5 Linear transformations

In mathematics, maps which preserve structure are very important. For vector spaces,
these maps are the linear transformations, also called linear mappings (or linear maps).
As before, the eld R may be replaced with any other eld F throughout this chapter.
Denition 5.1 Assume V and W are vector spaces over R. Then a map T : V W is
said to be a linear transformation if it satises
(L1) T(v
1
+v
2
) = T(v
1
) +T(v
2
) for all v
1
, v
2
V ; and
(L2) T(v) = T(v) for all v V , R.
Thus rst adding two vectors in V and then applying a linear transformation T gives the
same answer as applying T to each vector and then adding the results in W. Similarly,
applying T to v gives the same answer as multiplying T(v) by .
Exercises 5.2 Show that conditions (L1) and (L2) are equivalent to condition (L), where
(L) T(
1
v
1
+
2
v
2
) =
1
T(v
1
) +
2
T(v
2
)
Example 5.3 The map T : R
2
R
3
given by
T(v, w) := (v +w, v w, 2w)
is linear.
Example 5.4 Let V , W be any vector spaces; then the map T : V W dened by
T(v) = 0
W
for all v V is a linear mapping.
If V = W, then the identity mapping, which is the mapping Id : V V with
Id(v) = v
for all v V , is linear.
If you are given a map T : V W and want to see whether it is linear, it is usually a
good idea rst to check whether T(0
V
) is O
W
, because if not then T cannot be linear.
However, a map T with T(0
V
) = 0
W
need not be linear. Consider for example T : R
2
R
dened by T(x, y) = x
2
+y
2
, which is not linear [e.g. 2T(1, 0) = 2 and T(2(1, 0) = 4].
Lemma 5.5 Suppose T : V W is a linear transformation. Then
(a) T(0
V
) = 0
W
.
(b) For all v V we have T(v) = T(v).
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Proof (a) We have
T(0
V
) = T(0
V
+ 0
V
) = T(0
V
) +T(0
V
);
now add the additive inverse of the vector T(0
V
) to both sides.
(b) We have T(v) +T(v) = T((v) +v) = T(0
V
) = 0
W
and hence T(v) is the additive
inverse of T(v). Alternatively
T(v) = T((1)v) = (1)T(v) = T(v).

Example 5.6 If 1 i n then the map

i
: R
n
R dened by

i
(x
1
, . . . , x
n
) = x
i
is linear. This is called the i-th projection of R
n
onto R.
Example 5.7 Consider dierentiation D : R
n
[x] R
n
[x] given by
D(a
0
+a
1
x +. . . +a
n
x
n
) = a
1
+ 2a
2
x +. . . +na
n
x
n1
.
This map is linear.
Remark 5.8 The denition of a linear mapping makes sense for any vector space, whether
or not it is nite-dimensional. Important examples come from spaces of dierentiable
functions. E.g. recall the space Map(R, R) of functions from R to R. Let
V = {f : R R : f is dierentiable };
then D : V R
R
dened by
D(f) = f

is linear, by basic calculus.

Example 5.9 Let V = M
nn
(R) be the space of nn matrices over R. Then the mapping
tr : V R, tr(A) =
n

i=1
a
ii
(the trace) is linear.
Similarly taking transposes of matrices is linear; i.e. we have a linear mapping
: V V, (A) = A
T
where the transpose A
T
of A is the n m matrix
A
T
= [ a
ij
], where a
ij
= a
ji
.
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Denition 5.10 Assume that T : V W is a linear map between vector spaces V and
W.
(a) The kernel of T is dened to be
ker(T) = {v V : T(v) = 0
W
}.
(b) The image of T is dened to be
im(T) = {w W : w = T(v) for some v V } = {T(v) : v V } = T(V ).
Lemma 5.11 Let T : V W be a linear map. Then
(a) ker(T) is a subspace of V ;
(b) im(T) is a subspace of W.
Proof T(0
V
) = 0
W
so 0
V
ker(T) and 0
W
im(T).
If
1
,
2
F and v
1
, v
2
ker(T) then
T(
1
v
1
+
2
v
2
) =
1
T(v
1
) +
2
T(v
2
)
since T is linear, and this equals

