where the sequence ofreal numbers is called a scaling sequence or scaling mask.
The wavelet proper is obtained by a similar linear combination,
,
where the sequence of real numbers is called a wavelet sequence or wavelet mask.
A necessary condition for the orthogonality of the wavelets is that the scaling sequence is orthogonal to any shifts of it by an even number of coefficients:
In this case there is the same number M=N of coefficients in the scaling as in the wavelet sequence, the wavelet sequence can be determined as . In some cases the opposite sign is chosen.
Vanishing moments, polynomial approximation and smoothness
A necessary condition for the existence of a solution to the refinement equation is that there exists a positive integer A such that (see Z-transform):
The maximally possible power A is called polynomial approximation order (or pol. app. power) or number of vanishing moments. It describes the ability to represent polynomials up to degree A-1 with linear combinations of integer translates of the scaling function.
In the biorthogonal case, an approximation order Aof corresponds to Avanishing moments of the dual wavelet , that is, the scalar productsof with any polynomial up to degree A-1 are zero. In the opposite direction, the approximation order Ãof is equivalent to à vanishing moments of . In the orthogonal case, A and à coincide.
A sufficient condition for the existence of a scaling function is the following: if one decomposes , and the estimate
holds for some , then the refinement equation has a n times continuously differentiable solution with compact support.
Suppose then , and the estimate holds for n=A-2. The solutions are Schoenbergs B-splines of order A-1, where the (A-1)-th derivative is piecewise constant, thus the (A-2)-th derivative is Lipschitz-continuous. A=1 corresponds to the index function of the unit interval.
A=2 and p linear may be written as
Expansion of this degree 3 polynomial and insertion of the 4 coefficients into the orthogonality condition results in The positive root gives the scaling sequence of the D4-wavelet, see below.