Math 211Advanced Linear Algebra

Roel F. Ceballos, MSc

Department of Mathematics and Statistics

5 Matrix Representations, Change of Basis and Similarity Page 1

 Matrix Representations
Definition 5.1
Let T be a linear operator from vector space V into itself,
and suppose 𝑆 = *𝑢1 , 𝑢2 , … , 𝑢𝑛 + is a basis of V. Now
T(𝑢1 ), T(𝑢2 ), … , T(𝑢𝑛 ) are vectors in V, and so each is a
linear combination of the vectors in the basis S; say,
𝑇(𝑢1 ) = 𝑎11 𝑢1 + 𝑎12 𝑢2 + ⋯ + 𝑎1𝑛 𝑢𝑛
𝑇(𝑢2 ) = 𝑎21 𝑢1 + 𝑎22 𝑢2 + ⋯ + 𝑎2𝑛 𝑢𝑛
……………………………………………..
𝑇(𝑢𝑛 ) = 𝑎𝑛1 𝑢1 + 𝑎𝑛2 𝑢2 + ⋯ + 𝑎𝑛𝑛 𝑢𝑛
The transpose of the above matrix coefficients, denoted by
𝑚𝑆 𝑇 𝑜𝑟 ,𝑇-𝑆 is called the matrix representation of T
relative to the basis S.

5 Matrix Representations, Change of Basis and Similarity Page 2

 Matrix Representations
Example 5.1
Let 𝐹:𝑅 2 → 𝑅 2 be the linear operator defined by
𝐹(𝑥, 𝑦) = (2𝑥 + 3𝑦, 4𝑥 − 5𝑦).
a) Find the matrix representation of 𝐹 relative to the
basis 𝑆 = *𝑢1 , 𝑢2 + = * 1,2 , (2,5)+
b) Find the matrix representation of 𝐹 relative to the
usual basis 𝐸 = *𝑒1 , 𝑒2 + = * 1,0 , (0,1)+

5 Matrix Representations, Change of Basis and Similarity Page 3

 Matrix Representations
Example 5.2
Let 𝑉 be the vector space of functions with
basis 𝑆 = *sin 𝑡, cos 𝑡 , 𝑒 3𝑡 + and let 𝐷: 𝑉 → 𝑉
be the differential operator defined by
𝐷(𝑓(𝑡)) = 𝑑(𝑓, 𝑡)/𝑑𝑡 . Find the matrix
representation of D in the basis S.

5 Matrix Representations, Change of Basis and Similarity Page 4

 Matrix Representations
Example 5.3
Let 𝐹: 𝑅 2 → 𝑅 2 be defined by
𝐹(𝑥, 𝑦) = (2𝑥 + 3𝑦, 4𝑥 − 5𝑦).
Find the matrix representations 𝐹 𝑠 of 𝐹
relative to the basis
𝑆 = *𝑢, 𝑣+ = *(1, −2), (2, −5)+

5 Matrix Representations, Change of Basis and Similarity Page 5

 Matrix Representations
Theorem 5.1
Let 𝑇: 𝑉 → 𝑉 be a linear operator and let 𝑆
be a finite basis of 𝑉, then for any vector 𝑣 in
𝑉, ,𝑇-𝑆 ,𝑣-𝑆 = ,𝑇(𝑣)-𝑆

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 Matrix Representations
Example 5.4
Consider the linear operator 𝐹 on 𝑅 2 and the
basis of 𝑆 of Example 5.3, verify theorem 5.1

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 Matrix Representations
Definition 5.2
Let 𝑉 be a vector space over a field 𝐾 and 𝐹
be the linear mapping of 𝑉 to itself, 𝐹: 𝑉 → 𝑉.
𝐴(𝑉) is the algebra of A over K which consist
of all such mappings.

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 Matrix Representations
Theorem 5.2
Let 𝑉 be an n-dimensional vector space over 𝐾,
let 𝑆 be a basis of 𝑉 and 𝑀 be the algebra of an
𝑛𝑥𝑛 matrices over 𝐾. Then the mapping:
𝑚: 𝐴(𝑉) → 𝑀 defined by 𝑚 𝑇 = ,𝑇-𝑆
is a vector space isomorphism. That is, for any
𝐹, 𝐺𝜖𝐴(𝑉) and any scalar k,
a) 𝑚(𝐹 + 𝐺) = 𝑚(𝐹) + 𝑚(𝐺)
b) 𝑚(𝑘𝐹) = 𝑘𝑚(𝐹)
c) 𝑀 is bijective

5 Matrix Representations, Change of Basis and Similarity Page 9

 Matrix Representations
Theorem 5.3
For any linear operators 𝐹, 𝐺𝜖𝐴(𝑉),
𝑚 𝐺 ∘ 𝐹 = 𝑚 𝐺 𝑚(𝐹) or 𝐺 ∘ 𝐹 = 𝐺 ,𝐹-