1
0
W
+
2
0
W
= 0
W
since v
1
, v
2
ker(T), so
1
v
1
+
2
v
2
ker(T), so ker(T) is a subspace of V by the subspace
test.
If w
1
, w
2
im(T) then there are u
1
, u
2
V such that T(u
1
) = w
1
and T(u
2
) = w
2
, so since
T is linear

1
w
1
+
2
w
2
= T(
1
u
1
+
2
u
2
).
Hence
1
w
1
+
2
w
2
im(T) and thus im(T) is a subspace of V by the subspace test.
Example 5.12 If A is any mn matrix, dene T : (R
n
)
t
(R
m
)
t
by
T(x) = Ax
(the matrix product of A and the column vector x (R
n
)
t
). Then ker(T) is the space
A
of solutions to the system of linear equations Ax = 0.
Also im(T) = {b (R
m
)
t
: Ax = b has a solution }.
Example 5.13 Suppose T : V W is a linear transformation. An argument similar to
that of Lemma 5.11 shows that (a) if U is a subspace of V , then
T(U) = {T(u) : u U}
is a subspace of W;
(b) if Y is a subspace of W, then the pre-image
T
1
(Y ) = {v V : T(v) Y }
is a subspace of V . [Note that we do not need to assume that T has an inverse
in order to make sense of T
1
(Y ).]
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Lemma 5.14 (a) Assume that T
1
, T
2
: V W are linear transformations, and , R.
Then T
1
+ T
2
: V W is a linear transformation. [N.B. Here as usual + and scalar
multiplication are dened pointwise: (T
1
+T
2
)(v) = T
1
(v) +T
2
(v) for every v V .]
(b) If T : V W and S : W U are linear transformations then the composition
S T : V U is a linear transformation.
(c) Suppose T : V W is a linear transformation. If T is invertible as a map then the
inverse T
1
also is linear.
Proof See Problem Sheet 6.
The kernel and image of a linear transformation T are important for many applications.
For example they tell us whether the map T is one-to-one, or onto.
Lemma 5.15 Let T : V W be a linear transformation. Then
(a) T is one-to-one ker T = {0}.
(b) T is onto im T = W.
Proof (a) If v
1
, v
2
V then since T is linear
T(v
1
) = T(v
2
) T(v
1
v
2
) = 0 v
1
v
2
ker(T).
So if ker(T) = {0
V
} then this implies that v
1
= v
2
and so T is one-to-one. Conversely
v ker(T) T(v) = 0
W
= T(0
V
)
and if T is one-to-one this implies that v = 0
V
.
(b) is clear from the denition of im(T).
Denition 5.16 Let T : V W be linear. The nullity of T is dened to be
n(T) = dim(kerT).
The rank of T is dened to be
r(T) = dim(imT).
So by Lemma 5.15 n(T) = 0 means that T is 1-1 while r(T) = dimW means that T is
onto. In general, the nullity of T can be thought of as measuring how far away the map T
is from being one-to-one and dimW r(T) can be thought of as measuring how far away
the map T is from being onto.
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Example 5.17 Let T : R
3
R
2
be the map dened by
T(x, y, z) = (x, 0).
Then T is linear, and
kerT = {(0, y, z) : y, z R}
has a basis {(0, 1, 0), (0, 0, 1)} and
imT = {(x, 0) : x R}
has a basis {(1, 0)}. So n(T) = 2 and r(T) = 1. One observes that 2 + 1 = 3 = dimR
3
.
This is not a coincidence, as is demonstrated by the following theorem, known as the
rank-nullity theorem (or rank-nullity formula).
Theorem 5.18 Let V, W be nite-dimensional vector spaces over a eld F, and let T :
V W be a linear transformation. Then
dimV = r(T) + n(T).
Proof: By Lemma 5.11 ker T is a subspace of V . Take a basis {u
1
, . . . , u
k
} of ker T, so
n(T) = k. We extend this to a basis of V , say to
{u
1
, . . . , u
k
, u
k+1
, . . . , u
n
}
where n = dimV . We will show that the set
B = {T(u
k+1
), . . . , T(u
n
)}
is a basis of im T. This means r(T) = n k and hence it will prove the theorem.
(1) To prove that B spans im T: Let w im T, so T(v) = w for some v V . Express v
in terms of the chosen basis as v =

