CHAPTER 1: VECTOR SPACES AND SUBSPACES.

1.1. VECTOR SPACES.

Definition:

A field is a set together with two operations and for which the following axioms hold:

(i) For all the sum and the product again belong to

(ii)For all and (

(iii) For all and

(iv) For all and (

(v) There exists an element for which and , for all

(vi) There exists an element , with for which for all

(vii) For each the equations and have a solution in called the

additive inverse of and denoted by

(viii) For each with the equations and have a solution

called the multiplicative inverse of and denoted by

Examples of fields:

the field of rational numbers;

,the field of real numbers;

the field of complex numbers.

Definition:

Let be a field and let be a non-empty set with rules of addition and scalar multiplication
which assigns to any a sum and to any a product . Then
is called a vector space over F (and the elements of are called vectors) if the following
axioms hold:

A1: For any vectors

A2: There is a vector in denoted by 0 and called the zero vector, for which for
any

A3: For each vector there is a vector in denoted by for which

A4: For any vectors u+v=v+u.

M1: For any scalar and any vectors

M2: For any scalars and any vector

M3: For any scalars and any vector (ab)u=a(bu).

M4: For any unit scalar for any vector

Examples of vector spaces

1) Let F be a field and let be the set of all ordered n-tuples where .
Two elements and are declared equal iff for each
.

Introduce the operations

for

Then, with these operations, is a vector space over

This vector space is denoted by When we have . So, etc are vector
spaces over

2) Let consist of a single object, which we denote by 0, and define

0+0=0, k(0+0)=0 for all scalars k. This is the zero vector space.

3) Let be the set of all points that lie in the first quadrant, that is, such that

and Is a vector space under the standard operations of

4) Let be the set of real polynomials of degree ; that is,

We define + and scalar multiplication by

for all

The zero polynomial is and the additive inverse of

is .
Then is a vector space over

5) (a) All real matrices

(b) All functions satisfying

1.2. VECTOR SUBSPACES.

Definition:

Let be a vector space over a field A subset of is called a subspace of if itself is

a vector space over under the operations of restricted to

To show that a subset of is a subspace, it is not necessary to check all the vector space
axioms; many of the axioms are “inherited” from

Theorem:

Let be a vector space over the field and let be a subset of Then is a subspace of
iff the following conditions hold

(a) is non-empty,

(b)

(c)

Conditions (b) and (c) are described by saying that is closed under addition and scalar
multiplication.

Examples of subspaces

(a) Every vector space has two trivial subspaces, namely, the zero vector space, and
itself.

(b) The only subspaces of are and lines through the origin.

(c) The only subspaces of are and planes through the origin.

(d) Let and let

Then is not s subspace of (Exercise: Verify this)

Exercises

(1) Let be the vector space of all continuous real-valued functions in the closed
interval Determine which of the following subsets are subspaces of

(i) The set of all such that

∫
(ii) The set of all such that

Hint: Define

Exercises:

1. Determine which of the following subsets of are subspaces.

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

2. Prove that is a subspace of

3. Let U, W be subspaces of a vector space V. For each of the following, say whether it

is a subspace of V. give reasons for your answer.

(a) ;

(b) ;

(c)

4. In each of the questions below, decide whether or not S is a subspace of V.

Justify your answers. In each case, the operations are the usual addition and scalar

multiplication.

(a) and

(b) and

(c) and

(d) consists of all matrices and {( ) }

(e) consists of all matrices and {( ) }

(f) (for fixed n) and consists of all the symmetric matrices in

1.3. SPANNING SETS AND LINEAR INDEPENDENCE.

Definition:

A vector is linear combination of vectors if there are scalars

such that . The scalars are called the coefficients

of the linear combination.

Definition:

If is a set of vectors in a vector space V, then the set of all linear

combinations of is called the span of and is denoted by
or If then S is called a spanning set for V

and V is said to be spanned by S.

