Vector Spaces

P Vanchinathan
February 8, 2012
P Vanchinathan () Vector Spaces February 8, 2012 1 / 4
Linear Dependence
A set of vectors is said to be linearly dependent if any one of them is a
linear combination of the other vectors.
Otherwise we call them linearly independent.
Suppose that
1
is a linear combination of
2
, /ncn
Basis of a Vector Space
A maximal set of linearly independent vectors of a vector a space is called
a basis for that vector space.
The number of elements in such a set is called the dimension of the vector
space. Clearly R
2
2-dimensional, R
3
is 3-dimensional, and R
n
is
n-dimensional.
For any set of initial vectors form all possible linear combinations, using all
scalars. The set obtained will be a vector space. (Because linear
combinations of new vectors can again be simplied to a linear
combination of origianl initial vectors).
This vector space is called the span of the vectors we started with.
For linearly independent set of vectors two dierent linear combinations
will result in two dierent vectors (uniqueness).
Find two ways of forming linear combination giving the same result in each
of the following cases:
1
(1, 7, 1), (2, 2, 3), (4, 20, 7
2
(1, 1, 1), (3, 8, 2), (0, 11, 1)
3
(4, 3, 2), (2, 0, 5), (10, 6, 9)
P Vanchinathan () Vector Spaces February 8, 2012 4 / 4
Rank of a Matrix
If we are given three vectors all size 3, then we can make a square matrix
of order 3.
Theorem: Given n vectors in R
n
, they are linearly dependent if and only
if the square matrix obtained from them is singular (i.e. has determinant
zero).
Example: (1, 8, 2)
T
, (0, 4, 5)
T
, (3, 2, 3)
T
Then form matrix

1 0 3
8 4 2
2 5 3

. Its determinant is 1(12 10) 0 + 2(0 + 12) = +2 so

they are linearly independent.
When a matrix has determinant zero, the columns are linearly dependent
vectors. What is the maximal number of columns that can be linearly
independent? That number is called the rank of the matrix.
Rank is equal to the order of the largest square submatrix that has
non-zero determinant. This is equal to the number of basic variables in
the linear system, which is the number of leading 1s in the echelon form.
And the number of free variables is called the nullity of the marix.
P Vanchinathan () Vector Spaces February 8, 2012 5 / 4