Homework assignment 4

pp. 49
Exercise 8. Let V be the space of 2 × 2 matrices over F . Find a basis
{A1 , A2 , A3 , A4 } for V such that A2j = Aj for each j.
Solution If we start with the canonical basis for V , namely
½ µ ¶ µ ¶ µ ¶ µ ¶¾
1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
B = B1 = , B2 = , B3 = , B4 =
0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1

we notice that the first and the last elements satisfy the required condition.
Therefore we only need to find other two matrices, such that the four matrices
generate V . Let
½ µ ¶ µ ¶ µ ¶ µ ¶¾
1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0
A = A1 = , A2 = , A3 = , A4 =
0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1

Notice that A2j = Aj and A2 − A1 = B2 and A3 − A1 = B3 . Therefore A is a basis for

V
Bonus exercise 14. Let V be the set of real numbers. Regard V as a
vector space over the field of rational numbers, with the usual operations. Prove
that this vector space is not finite-dimensional.
Solution: By contradiction. Suppose that V is finite dimensional, this implies
that V is a countable set (see the lemma below), but the set of real numbers is
not countable!

Lemma 1. A finite dimensional vector space V over the rational numbers is a

countable set.

Proof. By induction on n = the number of elements in a basis for V .

Base: n = 1 Let {α} be a basis for V .
Let {a1 , a2 , . . . , an , . . .} be an enumeration of the rational numbers, then any
element of V may be written as ai α. That is, V ⊂ {a1 α, a2 α, . . . , an α, . . .} (actually
the two sets are equal, but we don’t need that fact). Therefore V is countable.
Inductive Step: Suppose that V is countable if its dimension is less than or
equal to n. We will prove then that if the dimension of V is n + 1 then it is a
countable set. Let {β1 , . . . , βn , α} be a basis for V . By the induction hypothesis
we know that the subspace W generated by {β1 , . . . , βn } is a countable set. Let

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{w1 , w2 , . . . , wn , . . .} be an enumeration for W . Consider the following infinite array:

(w1 + a1 α)1 (w1 + a2 α)2 (w1 + a3 α)4 ... (w1 + an α) ...

nnn nnn ss
nnnnn nnnnn
sssss
n n s
nv nn nv nn sss
(w2 + a1 α)3 (w2 + a2 α)5 (w2 + a3 α)8 . . .sy (w2 + an α) ...
nnn nnn
nn
sss
s
nnnnn nn ss
n nn sss
nv nn nv nn
... sy ss ...
(w3 + a1 α)6 (w3 + a2 α)9 (w3 + a3 α)13 (w3 + an α)
ooo n t
ooo nnnn tt
n tt
oooo nnn tt
ooo nnnnn tt
tt
. w oo . nw n .. .. z t ..
.. .. . . .

(wm + a1 α) (wm + a2 α) (wm + a3 α) ... (wm + an α) ...

.. .. .. .. ..
. . . . .
Following the diagonals we obtain an enumeration of the array. Notice that any
element v ∈ V may be expressed as v = ai1 β1 + . . . + ain βn + ain+1 α but the first n
summands of the right hand side of the equality equal some wj ∈ W therefore we
may rewrite the equation as v = wj + ain+1 α, but this element is contained in the
array, i.e. V is contained in a countable set, therefore it is countable.
pp. 54-55
Exercise 1. Show that the vectors
α1 = (1, 1, 0, 0) α2 = (0, 0, 1, 1)
α3 = (1, 0, 0, 4) α4 = (0, 0, 0, 2).
form a basis in R4 . Find the coordinates of each of the standard basis vectors in
the ordered basis {α1 , α2 , α3 , α4 }.
Solution: Write the 4×4 matrix A whose columns are 4−tuples α1, α2, α3 and
α4 . Check that this matrix is row (or column) equivalent to the identity matrix.
Then its columns are linearly independent which means that α1 , α2 , α3 and α4
form a basis in R4 (since any n linearly independent vectors in an n-dimensional
space form a basis). Note that the matrix A is the transition matrix from the
standard basis e1 = (1, 0, 0, 0), e2 = (0, 1, 0, 0), e3 = (0, 0, 1, 0), e4 = (0, 0, 0, 1) to the
basis {α1 , α2 , α3 , α4 }, i.e. its i-th column gives coordinates of the vector αi relative
to the standard basis. Or in the matrix form:
(α1 , α2 , α3 , α4 ) = (e1 , e2 , e3 , e4 )A.
Multiplying both sides by A−1 from the right, we get that the inverse matrix A−1 is
the transition matrix from the basis {α1 , α2 , α3 , α4 } to the standard basis, i.e. its

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i-th column gives coordinates of the vector ei relative to the basis {α1 , α2 , α3 , α4 }.
It remains to compute A−1 .