5 Matrix Representations, Change of Basis and Similarity Page 10

 Change of Basis
Definition 5.3
Let 𝑆={𝑢1 , 𝑢2 , … . , 𝑢𝑛 + be a basis of a vector space 𝑉
over 𝐾, and let 𝑆′={𝑣1 , 𝑣2 , … . , 𝑣𝑛 + be another basis.
Since 𝑆 is a basis, each vector in 𝑆’ can be written as
a linear combination of the vectors in 𝑆; say,
𝑣1 = 𝑎11 𝑢1 + 𝑎12 𝑢2 + ⋯ + 𝑎1𝑛 𝑢𝑛
𝑣2 = 𝑎21 𝑢1 + 𝑎22 𝑢2 + ⋯ + 𝑎2𝑛 𝑢𝑛
…………………………………….
𝑣𝑛 = 𝑎𝑛1 𝑢1 + 𝑎𝑛2 𝑢2 + ⋯ + 𝑎𝑛𝑛 𝑢𝑛
Let 𝑃 be the transpose of the above matrix of
coefficients. Then P is called the change of basis

5 Matrix Representations, Change of Basis and Similarity Page 11

 Change of Basis
Remark 1
The change-of-basis matrix 𝑃 may also be
viewed as the matrix whose columns are,
respectively the coordinate column vectors
of the “new” basis vectors related to the “old”
basis S; namely,
𝑃 = ,𝑣1 -𝑠 , ,𝑣2 -𝑠 , … , ,𝑣𝑛 -𝑠

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 Change of Basis
Remark 2
Analogously, there is a change-of-basis
matrix 𝑄 from the “new” basis 𝑆’ to the “old”
basis 𝑆. that is,
𝑄 = ,𝑢1 -𝑠′ , ,𝑢2 -𝑠′ , … , ,𝑢𝑛 -𝑠′
Remark 3
Since the vectors 𝑣1 , 𝑣2 , … . , 𝑣𝑛 in the new
basis 𝑆’ are linearly independent, the matrix
𝑃 is invertible. Similarly, 𝑄 is invertible.

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 Change of Basis
Example 5.5
Consider the following two basis of 𝑅 2 .
𝑆 = * 1,2 , 3,5 + and 𝑆′ = * 1, −1 , 1, −2 +
Find the change of basis matrix 𝑃 from 𝑆 to
𝑆’

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 Change of Basis
Example 5.6
Consider the following two bases of 𝑅 3 :
𝐸 = 𝑒1 , 𝑒2 , 𝑒3 = * 1,0,0 , 0,1,0 , 0,0,1 +
𝑆 = *𝑒1 , 𝑒2 , 𝑒3 + = * 1,0,1 , 2,1,2 , (1,2,2)+
1. Find the change-of-basis matrix 𝑃 from 𝐸
to 𝑆
2. Find the change-of-basis matrix 𝑄 from 𝑆
to 𝐸

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 Change of Basis
Theorem 5.7
Let 𝑃 be the change-of-basis from a basis 𝑆
to a basis 𝑆’ in a vector space 𝑉. Then, for
any linear operator T on V,
,𝑇-𝑆 ′ = 𝑃 −1 ,𝑇-𝑆 𝑃

54Matrix
LinearRepresentations,
Transformations Change
and Matrices
of Basis and Similarity Page 16
 Change of Basis
Example 5.7
Consider the following bases of 𝑅 3 in
Example 5.6,
a) Write 𝑣 = (1, 3, 5) as a linear combination
of 𝑢1 , 𝑢2 , 𝑢3 or equivalently find ,𝑣-𝑠

5 Matrix Representations, Change of Basis and Similarity Page 17

 Similarity
Definition 5.4
Suppose 𝐴 and 𝐵 are square matrices for
which there exists an invertible matrix 𝑃
such that 𝐵 = 𝑃−1 𝐴𝑃; then 𝐵 is said to be
similar to 𝐴 , or 𝐵 is said to be obtained from
𝐴 by a similarity transformation.

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 Similarity
Theorem 5.8
Two matrices represent the same linear
operator if and only if the matrices are
similar

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 Similarity
Definition 5.5
A linear operator 𝑇 is said to be
diagonalizable if there exists a basis 𝑆 of 𝑉
such that 𝑇 is represented by a diagonal
matrix; the basis 𝑆 is then said to
diagonalize 𝑇

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 Similarity
Theorem 5.9
Let 𝐴 be the matrix representation of a linear
operator 𝑇. Then 𝑇 is diagonalizable if and
only if there exists an invertible matrix 𝑃
such that 𝑃−1 𝐴𝑃 is a diagonal matrix

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