In this part identify with the complex unit circle by . Write the finite abelian group additively and let , with pointwise multiplication, be the character group of a finite abelian group of . A linear character has modulus one, since its values have finite order. We first prove the extension and counting facts needed for Fourier analysis on a finite abelian group.
If , , and , let be the least positive integer with . Choose with and define
This is well-defined: two representations differ by and , whose contributions cancel. It is a group homomorphism and extends . Conversely every extension has this form, and the equation for has exactly distinct roots. Since , successive adjunctions prove that each linear character of has exactly extensions. Taking gives . This is the extension of a character across a cyclic quotient, proved here without a structure theorem. Extending the linear character sending a nonzero element of order to also proves that linear characters separate points of .
Use the normalized inner product . For a nontrivial linear character , choose with . Translation of the sum gives , so that sum is zero. Applying this to gives
There are such orthonormal vectors in the -dimensional space , so they form an orthonormal basis. Define the Fourier coefficients by . Expanding in that basis proves Fourier inversion on a finite group and the Parseval identity on a finite group:
For normalized convolution , changing the finite summation variables yields . Translation multiplies its Fourier coefficient by . These formulas fix all normalization and conjugation conventions.
The PDF's double-hat identification is canonical Pontryagin duality: define by . This is a group homomorphism and is injective because linear characters separate points. Applying the already proved character-counting result to shows that both groups have size , so
The TeX loses one hat. For completeness, the single-dual isomorphism also holds, but is generally noncanonical. Here is a proof including the needed finite cyclic decomposition. Choose an element of maximal order . Every element order divides : for two elements, extract their prime-power components by integer multiples: if an element has order and is the exact power of in , multiplying it by gives order . Then combine the components with the larger order for each prime. Components of coprime orders have a sum of product order, because their cyclic subgroups have trivial intersection. This constructs an element of order the least common multiple of the two original orders, which cannot exceed maximal ; hence each order divides .
Extend the primitive linear character of to . All its values are th roots because all element orders divide . Define when . This is a group homomorphism fixing , and shows . Induction on group size decomposes into finite cyclic groups. A cyclic group of order has precisely the linear characters and hence a character group of a finite abelian group isomorphic to itself. The dual of a finite direct product of groups is the product of its factor duals, since a linear character is determined by its restrictions. This proves after choices of cyclic factors and generators, without using an unproved finite-abelian-group structure theorem.
Write the finite abelian group additively. A character of a finite abelian group is a group homomorphism . We first prove that there are exactly such characters of a finite abelian group, without assuming a structure theorem.
Use extension of a character across a cyclic quotient. Given a subgroup and , let be the least positive integer with . The subgroup has cosets of . If is a character of a finite abelian group on , choose any of the roots and define
This is well-defined: two representations differ by an integer multiple of , and the root equation exactly cancels that difference. It is a character of a finite abelian group, and every extension arises from one of the choices of . Build a chain from the trivial subgroup to by adjoining elements. The character of a finite abelian group count multiplies by the same factor as the subgroup order at every step, so .
For a nontrivial character of a finite abelian group , choose with . Translating the group sum shows
so the sum is zero. Applied to , this proves
The orthogonal nonzero characters of a finite abelian group therefore form a basis of all complex functions on , a vector space of dimension .
With the unnormalized Fourier coefficients , expansion in that basis gives the Fourier inversion on a finite group
Under a normalized forward-transform convention the prefactor would instead be one. Thus the unspecified constant is determined by the convention, and the inversion itself follows directly from character of a finite abelian group counting and orthogonality.