Exercise 2. Find the coordinate matrix of the vector v = (1, 0, 1) in the basis
B of C3 consisting of the vectors (2i, 1, 0), (2, −1, 1), (0, 1 + i, 1 − i) in that order.
Solution: Let A denote the canonical basis for C3 . Then we know that [v]B =
P [v]A where the columns of P are given by the coordinates in B of the elements
in A . Therefore
  1 1 
2i 2 0 2
− 2i −i −1
P −1 =  1 −1 1 + i, P =  − 12 i −1 i 
1 1 1 1
0 1 1−i 4
+ 4i 2 + 2i 1

and thus, the coordinates of v are (− 12 (1 + i), 12 i, 41 (3 + i)).

Exercise 4. Let W be the subspace of C3 spanned by α1 = (1, 0, i) and

α2 = (1 + i, 1, −1).
(a) Show that α1 and α2 form a basis for W .
(b) Show that the vectors β1 = (1, 1, 0) and β2 = (1, i, 1 + i) are in W
and form another basis for W
(c) What are the coordinates of α1 and α2 in the ordered basis {β1 , β2 }?
Solution 1: (a) Form the 3 × 2 matrix A(α) whose columns are triples α1 and
α2 . Check that its row (or column) reduced form does contain two nonzero rows
(or columns). This proves that α1 , α2 are linearly independent. Hence, they form
a basis for W .
(b)(c) To show that β1 , β2 are linearly independent repeat the argument of part
(a).
The vector β1 lies in W if and only if there exist scalars x1 , x2 such that x1 α1 +
x2 α2 = β1 . In other words, the system of 3 equations in 2 unknowns
µ ¶
x
A(α) 1 = β1 (1)
x2

is consistent (here the triple β1 is written as column). The same is for β2 . Hence,
to show that system (1) and the corresponding system for β2 are consistent, and
to find their solutions one needs to row reduce a 3 × 4 matrix whose columns
are triples α1 , a2 , β1 , β2 . Then the coefficients of the row reduced matrix give the
solutions of the systems, i.e. the coordinates of β1 , β2 relative to the basis α1 , α2 .
Conversely, to find the coordinates of α1 , α2 relative to the basis β1 , β2 row reduce
the 3 × 4 matrix whose columns are triples β1 , β2 , α1 , a2 (or find the inverse of the
2 × 2 transition matrix from α1 , α2 to β1 , β2 ).

Solution 2: Row reducing the matrix with α1 and α2 and (0, 0, 1) as rows,
we can check that they are linearly independent, this proves (a). Notice that
the solution of (c) implies (b). Let B1 be the basis {α1 , α2 , (0, 0, 1)} for C3 and let

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B2 = {β1 , β2 , (0, 0, 1)} be another basis for C3 . Notice that a change of basis from
B1 to B2 will map W into W , i.e. it will induce the change of bases we want. Let
A denote the canonical basis for C3 . Then we have the following equations:

[v]B1 = P [v]B2

[v]B1 = S[v]A
[v]B2 = Q[v]A
These equations imply the following equation [v]B1 = SQ−1 [v]B2 . Calculating we
obtain:
     
1 −1 − i 0 1 1 0 −i 2 − i 0
S=0 1 0, Q−1 = 1 i 0, SQ−1 =  1 i 0
−i i 1 0 1+i 1 0 0 1

Therefore the matrix which yields the change of bases we want is

µ ¶
−i 2 − i
1 i

This means that β1 = −i · α1 + 1 · α2 and β2 = (2 − i) · α1 + i · α2 .

Exercise 7. Let V be the (real) vector space of all polynomial functions

from R into R of degree 2 or less, i.e. the space of functions of the form

f (x) = c0 + c1 x + c2 x2 .

