  There is $c_{} > 0$ such that for all $f \in C[0,\pi]$ with at most $d-1$
roots inside $(0,\pi)$ $$ \sum_{1 \leq n \leq d}{ \left| \left\langle f,
\sin\left( n x\right) \right\rangle \right|} \geq \kappa^{-\kappa^2
\log{\kappa}}\|f\|_{L^2} \qquad \mbox{where} \quad \kappa = \frac{c_{} \|
\nabla f\|_{L^2}}{\|f\|_{L^2}}.$$ This quantifies the Sturm-Hurwitz Theorem and
connects a purely topological condition (number of roots) to the Fourier
spectrum. It is also one of few estimates on Fourier coefficients from below.
The result holds more generally for eigenfunctions of regular Sturm-Liouville
problems $$ - (p(x) y'(x))' + q(x) y(x) = \lambda w(x) y(x) \qquad
\mbox{on}~(a,b).$$ Sturm-Liouville theory shows the existence of a sequence of
solutions $(\phi_n)_{n=1}^{\infty}$ that form an orthogonal basis of $L^2(a,b)$
with respect to $w(x)dx$. Sturm himself proved that if $f:(a,b) \rightarrow
\mathbb{R}$ is a finite linear combinations of $\phi_n$ having $d-1$ roots
inside $(a,b)$, then $f$ cannot be orthogonal to $A = \mbox{span}\left\{\phi_1,
\dots, \phi_{d}\right\}$. We prove a lower bound on the size of the projection
$\| \pi_A f\|_{}$.
