*

Linear Algebra
Exercises set 2

Bachelor in Physics, 1st year

University of Bucharest

Change of basis/coordinates of a vector, operations with subspaces, factor

space (aka quotient space)

1. For V = R4 , decide if the following families of vectors can be completed to a basis. If

yes, do it!

(a) v1 = (1, 2, −1, 0), v2 = (0, 1, −4, 1) and v3 = (2, 5, −6, 1);

(b) v1 = (1, 0, 2, 3), v2 = (0, 1, 2, 3) and v3 = (1, 2, 0, 3);

(c) v1 = (1, −1, 1, −1) and v2 = (1, 1, 1, 1).

2. Show that the vectors v1 = (0, 1, 1), v2 = (1, 0, 1) and v3 = (1, 1, 0) form a basis of R3 .
Find the coordinates of x = (1, 1, 1) in this basis by using the change of basis matrix.
   
1 i
3. Show that , is a basis set for the (complex) vector space C2 , and
0  1  
2 3i − 1
expand the vectors and in terms of it.
3 2i + 4
   
0.94 0.02 0.3
4. Let A = and x = .
0.06 0.98
    0.7

1 −1
(a) Show that v1 = , v2 = is a basis of R2 . Expand the vector x in this
3 1
basis (x = xk vk ) as well as the vector Ax.
(b) Give the matrix S of change of basis and compute S −1 AS. What do you observe?
(c) Consider the sequence of vectors xn = An x, n ∈ N∗ , x0 = x. By expanding xn in the
basis found at (a) establish the (component-wise) limit vector limn→∞ xn . 1
Hint: Multiply A with v1 , v2 and compute A multiplied with x written as a linear combi-
nation of them. Then compute A2 x as A · Ax using the same strategy, etc.

5. In R4 consider the following vectors: v1 = (1, 0, 0, 1), v2 = (0, 0, 1, 0), v3 = (0, 1, 0, 0),
v4 = (0, 0, 0, 1) and v5 = (0, 1, 0, 1). Are the following subspaces complementary in R4 :
* Lectures given by Prof. N. Cotfas. Assistant R.Slobodeanu. You can address your questions at
radualexandru.slobodeanu@g.unibuc.ro or at nicolae.cotfas@unibuc.ro
1
This limit is the steady state vector of the Markov chain defined by the sequence of vectors
x0 , x1 , . . . , xn , . . . that may describe the (final configuration of the) migration of some population whose
initial ”distribution”, say between urban and rural, was (30%, 70%).

1
 (a) span{v1 , v2 } and span{v3 }?

(b) span{v1 , v2 } and span{v4 , v5 }?

(c) span{v1 , v3 , v4 } and span{v2 , v5 }?

6. In R4 let {u1 , u2 , u3 , u4 } a linear independent set of vectors. Consider the subspaces

F = span{u1 + u2 , u3 }, G = span{u1 + u3 , u4 }, H = span{u1 + u4 , u2 }.

Show that F ∩ G = {0}, F ∩ H = {0} and H ∩ G = {0}. Is the sum F + G + H a direct

sum of linear subspaces? 2

7. In the vector space of real functions show that the complement of the subspace of even
functions is the subspace of odd functions.

8. (a) Let W and U be the following subspaces of V = R3 :

W = {(x, y, z) ∈ R3 ; x − y − 2z = 0}
U = {(x, y, z) ∈ R3 ; x = 2y = x + z}.

Determine the dimension of W , then the one for U . Calculate U ∩ W and deduce that U
and W are complementary: R3 = W ⊕ U .
(b) Let W = {(a, b, c, 2c − b); a, b, c ∈ R} and U = {(a, b, b/2, a); a, b ∈ R} be subspaces
in R4 . Show that R4 = W + U but U is not the complement of W in R4 .

9. (a) Let W be the solution space of the linear equation

a1 x1 + a2 x2 + a3 x3 = 0, ai ∈ R

and let v = (b1 , b2 , b3 ) ∈ R3 . Prove that the coset v + W ∈ R3 /W is the solution set of
the linear equation
a1 x 1 + a2 x 2 + a3 x 3 = b
where b = a1 b1 + a2 b2 + a3 b3 . Describe geometrically W , the cosets of W and the quotient
space R3 /W .
(b) Let V be the vector space of polynomials of degree at most n > 4 over R and let W be
the subspace of polynomials divisible by X 4 (i.e., of the form a0 X 4 +a1 X 5 +· · ·+an−4 X n ).
Show that the quotient space V /W has dimension 4 and describe it.

References
[1] N. Cotfas, Elements of Linear Algebra & some applications, on-line pdf at link

[2] N. Cotfas, L.A. Cotfas, Elemente de algebră liniară , Ed. Univ. Bucureşti, 2015 link.

[3] Lipschutz, S., Lipson, M. Schaum’s outline. Linear algebra, McGraw-Hill Education,
2018.

2
F , G and H form a direct sum ⇔ (F ∩ G = {0} & (F + G) ∩ H = {0})