enter the number (integer) N of samples (bit: %ld) (preferably power of 2):",(sizeof(fftw_complex)/2)*8);
  scanf("%d",&N);

  //f0 = 50;
  //A = 1;


  //allocating memory for input & output arrays
  in = (fftw_complex*)fftw_malloc(sizeof(fftw_complex)*N);
  out = (fftw_complex*)fftw_malloc(sizeof(fftw_complex)*N);
  rev = (fftw_complex*)fftw_malloc(sizeof(fftw_complex)*N);



  //Opening the data file
  if((fp=fopen("lista_numeri_double.dat","rb"))==NULL)
  {
    printf("\nError reading file\n");
    exit(1);
  }


  printf("\nSAMPLE INPUT");
  //assigning samples read from the file
  for(i=0;i<N;i++)
  {
    //in[i][0] = A * cos(2*PI*f0*i/N);
    fread(&in[i][0],sizeof(double),1,fp);   
    in[i][1]=0;

    printf("\nin[%d][0] = %f \t\tin[%d][1] = %f",i,in[i][0],i,in[i][1]);
  }


  //plan and execute transform
  p = fftw_plan_dft_1d(N,in,out,FFTW_FORWARD,FFTW_ESTIMATE);
  fftw_execute(p);

  printf("\n\n Hit enter to continue ... \n");
  scanf("%c",&no);


  //print output values 
  printf("\n\nFORWARD TRANSFORM COEFFICIENTS\n");
  for(i=0;i<N;i++)
  {
    printf("\nout[%d][0] = %f \t\tout[%d][1] = %f",i,out[i][0],i,out[i][1]);
  }

  fftw_destroy_plan(p); 

  printf("\n do you want to calculate the inverse-transform? (y/n)  \n");
  scanf ("%c",&no);

  if(no=='y')
  {

    //plan and execute inverse transform
    p = fftw_plan_dft_1d(N,out,rev,FFTW_BACKWARD,FFTW_ESTIMATE);
    fftw_execute(p);

    printf("\n\nINVERSE TRANSFORM COEFFICIENTS\n");
    for(i=0;i<N;i++)
    {
      printf("rev[%d][0] = %f \t\trev[%d][1] = %f\n",i,rev[i][0],i,rev[i][1]);
    }

    fftw_destroy_plan(p);           
  }

  return 0;
}

Answer 1

The difference between Matlab and FFTW comes with the scaling factor applied to the transform.

Whereas Matlab's FFT is normalized, the algorithm used by FFTW as described in FFTW's documentation, is not normalized. In other words, the full-circle transform using FFTW (forward followed by backward) scales the result by a factor N.

Correspondingly, comparing the in and rev array shows that rev is scaled by consistent factor of 8 (the size N of the transform used in your example).