Example:

Let denote the vector space of all polynomials of degree

i.e

In determine whether is in ( )

where and

Solution: We should find scalars a and b such that

Regrouping the equation according to powers yields

Solving these equations, we get and

( )

Theorem:

Let be vectors in a vector space V.

(a) is a subspace of V.
(b) is the smallest subspace of V that contains .

Proof: Exercise

Definition:

Let V be a vector space over a field F. The vectors are linearly dependent
over F if there are scalars not all zero such that

i.e If the vector 0 can be expressed as a non-trivial linear combination of .

Otherwise, are linearly independent.

Examples:

1. Let F be the field of real numbers In the vectors

are linearly dependent since

1.4. SOME CONSEQUENCES OF THE DEFINITION OF LINEAR DEPENDENCE.

Theorem:

If the set contains the vector 0, then it is linearly dependent.

Proof:

Suppose for some i. Then

Therefore, 0 is a non-trivial linear combination of .

Theorem:

A set of vectors in a vector space V is linearly dependent if and only if

at least one of the vectors can be expressed as a linear combination of the others.

Proof: Exercise

Theorem:

If is a linearly independent set of vectors in a vector space V and

, are such that

 ,

then …, .

Proof:

…, .

Remark:

If is a basis, then are uniquely determined by the coefficients

of the linear combination

are called the coordinates of with respect to the basis .

is the n-tuple of coordinates of

1.5. BASIS AND DIMENSION.

Definition:

A subset B of a vector space V is a basis for V if

(1) B spans V and

(2) B is linearly independent

Theorem:

Let S be a finite-dimensional subspace of a vector space V. Any two bases of S have the
same number of elements.

Proof:

Let and be any two bases for S.

Viewing B as an independent set in S and as a generating set for S, we have

Viewing as an independent set in S and as a generating set for S, we have

This shows that

Definition:

The dimension of a finite-dimensional subspace S of a vector space V is the number of

elements in any basis for S, and is denoted by

The dimension of V depends only on V and not on the particular choice of basis.

The zero subspace {0} is considered to have dimension zero.

Theorem:

Let V be a vector space and let S be a finite-dimensional subspace of V with

For a set B of k vectors from S, the following statements are equivalent:

(1) B is linearly independent.

(2) B generates S.

In either case, B is a basis for S.

Summary:

Let V be a vector space of dimension n. Then

(1) every basis of V has n elements.

(2) every linearly independent subset of V containing n elements is a basis of V.

(3) every subset of V containing n elements which generates V, is a basis of V.

(4) no linearly independent subset of V has more than n elements.

(5) no subset of V which generates V has less than n elements.

(6) every linearly independent subset of V is a subset of a basis of V.

(7) every subset of V which generates V contains a basis.

(8) every vector subspace W of V has dimension at most n.

Examples:

(1) is a basis for called the standard basis for .

(2) Consider the following n vectors in where is a field;

, …,

is a linearly independent set. and any vector ) in can

be expressed as a linear combination of ;

 .

Consequently, the vectors form a basis of This is the standard basis of

When (the field of real numbers) we have

(3) Let Show that T is a subspace of

Find a basis for T.

Solution:

(a) Since

Let and .

Then and

Hence,

and

Therefore, and

Thus T is a subspace of

(b)

Since and is an arbitrary element of T,

〈 〉.

It can be easily verified that is a linearly independent set.

Hence is a basis of T.

Exercises:

1. Determine which of the following subspaces of are linearly independent.

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)
2. Let

(a) Show that B is a basis for

(b) Find the coordinate vector of with respect to the basis B.

3. Use only the definition of linear independence to determine whether

is linearly independent subset of .

4. Determine whether ( ) is in the span of ( ) and ( ).

5. Let

Find a basis and the dimension for

6. Show that

{( ) ( ) ( ) ( )}

is a basis for

7. Find a basis of

8. Let {( ) ( ) ( ) ( )} Is ( ) in the span of

9. Determine the dimension of the subspace of S of spanned by the vectors

10. Let W be the set of all which satisfy

Find a finite set of vectors which spans