Bessel's Inequality

Theorem

Let $H$ be a Hilbert space, and let $E = \left\{{e_n: n \in \N}\right\}$ be a countably infinite orthonormal subset of $H$.

Then, for all $h \in H$, one has the inequality

$\displaystyle \sum_{n=1}^\infty \left|{\left\langle{h, e_n}\right\rangle}\right|^2 \le \left\|{h}\right\|^2$

Corollary 1

If $E$ is an orthonormal subset of $H$, then for any $h \in H$, the set $\displaystyle \left\{{e_n \in E: \left\langle{h, e_n}\right\rangle \ne 0}\right\}$ is countable.

Corollary 2

The condition in the theorem that the orthonormal set $E$ be countable is superfluous.

Source of Name

This entry was named for Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel.

Sources

• John B. Conway: A Course in Functional Analysis (1990)... (previous)... (next) $I.4.8-10$