UM102: Solutions to select additional problems on PS-1

Note: The starred problems are strictly not part of the syllabus, and are only meant for entertainment
and/or if you want to be adventurous.

Additional problems
1. A plane Π in R3 is the set of points given by

Π = {(x, y, z) ∈ R3 | ax + by + cz = d, a, b, c, d ∈ R and (a, b, c) is not the zero vector in R3 }.

On the other hand a line L passing through ⃗r0 and in the direction of p⃗ ∈ R3 \ {0} is defined by the
parametric equation
L = {⃗r(t) = ⃗r0 + t⃗
p | t ∈ R}.
(a) Show that all planes are given by

Π = {v⃗0 + ⃗v | ⃗v ∈ V and V is a two dimensional sub-space of R3 }.

That is, all planes are translates of two-dimensional sub-spaces (and two dimensional sub-spaces
are in turn simply planes passing through the origin).

Solution: Since (a, b, c) is not the zero vector, there exists at least one solution (x0 , y0 , z0 ) to
ax + by + cz = d. In fact the linear transformation given by the 1 × 3 matrix A = (a b c ) will
then have rank one and nullity two. So the general solution is given by
   
x x0
y  =  y0  + v,
z z0

where v ∈ N (A).

(b) Let Π1 and Π2 be planes defined respectively by

ai x + bi y + ci z = di , i = 1, 2 and (ai , bi , ci ) is not the zero vector in R3 .

Prove that the planes intersect in a line if and only if (a1 , b1 , c1 ) is not a non-zero multiple of
(a2 , b2 , c2 ).

Solution: Consider the matrix  

a1 b1 c1
A= .
a2 b2 c2
A point ⃗r = (x, y, z) lies in the intersection of the two planes if and only if it is a solution to
the linear system  
d1
A⃗r = d⃗ := .
d2

1
 Since A : R3 → R2 , by rank-nullity and the fact that A is not the zero matrix, either n(A) = 1, 2.
Note that the two planes intersect in a line if and only if n(A) = 1 (since in this case the map
has to be surjective and the general solution will be of the form ⃗rp + v, where ⃗rp is a particular
solution and v ∈ N (A), and hence will form a line). We also observe that n(A) = 2 if and only
if rk(A) = 1 which in turn happens if and only if (since rk is the dimension of the column space
and also the row space) one row is the multiple of the other.

(c) Let L be a line passing through r⃗0 and in the direction of p⃗ = (p1 , p2 , p3 ). Prove that it intersects
the plane Π given by ax + by + cz = d at a single point if and only if (a, b, c) is not perpendicular
to p⃗ (ie. ap1 + bp2 + cp3 ̸= 0). If it is indeed perpendicular, prove that the line intersects the plane
if and only if r⃗0 ∈ Π and in this case the entire line is contained in the plane.

Solution: The line intersects the plane if and only if there is some t ∈ R such that

⃗n · ⃗r0 + t⃗n · p⃗ = d,

where ⃗n = aî + bĵ + ck̂. Clearly this has a unique solution if and only if ⃗n · p⃗ ̸= 0 in which case
the unique solution is given by
d − ⃗n · ⃗r0
t= .
⃗n · p⃗
If ⃗n · p⃗ = 0, then there is a solution if and only if ⃗n · ⃗r0 = d or that ⃗r0 lies on the plane, and in
such a case the entire line must be contained in the plane.

(d) Give examples of lines in R3 that intersect at (a) one point, (b) at multiple points (can these points
be finite in number?) and at (c) zero points, or argue that there cannot be any such example.

Solution: Any two lines in R3 will either intersect in a single point, or will coincide (and
hence intersect in infinite number of points) or will not intersect at all (such lines are called
skew lines).

2. Consider the space

V = {A = {an }∞
n=1 | an ∈ R for all n ∈ N}.

Here N denotes the set of natural numbers (say including zero). So V is the set of sequences of real
numbers. For any two sequences A = {an }, B = {bn } ∈ V and t ∈ R, define

A + B = {an + bn }
tA = {tan }

(a) Prove that the above operations make V into an R-vector space. Prove that it is infinite dimensional.

Solution: Simply verify the axioms.

(b) Consider the map S : V → V given by

S({an }) = {an+1 }, n = 1, 2, · · · .

For instance the sequence {1, 2, 3, 5, 8 · · · } gets mapped to {2, 3, 5, 8, · · · }. Show that S is a linear
surjective map. Is S injective? If not, what is the null space?

2
 Solution: Given any sequence {bn } ∈ V we simply let {xan } be another sequence such that
a1 = 1 and an+1 = bn for n = 1, · · · . Then S({an }) = {bn }.

(c) Find all possible right inverses for S (ie. maps T : V → V such that ST = idV ). Which ones are
linear?

Solution: Let T be a right inverse. For any sequence {bn }, we let T ({bn }) = {an }. Then since
ST = idV we must have that
an+1 = bn , n = 1, · · · .
On the other hand a1 could be anything. So all the right inverses are given by

Tf ({bn }) = (f ({bn }), b1 , b2 , · · · ),

where f : V → R is any function. This is linear if and only if f is a linear map. An example
for instance is when f ({bn }) = 0 for any {bn } ∈ V ie. f is the trivial map. Or one can consider
the projection πk to the k th component ie.

πk ({bn }) = bk .

There are many more such examples one can construct.

⋆
(d) Is the following statement true or false - A linear map between two vector spaces (possibly infinite
dimensional) is surjective if and only if there exists at least one linear right inverse. A theorem
we did in class shows that if the vector spaces are finite dimensional one can replace the word “at
least” by “exactly one”. On the other hand the above example shows that in general there may be
many right inverses which are not linear.
⋆
(e) Can you come up with an example of a linear surjective map between vector spaces that has
exactly two linear right inverses? Three linear right inverses? An infinite number of linear right
inverses?