Math 415 - Lecture 10

Span is a subspace, Null Space

Friday September 16th 2016

Textbook: Chapter 2.1, 2.2.
Suggested practice exercises: Chapter 2.1: 3, 21, 28. Chapter 2.2: 33 and
additional exercises in this lecture note.
Khan Academy videos: Linear Subspaces, Introduction to the Null Space of
a Matrix, Calculating the Null Space of a Matrix

Review of vector space and subspace

A vector space is a set of vectors which can be added and scaled (without
leaving the space!); subject to the usual rules.
The set of all polynomials of degree up to 2 is a vector space. Why?

[a0 + a1 t + a2 t2 ]+[b0 + b1 t + b2 t2 ] =
[(a0 +b0 ) + (a1 + b1 )t + (a2 + b2 )t2 ]
r[a0 + a1 t + a2 t2 ] = [(ra0 ) + (ra1 )t + (ra2 )t2 ]
Note how it works just like R3 .
The set of all polynomials of degree exactly 2 is not a vector space. Why?

[1 + 4t + t2 ] + [3 t t2 ] =
[4 + 3t]
|
{z
} | {z }
| {z }
degree 2
degree 2
NOT degree

Easy test: Is the zero vector in the set? (If not, then its not a vector
space.)

Example 1. Let V be the set of all function f : R R. Is V a vector space?

Solution.
Yes! We define f + g by
f (x) + g(x) = (f + g)(x).
so f + g is in V .
Note that, once more, this definition is component-wise. Scalar multiplication
works the same way: for a scalar c define cf by
(cf )(x) = cf (x).
So cf V .

A Shortcut for Determining Subspaces

Recall the following two definitions.

Definition. A subspace of a vector space V is a subset H of V that has three
properties:
1. The zero vector of V is in H.
2. For each u and v are in H, u + v is in H. (In this case we say H is closed
under vector addition.)
3. For each u in H and each scalar c, cu is in H. (In this case we say H is
closed under scalar multiplication.)
Definition. The span {v1 , v2 , . . . , vp } is the collection of all vectors that can
be written as
x1 v1 + x2 v2 + + xp vp ,
where x1 , x2 , . . . , xp are scalars.
Theorem 1. If v1 , v2 , . . . , vp are in a vector space V , then span {v1 , v2 , . . . , vp }
is a subspace of V .



a + 2b
Example 2. Is V =
| a, b R a subspace of R2 ? Why or why not?
2a 3b
Solution.

Write vectors in V as:


   

 
 
a + 2b
a
2b
1
2
=
+
=a
+b
.
2a 3b
2a
3b
2
3
So V = span {v1 , v2 } where
v1 =

 
 
1
2
, v2 =
2
3

and therefore V is a subspace of R2 by the previous theorem.

a + 2b
Example 3. Is H = a + 1 : a, b R a subspace of R3 ? Why or why not?

a
Solution.
No! H does not contain the zero vector. In other words,

0
2
1
a + 2b
a + 1 = a 1 + b 0 + 1
0
0
1
a
cannot equal the zero vector for any choice of a or b.

Example 4. Is the set H of all matrices of the form


2a
b
a subspace of
3a + b 3b

M2x2 ?
Solution.
Yes!
H = span


2
3

 
0
0
,
0
1


1
.
3

Since H can be written as a span, its a subspace of M2x2 .

Null Spaces

Definition. The nullspace of an m n matrix A, written as Nul(A), is the

set of all solutions to the homogeneous equation Ax = 0.
Nul(A) = {x : x Rn and Ax = 0}.

Theorem 2. The null space of an m n matrix A is a subspace of Rn . Equivalently, the set of all solutions to the system Ax = 0 of m homogeneous linear
equations in n unknowns is a subspace of Rn .
Proof: Nul(A) is a subset of Rn since A has n columns. We have to verify
properties (a), (b), and (c) of the definition of a subspace.
Property (a): Show that 0 is in Nul(A).
A0 = 0.
and

0
0
..
..
A . = .
0
0
in Rn in Rm

Property (b): If u and v are in Nul(A), show that u + v is also in Nul(A).

