Normalized convolution on a finite group ($(f\ast g)(x)={\mathbb{E}}_{y}f(y)g(y^{-1}x)$)

For scalar functions on a finite group, normalized convolution on a finite group is $(f\ast g)(x)=|G{|}^{-1}{\sum }_{y}f(y)g(y^{-1}x)$. It is associative and need not commute. Its identity is $|G|1_{\{e\}}$, rather than the unscaled indicator function of the identity element. The Fourier analysis on a finite group convention $\hat{f}(\rho )=\mathbb{E}f(x)\rho (x)$ turns it into matrix multiplication in the same order.

The normalized convolution on a finite group and the Fourier transform on a finite group convention with $\rho (x)$ satisfy the displayed identity. Substitute $x=yz$ in the defining expectation and use $\rho (yz)=\rho (y)\rho (z)$. With the convention using $\rho (x{)}^{\ast }$ instead, the scalar convolution has transform $\hat{g}(\rho )\hat{f}(\rho )$; multiplication order matters for noncommutative groups.