Linear Algebra I (2020 Fall)

Lecture 4.

Studying Contents : Chapter 1. Vector Spaces

- Section 1.4 Linear Combinations and Systems of Linear Equations

Section 1.4 Linear Combinations and Systems of Linear Equations

Recall : Let  be a vector space over a field  and let  be a nonempty subset of  .

(1)  is called a subspace of  if

 is a vector space over  under the restriction of the operations on  .

(2) (Subspace Test)  is a subspace of 

if and only if     ∈  ;

     ∈  for any   ∈  ;

    ∈  for any ∈  and ∈  .

In this section, we will study

an elementary but very useful method to construct subspaces of a given vector space.
Example : Let   ℝ               ∈ℝ .

(1)           ∈          and           ∈          are subspaces of  .

(2)          ∈                 is equal to  ∩   and so a subspace of  .

 
(3) We can find all elements in  . Indeed, let        ∈  . Then      and       .
 
 
So, we have                    
 
   
                                   .
   

Therefore it holds that     


                   ∈ℝ .
 
   
                 is called a linear combination of        and        .
   
Note that  is equal to

 
the set of all “  -linear combinations” of the two vectors        and        .
 
Definition : Let  be a vector space over a field  .

(1) Let    …  be a subset of  .

A vector ∈  is called a linear combination of vectors of  if

     ⋯     for some   …  ∈  .

In this case, we say that  is a linear combination of   …   and

call   …   the coefficients of the linear combination.

The set span    the set consisting of all linear combinations of the vectors in 
  ⋯     … ∈
is called the span of  .

(2) Let  be a non-empty subset of  .

A vector ∈  is called a linear combination of vectors of  if

    ⋯    for some   …  ∈  and  …  ∈  .

The set span    the set consisting of all linear combinations of the vectors in 
  ⋯    ≥   … ∈  … ∈
is called the span of  .
Theorem 1.5. : Let  be a non-empty subset of a vector space  .

(1) span   is a subspace of  .

Proof : Here, we will give a proof for the case where

    …   and hence span       ⋯       …  ∈.

We leave the case where  be an arbitrary subset of  to the students.

(1) For    … , we have to check the following three conditions of span  .
    ∈ span   ;

     ∈ span   for any   ∈ span   ;

    ∈ span   for any ∈  and ∈ span   .

      ⋯       if   ⋯     . Thus  ∈ span   .

   Write      ⋯     and     ⋯   .

Then             ⋯         ∈ span   .

   Write      ⋯    . Then         ⋯        ∈ span   .

Theorem 1.5. : Let  be a non-empty subset of a vector space  .

(1) span   is a subspace of  .

(2) span   is the smallest subspace of  which contains  .

Proof : Let  be a subspace of  that contains    … .

Since  is closed under the addition and the scalar multiplication,

it must contain    ⋯     for any   …  ∈  .

Thus span   is contained in  .

This shows that span   can be characterized as

the smallest subspace of  that contains    … . ♣

Example A. : In ℝ , consider the span of the set                 .

⇒ span         ∈ℝ         ∈ℝ  : the -plane

By Theorem 1.5, span   is a subspace of ℝ .

※ Note that

the -plane  the set of all solutions of the linear equation   .

This gives another proof of the fact that span   is a subspace of ℝ  .

Example B. : In ℝ , consider the span of the set                .

(1) span          ∈ℝ               ∈ℝ 

⇒ span   ⊂ span  

(2) Observe that

            ∈ span   and hence      ∈ span   .

Therefore     ⊂ span   and hence we have span   ⊂ span   .

In consequence, it holds that

span    span   .
Definition : Let  be a subspace of  .

We say that a subset  of  generates  if   span   .

Example C. : Let  be the -plane in ℝ  .

Then   span    span  

where     and                .

Therefore both of     and                 generate  .

Example : Let   ℝ               ∈ℝ  and let

         ∈                

be the solution set of the system of linear equations          

      
. Then

(1)  is a subspace of  .

 
(2) If        ∈  , then      and       . Therefore we have
 
   
                                      .
   

This shows that     

                   ∈ℝ .
  
That is,  is the subspace of   ℝ  generated by

the set   
             
   of two vectors.

※          ∈                    

                   ∈ℝ .
 
◎ Relationship to Systems of Linear Equations

Example 1. :         ,         ,         ,        

⇒ How to determine

if the vector        can be expressed as a linear combination of   …   ?

(Subspace Membership Problem) Note that

       is a linear combination of   …   ⇔  ∈ span      .

Suppose that                  for some   …  ∈ℝ. Then

                                   .

          

Now, our problem is equivalent to find    …    ∈ℝ  such that (⋆)          .
       
      
Example 1. : (Continued)
          

To solve the system of linear equations (⋆)           ,
       
      

we usually eliminate certain unknowns.

                                
  
          ⇒         ⇒        
               
       
        

          

⇒         ⇒               
   


⇒                  is a solution of (⋆).

In consequence,  can be expressed as a linear combination of   …  . That is,

                         .
Summary :         ,         ,         ,        

Determine if the vector        can be expressed as a linear combination of   …  .

       is a linear combination of   …  

⇔  ∈ span      (Subspace Membership Problem)

          

⇔ (⋆)           has at least one solution.
       
      
Remark : To solve a “system of linear equations”, which kind of operations are allowed?

                               
  
           ⇒           ⇒        
                       
              
                     
 
⇒         ⇒        
       
   
 

Type 1 Type 3 Type 2

Type 1 : Interchanging the order of any two equations in the system;

Type 2 : Adding a constant multiple of any equation to another equation in the system

Type 3 : Multiplying any equation in the system by a non-zero constant;

Example 2. :                       ∈   ℝ 

(1)             ∈   ℝ 

Prove that   is a linear combination of  and .

(∵) Suppose that      . Then

                                  

    
and hence 

     
.

     
     

From     , one can show that         .

Also one can check that           satisfies the remaining equations.

Thus       .
Example 2. :                       ∈   ℝ 

(2)             ∈   ℝ 

Prove that   is not a linear combination of  and .

(∵) Suppose that      . Then

                                  
    
and hence 

     
.

     
     

From     , one can show that         .

But           fails to satisfy the 3rd equation      .

This means that the above system of equations has no solution.

Therefore   is not a linear combination of  and .

Example 4. :   ℝ             ∈ℝ 

                       

⇒ An arbitrary element      ∈   ℝ  is a linear combination of   .

(Equivalently,   ℝ  is generated by   . )

(∵) We need to solve the equation            .

                       
⇒         ⇒          ⇒       
                       
             
⇒        ⇒        
           
       
⇒        
     

Therefore every      ∈   ℝ  is a linear combination of   . More precisely,

                                .