n
i=1
a
i
u
i
with a
i
F. Then
() w = T(v) = T(

i
a
i
u
i
) =
n

i=1
a
i
T(u
i
)
since T is linear. Now T(u
j
) = 0 for j k, and therefore
w =
n

i=k+1
a
i
T(u
i
).
This shows that w Sp{T(u
k+1
), . . . , T(u
n
)} and hence imT Sp(B). But each T(u
i
)
im T, hence Sp(B) im T and we get Sp(B) = im T.
(2) To show that B is linearly independent: Suppose that
k+1
T(u
k+1
)+. . .+
n
T(u
n
) = 0
for
1
, . . .
n
F. Since T is linear, this can be written as
T(
k+1
u
k+1
+. . . +
n
u
n
) = 0.
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This means that z =

n
i=k+1

i
u
i
is in ker T. Therefore we have scalars
1
, . . . ,
k
such
that
z =
1
u
1
+. . . +
k
u
k
.
Subtracting gives
0 =
1
u
1
+. . . +
k
u
k
z
=
1
u
1
+. . . +
k
u
k

k+1
u
k+1
. . .
n
u
n
Since {u
1
, . . . , u
n
} is linearly independent, this implies that all these scalars are zero, and
in particular

k+1
=
k+2
= . . . =
n
= 0.

Corollary 5.19 Assume T : V W is a linear transformation, where dimV = dimW.

Then the following are equivalent:
(1) T is one-to-one;
(2) T is onto;
(3) T is invertible.
Proof T is invertible if and only if T is one-to-one and onto. But by Lemma 5.15
T is one-to-one ker(T) = {0} n(T) = 0 dimV r(T) = 0
by the rank-nullity formula, and since dimV = dimW this happens i r(T) = dimW, or
equivalently i im(T) = W (i.e. T is onto) by Theorem 3.27.
The rank-nullity formula can be used to nd dimensions of subspaces.
Example 5.20 (1) Let V = R
3
and W = {(x
1
, x
2
, x
3
) V :

3
i=1
x
i
= 0}.
Dene T : V R by T(x
1
, x
2
, x
3
) =

3
i=1
x
i
. It is easy to check that T is linear. By
construction W = kerT. The map T is onto (for example if r R then T(r, 0, 0) = r). So
by the rank-nullity theorem dimW = n(T) = 3 dim(imT) = 2.
(2) More generally, let V = R
n
and W = {(x
1
, . . . , x
n
) :

n
i=1
x
i
= 0}; then the same
argument shows that dimW = n 1.
(3) You can deal similarly with subspaces dened by other constraints; e.g.
{(x
1
, . . . , x
n
) R
n
:
n

i=1
(1)
i
x
i
= 0}
also has dimension n 1.
There are many applications of the rank-nullity theorem which are conceptual, or abstract,
rather than dealing with explicit linear maps. The following is an illustration.
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Example 5.21 Let T : V V be a linear transformation. Then im T
2
im T and
ker T ker T
2
. Furthermore the following are equivalent:
(a) ker T = ker T
2
;
(b) im T = im T
2
.
(c) V = ker T im T.
Proof to be completed (using the rank-nullity theorem and Theorem 3.27).
Example 5.22 Let T : V V be a linear transformation. Very often, ker T is not equal
to ker T
2
. For example, consider
T : R
2
R
2
, T(x, y) = (y, 0).
Then ker T = {(x, 0) : x R} and T
2
= 0 so that ker T
2
= V .
Also in this example ker T = imT = 0 and so V cannot be the direct sum of ker T and
im T.
Sometimes it is necessary to understand how linear transformations behave when restricted
to a subspace. For example, if S : V V is a linear transformation of a nite-dimensional
vector space V and U is a subspace of V then an important question is what can one say
about the dimension of S(U)?
Lemma 5.23 Assume dimV = n and S : V V is a linear transformation. If U is a
subspace of V then
dimU dimS(U) +n(S).
Proof: Consider the linear transformation S
1
: U V which is the restriction (sometimes
written S|
U
) of S to U; that is,
S
1
(u) = S(u) for all u U.
By the rank-nullity theorem, dimU = r(S
1
) + n(S
1
). Now, imS
1
= S(U) so r(S
1
) =
dimS(U), and kerS
1
= kerS U. So kerS
1
kerS and therefore n(S
1
) n(S). The
lemma follows.
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