Suppose Au = 0 and Av = 0. Then
A (u + v) = Au + Av = 0 + 0 = 0.
Property (c): If u is in Nul(A) and c is a scalar, show that cu is also in Nul(A).
Suppose Au = 0. Then
A(cu) = c (Au) = c (0) = 0.
Lets restate the theorem.
Theorem 3. The null space of an m n matrix A is a subspace of Rn . Equivalently, the set of all solutions to the system Ax = 0 of m homogeneous linear
equations in n unknowns is a subspace of Rn .
Remark.
Rn .

Since properties (a), (b), and (c) hold, Nul(A) is a subspace of

Since Nul(A) is a subspace, it is closed under linear combinations. You can

add solutions of Ax = 0 and get a new solution! This is very important.
Not true for Ax = b for b 6= 0. Here you cannot add solutions!
Solving Ax = 0 yields an explicit description of Nul(A).
Example 5. Find and explicit description of Nul(A) where


3 6 6 3 9
A=
.
6 12 13 0 3

Solution.
We want to find all the solutions to Ax = 0. So we need to do Gaussian
elimination on the augmented matrix A 0 .






3 6
6 3 9 0
0
3 6 6 3
9
A 0 =

6 12 13 0 3 0
0 0 1 6 15 0

3 6 0
0 0 1

39
6

99
15

U




1 2 0 13
33 0

= U
0 0 1 6 15 0



1 2 0 13
33 0
0 =
.
0 0 1 6 15 0
0
0

This corresponds to the solution:

x1 = 2x2 13x4 33x5
x3 = 6x4 + 15x5 .
Write this as a linear combination:

x1
33
2x2 13x4 33x5
13
2
x2
0
0

1
x2

x3 =

6x4 + 15x5

= x2 0 + x4 6 + x5 15 .
x4

0
1
0
x4
0
x5
0
x5
1
So each vector in Nul(A) looks like:

33
13
2
0
0
1

x2 0 + x4 6 + x5
15 .
0
1
0
1
0
0
Thus,

13
33

1 0 0

Nul(A) = span 0 , 6 , 15 .

1 0

0
0
1
In other words,


Nul

3
6

6
12

6
13

3
0

2
13
33

0 0


1

9
, 6 , 15 .
0
= span

0 1 0

0
0
1

Remark. If Nul(A) 6= {0}, then the number of vectors in the spanning set for
Nul(A) equals the number of free variables in Ax = 0.
In this example, we had 3 free variables (x2 , x4 , and x5 ) so there were 3 vectors
in the spanning set for Nul(A). More about this later!
Example 6. (Balancing chemical equations) Propane (C3 H8 ) burns in the presence of oxygen to produce water and carbon dioxide. The reaction can be
describe in the following chemical equation:
x1 C3 H8 + x2 O2 x3 CO2 + x4 H2 O.

x1
x2

that balance this equation.

Describe the subspace of vectors
x3
x4
Solution.
In order to balance the equation, we have to find x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 such that the
numbers of atom on each side of the chemical equation is same. So we have
solve the following equations:
(C) 3x1 x3 = 0,
(H) 8x1 2x4 = 0, and
(O) 2x2 2x3 x4 = 0.

3 0 1 0
0 . Then the N ul(A) is precisely the
Let A = 8 2 0
0 2 2 1
that balanced the chemical equation.

3 0 1 0
3 0 1 0 0


A 0 = 8 0 0 2 0 0 0 83 2
0 2 2 1 0
0 2 2 1

1 0 13
0
3 0 1 0 0
0 2 2 1 0 0 1 1 21
0 0 83 2 0
0 0 1 43

1 0 0 14 0
0 1 0 54 0
0 0 1 34 0
1
4

5
4
Thus N ul(A) = span{
3 }. For example, the chemical equation
4
1
C3 H8 + 5O2 3CO2 + 4H2 O.
is now balanced.
6

set of vectors

0
0
0

0
0
0