Linear algebra

Vectors
Vectors in the plane (R2 )

Sum of two vectors:

� � � � � �
x1 y1 x1 + y1
+ =
x2 y2 x2 + y2

Product of a vector and a scalar:

� � � �
x1 λx1
λ = (λ ∈ R)
x2 λx2
� �
0
The zero vector:
0

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Vectors

Vectors in space (R3 ) Sum of two vectors:

     
x1 y1 x 1 + y1
 x 2 +  y 2  =  x 2 + y 2 
x3 y3 x3 + y3

Product of a vector and a scalar:

   
x1 λx1
λ  x2  =  λx2  (λ ∈ R)
x3 λx3
 
0
The zero vector:  0 
0

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Vectors
Vectors in the n dimensional real space (Rn )

Sum of two vectors:

       
x1 x1 y1 x 1 + y1
 x2   x2   y 2   x 2 + y2 
       
x =  . ,  ..  +  ..  =  .. 
 ..   .   .   . 
xn xn yn xn + yn

Product of a vector and a scalar:

where xi ∈ R      
0 x1 λx1
 0   x2   λx2 
     
The zero vector:  ..  λ .  = 
. ..  (λ ∈ R)
 .   .   . 
0 xn λxn

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Vectors

The coordinates of a vector can be even complex numbers:

 
x1
 x2 
 
x ∈ Cn , if x =  .  , where xi ∈ C
 .. 
xn

The vector addition and scalar multiplication can be defined in the same
way as in the case of real vectors (here the scalar can be a complex
number, as well), the zero vector is the same: all coordinates are 0.

Example: � �
1 − 2i
x= ∈ C2
2 + 3i

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Vector spaces
Let K denote the set of real or complex numbers, its elements: scalars.
Definition
A non-empty set V is called a vector space over K and the elements of V
are called vectors if there are two operations
vector addition: V × V → V , (v , w ) �→ v + w ,
scalar multiplication: K × V → V , (λ, v ) �→ λv ,
satisfying the conditions below:
Vector addition:
(a) commutativity, that is ∀v , w ∈ V : v + w = w + v ;
(b) associativity, that is ∀u, v , w ∈ V : (u + v ) + w = u + (v + w );
(c) there exists a zero vector: 0 ∈ V , such that v + 0 = v (∀v ∈ V );
(d) ∀v ∈ V there exists a so-called additive inverse,
a vector denoted by −v , such that v + (−v ) = 0.
Scalar multiplication:
(a) ∀λ, µ ∈ K, v ∈ V : (λ + µ)v = λv + µv ;
(b) ∀λ ∈ K, v , w ∈ V : λ(v + w ) = λv + λw ;
(c) ∀λ, µ ∈ K, v ∈ V : λ(µv ) = (λµ)v ;
(d) ∀v ∈ V : 1v = v .
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Examples for vector spaces
Rn is a vector space over R
Cn is a vector space over C (and over R, as well)
A vector space can consist not only of vectors in the classical sense, e.g.:
The set of real polynomials of degree at most n is a vector space over
R.

Definition
A non-empty subset W of the vector space V is called a linear subspace
(or simply a subspace) of V if it is a vector space itself, that is, W is
closed under vector addition and scalar multiplication.

Remark: {0} and V are linear subspaces of V , called trivial subspaces.

Example:
W = {x ∈ R3 : x3 = 0}
is a linear subspace of R3 .
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Definition
Let v1 , v2 , . . . , vn be vectors in V . The linear combinations of them are
vectors of the form
λ 1 v1 + λ 2 v2 + · · · + λ n vn , (λ1 , λ2 , . . . , λn ∈ K).

Remark. The zero vector can always be obtained as a linear combination.

The trivial linear combination:

0 = 0 · v1 + · · · + 0 · vn

Examples
� � � �
1 0
1. In R2 a linear combination of v1 = and v2 = is
0 1
� � � � � �
1 0 2
2 +3 =
0 1 3

Prove, that every vector from R2 can be obtained as a linear

combination of v1 and v2 .
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Examples
� � � �
2 0
2. In R2 a linear combination of v1 = and v2 = :
1 3
� � � � � �
2 0 4
2 − =
1 3 1

Which vectors in R2 can be obtained as a linear combination of v1

and v2 ?
3. Which vectors in R3 can be obtained as a linear combination of v1
and v2 ?    
1 0
v1 =  0  , v 2 =  1 
0 0