Let t be a fixed real number and define

g1 (x) = 1, g2 (x) = x + t, g3 (x) = (x + t)2 .

Prove that B = {g1 , g2 , g3 } is a basis for V . If

f (x) = c0 + c1 x + c2 x2

what are the coordinates of f in the ordered basis B?

Solution: Since
x2 = ((x + t) − t)2 = (x + t)2 − 2t(x + t) + t2 , x=x+t−t

we get that
f (x) = c2 (x + t)2 + (c1 − 2tc2 )(x + t) + (c0 − tc1 + t2 c2 ).
Thus, B span the space V , so B is a basis. The coordinates of f relative to B are
(c2 , c1 − 2tc2 , c0 − tc1 + t2 c2 ), respectively.

p. 66
4
 Exercise 2. Let
α1 = (1, 1, −2, 1), α2 = (3, 0, 4, −1), α3 = (−1, 2, 5, 2).

Let
α = (4, −5, 9, −7), β = (3, 1, −4, 4), γ = (−1, 1, 0, 1).
(a) Which of the vectors α, β, γ are in the subspace of R4 spanned by the αi ?
(b) Which of the vectors α, β, γ are in the subspace of C4 spanned by the αi ?
(c) Does this suggest a theorem?

Solution: (a)(b) This problem is analogous to part (b) of Exercise 4 (p.55)

above. Namely, consider the 4×6 matrix whose columns are vectors α1 , α2 , α3 , α, β, γ.
Row reduce this matrix to see if the systems x1 α1 + x2 α2 + x3 α3 = α(= β, = γ) are
consistent.
(c) Theorem: Let V be a complex vector space with some basis, and v1 , . . . , vn
and v vectors with real coordinates with respect to this basis. Then if v is a linear
combination of v1 , . . . , vn with complex coefficients, then v can also be represented
as a linear combination of v1 , . . . , vn with real coefficients.

Exercise 3. Consider the vectors in R4 defined by α1 = (−1, 0, 1, 2), α2 =

(3, 4, −2, 5), α3 = (1, 4, 0, 9) Find a system of homogeneous linear equations for
which the space of solutions is exactly the subspace of R4 spanned by the three
given vectors.
Solution Row reducing the matrix whose rows are the αi’s we get
 
1 0 −1 −2
0 1 1 11 
4 4
0 0 0 0

Therefore we need to find a matrix whose kernel is the space V spanned by

{α1 = (1, 0, −1, −2), α2 = (0, 1, 14 , 11
4
)}. The set B = {α1 , α2 , (0, 0, 1, 0), (0, 0, 0, 1)} is a
basis for R4 . The kernel of the matrix
 
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 
S= 0 0 1 0 


0 0 0 1

is exactly the space generated by e1 and e2 . Thus, the matrix which maps the
canonical basis to the basis B will map the kernel of S to the space spanned by
α1 and α2 . Let P be the change of basis, then the previous assertion expressed
in terms of matrices is P (ker(S)) = V therefore ker(S) = P −1 (V ) . This means that
if we apply S to any vector in P −1 (V ) we get 0, that is, if we apply P −1 to any
vector in V and then we apply S, we get zero. But this is exactly what we want,

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to find a transformation whose kernel is V , such a transformation is given by
SP −1 . Explicitly a transformations whose kernel is V is
 
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
SP −1 = 
1 1


4
1 0
11
−2 − 4 0 1

Exercise 6. Let V be the real vector space spanned by the rows of the
matrix  
3 21 0 9 0
1 7 −1 −2 −1
A= 2 14 0
.
6 1
6 42 −1 13 0
(a) Find a basis for V .
(b) Tell which vectors v = (x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 , x5 ) are elements of V .
(c) If v = (x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 , x5 ) is in V what are its coordinates in the basis chosen
in part (a)?
Solution: (a)(c) Row reduce the matrix A. The nonzero rows of the row
reduced matrix à give the basis in V . It is easy to check that the coordinates of
v relative to this basis form an ordered subset of coordinates x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 , x5 . This
subset consists of all xi such that i coincides with the number of a column of Ã
that contains the leading coefficient of a nonzero row.
(b) (The same as part (b) of Exercise 4 (p.55) above.) Take the matrix A whose
columns are the basis from part (a) and the vector v. Row reduce it to write the
condition on v for the system with augmented matrix A to be consistent.