ALGEBRA

ASSIGNMENT 2

Exercise 1. Prove that a vector space over an infinite field cannot be written as union of proper
subspaces. We break the proof as follows:
(1) (*)Let V = ∪ni=1 Vi as proper subspaces. Let x, y 6= 0, x ∈ V1 , y ∈ / V1 . Show that we
have infinite vectors of the form x + αy
(2) Show that there exists a vector space Vj such that it contains infinitely many vectors of
the form x + αi y.
(3) Show that x ∈ Vj , and hence V1 ⊂ ∪ni=2 Vi .
(4) Modify (1) by giving a condition in (*) such that you obtain a contradiction in step 3!!
Exercise 2. In this exercise, we prove that dimF V = dimF V ∗ iff V is a finite dimensional
vector space over F .
(1) Let V be finite dimensional. Given a basis of V , say B, give a explicit basis of V ∗ along
with its action on B. Prove that the dimensions of V ∗ and V are same.
(2) Let A be a basis for the infinite dimensional vector space V over a field F . Prove that
V is isomorphic to the direct sum of copies of the field F indexed by the set A.
(3) Prove that the direct product of the copies of F indexed by A is a vector space over F .
Denote it by W .
(4) Prove that the dimF (W ) > dimF (V ).
(5) Prove that A∗ = {v ∗ |v ∈ A} does not span V ∗ .
(6) Prove that V ∗ is isomorphic to W as F vector space. Deduce that dimF V ∗ > dimF V .
Exercise 3. Prove the following by induction on r : Let v1 , . . . vr be the eigenvectors of a linear
operator T (on a vector space over a field F) with distinct eigenvalues λ1 , . . . λr . Then the set
{v1 , . . . vr } is linearly independent over F.
Exercise 4. Prove or disprove the following :
(1) Let B be a complex n × n matrix. The linear operator
T : Mn (C) 7→ Mn (C) T (A) = AB − BA is singular.
(2) If A and B are n × n matrix and A is nonsingular, then AB is similar to BA.
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2 1
Exercise 5. (1) Let A = ∈ M2 (C). Find a matrix P such that P −1 AP is diagonal
1 2
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and find A using this.
(2) Let P = [pij ] and Q = [qij ] be 2 diagonal matrix over C. Suppose that P and Q are
similar. Prove or disprove : pii = qσ(i)σ(i) for some σ ∈ Sn i.e. the diagonal entries are
the same upto transposition.
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2 ALGEBRA ASSIGNMENT 2
 
6 −3 −2
(3) Let A =  4 −1 −2 Is A similar to a diagonal matrix over the field R? Is A
 

10 −5 −3
similar to a diagonal matrix over the field C?

Exercise 6. Let T be a linear transformation on a finite dimensional C vector space V , and let
f ∈ C[x] 6= 0. If λ is an eigenvalue of T , show that f (λ) is an eigenvalue of f (T ).

Exercise 7. Let V be a vector space. Let S and T be subspaces of V . Show that

(1) S + T := {s + t : s ∈ S, t ∈ T } is a subspace of V .
(2) S ∩ T is a subspace of V .
Give the natural homomorphism from S to S +T /T . Show that the homomorphism is surjective.
Finally prove that the kernel is T ∩ S and show that S + T /T is isomorphic to S/S ∩ T .

Exercise 8. Let AX = Y denote a system of equations A a n × n invertible matrix. If X =

detB
[xj ]T , prove that xj = detAj where Bj is the matrix obtained by replacing the j th column of A
with that of Y . This is known as Cramer’s rule.