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Theorem and definition
Let v1 , v2 , . . . , vn be vectors in V . Then the set of all linear combinations
of these vectors form a linear subspace of V , called the subspace spanned
or generated by v1 , v2 , . . . , vn . Notation: L(v1 , . . . , vn ).
Example. Determine the subspace spanned by the given vectors in R3 .
(a)    
2 0
v1 =  0  , v2 =  −1 
0 0
(b)      
2 0 0
v1 =  
0 , v2 =  
−1 , v3 =  0 
0 0 3

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(c)    
1 0
v1 =  
1 , v2 =  1 
0 0
(d)      
1 0 2
v1 =  
1 , v2 =  
−1 , v3 =  0 
0 0 0
(e) 

1
v1 =  1 
1

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Definition
Let v1 , v2 , . . . , vn be vectors in V . We say that these vectors are linearly
dependent if there exist scalars λ1 , λ2 , . . . , λn ∈ R not all 0, such that
λ1 v1 + λ2 v2 + · · · + λn vn = 0.
(Thus if the zero vector can be obtained as a non-trivial linear
combination of the vectors.) Otherwise we say that the vectors are linearly
independent.

Remark: So in case of linear independence the condition

λ 1 v1 + λ 2 v2 + · · · + λ n vn = 0
implies that λi = 0, ∀i ∈ {1, . . . , n}.

Example: Decide whether the following vectors are linearly independent in

R2 , or not.
(a) � � � �
1 0
v1 = , v2 =
0 1
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(b) � � � �
2 0
v1 = , v2 =
1 −1
(c) � � � �
2 −4
v1 = , v2 =
−1 2
(d) � � � �
2 −4
v1 = , v2 =
−1 1
(e) � � � � � �
2 0 −1
v1 = , v2 = , v3 =
−1 1 1

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Theorem
A set of vectors is linearly dependent if, and only if, some of the vectors
can be obtained as a linear combination of the rest of the vectors.

Proposition
Consider a fixed set of vectors in a vector space.
1 If two (or more) of the vectors are the same, then the vectors are
linearly dependent.
2 If one of the vectors is a scalar multiple of another vector, then the
vectors are linearly dependent.
3 If the zero vector is among the vectors, then the vectors are linearly
dependent. That is, a linearly independent set of vectors cannot
contain the zero vector.
4 If a subset of the vectors is linearly dependent, then the entire set is
linearly dependent.

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Basis
Definition
Let G be a set of vectors of V . We say that G generates the vector space
V if the spanned subspace of G is the whole vector space. In this case all
vectors of V can be obtained as a linear combination of elements of G.
�� ��
Example: V = R2 , v = 21 , w = 03 . Then {v , w } generates R2 . Let
��
u = 10 . Then {u, v , w } generates R2 as well, however, this set is linearly
dependent, since 6u − 3v + w = 0. ⇒ A vector of R2 can be expressed as
a linear combination of {u, v , w } in more than one ways, e.g.,
� �
2 4
= v + w = 2u + w .
4 3

Definition
A basis of V is a linearly independent set of vectors which generate V .

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Basis: linearly independent set of vectors spanning the whole vector space.

If B is a basis, then all elements of V can be uniquely expressed as

a linear combination of the elements of B.
There are infinitely many bases of V .

Theorem and definition

Given a vector space V , all of its bases have the same cardinality (consist
of the same number of vectors). This number is called the dimension of
the vector space. Notation: dim(V ). Remark: if V = {0}, then
dim(V ) = 0.

Example. Some bases in R2 :

�� � � �� �� � � �� �� � � ��
1 0 2 0 1 2
B1 = , , B2 = , , B3 = ,
0 1 0 5 1 1
Remark. The basis B1 is called the natural basis of R2 . The natural basis
of Rn can be defined in a similar way: all the coordinates of the ith vector
are 0, but the ith, which is 1. (i = 1, . . . , n).
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Coordinates with respect to a basis
Theorem
If we find n linearly independent vectors in an n-dimensional vector space,
then it is a basis.
Definition
Let V be a vector space, B = {b1 , . . . , bn } is one of its basis. Then all
v ∈ V can be uniquely expressed as a linear combination of the elements
of B, thus there exist unique scalars λ1 , λ2 , . . . , λn , such that
v = λ1 b 1 + · · · + λ n b n .
These scalars are called the coordinates of v with respect to the basis B.
Then in the basis B the vector v has the form:
 
λ1
 λ2 
 
v =  . .
.
 . 
λn
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Definition
Let A be a set of vectors. The rank of A is the dimension of the
generated vector space:
rank(A) = dim(L(A)).

Example. Determine the rank of the set consisting of

     
1 0 2
v1 =  
1 , v2 =  
−1 , v3 =  0 .
1 0 2

Theorem
The rank of a set of vectors doesn’t change if we add the linear
combination of some of the vectors to a vector.

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