In mathematics, a sequence of vectors (xn) in a Hilbert space
is called a Riesz sequence if there exist constants
such that

for all sequences of scalars (an) in the ℓp space ℓ2. A Riesz sequence is called a Riesz basis if
.
Alternatively, one can define the Riesz basis as a family of the form
, where
is an orthonormal basis for
and
is a bounded bijective operator. Hence, Riesz bases need not be orthonormal, i.e., they are a generalization of orthonormal bases.