Subspaces:

Let be a vector space, and a subset of ( .

We say that is a subspace of if itself, with the same operations, is a vector space
(i.e. the ten conditions are satisfied.)

Subspace Criterion:

is a vector subspace if:

1.
2. is closed under addition. That is: if , then
3. is closed under scalar multiplication. That is: if , and , then .
Exercise: Which of the following subsets are subspaces? Prove or disprove.

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
The Main Examples of Subspaces:

1. Span of vectors.
2. The solution set of any homogeneous linear system.

a. Prove.
b. Show that (2.) is an example of (1.)
Basis:
Let be a vector (sub)space, and a set of vectors in .
We say that is a basis for if:
1. is linearly independent,
2. .

• In a sense: a basis is a minimal set of vectors that is enough to span the whole (sub)space.
• A basis is not unique. However, all bases for a certain vector (sub)space will have the same
number of vectors.

Dimension:
The dimension of a vector (sub)space is the number of vectors in any basis of that
(sub)space.

Example: The standard basis for is , and so,

Equivalent Definition of a Basis (knowing the dimension)

Let be a vector (sub)space, and a set of vectors in .

We say that is a basis for if:
1. is linearly independent,
2. (where is the number of vectors in )

Exercise:
Prove that the following sets form bases for :

1.

2.
Exercises:
Find a basis and the dimension of the following subspaces:

1.

2.

3. (Textbook 15-26, page 260) Find a basis and the dimension for the solution space of the
given homogeneous linear system:
4.

5.
Definition: Rank of a Matrix

• The rank of a matrix A, rank(A), is equal to the number of nonzero rows in Echelon(A).
• It is also equal to the dimension of the subspace spanned by the vectors formed by the
rows of A.
• It is also equal to the dimension of the subspace spanned by the vectors formed by the
columns of A.
• Let A be an matrix. We have the following:

Where is the solution space of AX=0.

Example:

Find the rank of

Exercises:

1. Find if the rank of the following matrix is 2:

2. If the rank of the following matrix is 2, find :

3. Find the rank of the following matrix: