# Fourier Series and Inner Product

When working with Fourier series, the inner product is defined as $$\int_{-L}^L f(x)g(x)dx$$

I see this definition everywhere and we know that $\rm{sin}\big(\frac{n\pi x}{L}\big)$ and $\rm{cos}\big(\frac{n\pi x}{L}\big)$ will form a orthogonal basis, but not orthonormal.

My question is: why is not more usual to define the inner product as $$\frac{1}{L}\int_{-L}^L f(x)g(x)dx$$ ?

Because with this definition, the previous basis will be orthonormal.

I think that the basis will be precisely $\Big\{ \frac{1}{2},\rm{sin}\big(\frac{\pi x}{L}\big),\rm{cos}\big(\frac{\pi x}{L}\big),\rm{sin}\big(\frac{2\pi x}{L}\big),\rm{cos}\big(\frac{2\pi x}{L}\big),\ldots \Big\}$.

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Actually, people often divide by L: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourier_series –  julien Mar 10 at 16:43
Well...in that case I think I'll blame my books XD –  Integral Mar 10 at 16:45
@julien If is there some mistake in my english, please feel free to edit. –  Integral Mar 10 at 16:46
I'll let native english speakers do that if needed. –  julien Mar 10 at 16:47