HISTORY OF LINEAR TRANSFORMATION

(ASSIGNMENT # 1 SPRING-2024)

Submission Date (March 26, 2024)

BY

IZZA AMER

ROLL #

21021509-098

MATH-319(Linear Algebra-II)

Bs-Mathematics Semester 6th Section B

Submitted to: Dr. Shahida Bashir

Department of Mathematics

UNIVERSITY OF GUJRAT
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 LINEAR ALGEBRA --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3

2 LINEAR TRANSFORMATION ------------------------------------------------------------------------3

2.1 PROPERTIES ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3

3 HISTORY OF LINEAR TRANSFORMATION -----------------------------------------------------4

3.1 ANCIENT MATHEMATICS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5

3.2 GREEK MATHEMATICS ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5
3.3 17TH AND 18TH CENTURIES ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5
3.4 19TH CENTURY ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5
3.5 CAYLEY AND SYLVESTER ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5
3.6 DEVELOPMENT OF LINEAR ALGEBRA ----------------------------------------------------------------- 5
3.7 ABSTRACT ALGEBRA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 5
3.8 MODERN APPLICATIONS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5

REFERENCES ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------6
1 Linear Algebra

Linear algebra, Branch of algebra concerned with methods of solving systems of linear equations; more
generally, the mathematics of linear transformations and vector spaces. “Linear” refers to the form of
the equations involved—in two dimensions, ax + by = c. Geometrically, this represents a line. If the
variables are replaced by vectors, functions, or derivatives, the equation becomes a linear
transformation. A system of equations of this type is a system of linear transformations. Because it
shows when such a system has a solution and how to find it, linear algebra is essential to the theory of
mathematical analysis and differential equations. Its applications extend beyond the physical sciences
into, for example, biology and economics.

2 Linear Transformation

A linear transformation is a function from one vector space to another that respects the underlying
(linear) structure of each vector space. A linear transformation is also known as a linear operator or
map. The range of the transformation may be the same as the domain, and when that happens, the
transformation is known as an endomorphism or, if invertible, an automorphism. The two vector spaces
must have the same underlying field.

The defining characteristic of a linear transformation 𝑻 ∶ 𝑽 → 𝑾 is that, for any vectors 𝒗𝟏 and 𝒗𝟐
in 𝑽 and scalars a and b of the underlying field,

𝑻(𝒂𝒗𝟏 + 𝒃𝒗𝟐 ) = 𝒂𝑻(𝒗𝟏 ) + 𝒃𝑻(𝒗𝟐 ).

2.1 Properties

▪ A linear transformation is a function from one vector space to another that preserves the
operations of addition and scalar multiplication. That is, under a linear transformation, the
image of a linear combination of vectors is the linear combination of the images of the vectors
having the same coefficients.
▪ A linear operator is a linear transformation from a vector space to itself.
▪ Linear transformations always map the zero vector of the domain to the zero vector of the
codomain.
▪ A composition of linear transformations is a linear transformation.
▪ Under a linear transformation, subspaces of the domain map to subspaces of the codomain, and
the pre-image of a subspace of the codomain is a subspace of the domain.
3 History of linear transformation

The history of linear transformations is deeply intertwined with the development of mathematics,
particularly in the areas of algebra, geometry, and linear algebra.

The concept of linear transformations appears implicitly at around the same time in Grassman’s
Ausdehnungslehre (1844), and especially in Hamilton’s work on quaternions (1845-), which made
extensive use of quaternions’ ability to represent rotations in space. In 1875 Darboux gave the first
axiomatization of vector spaces, quite different looking from the modern one, he was motivated by
representing forces in statics. And in 1888 Peano gave an axiomatization that was essentially modern,
but like Sylvester he did little with it, and few paid attention to it. Nonetheless, "Peano did see
Carvallo's linear systems (i.e., matrices) as instances of his own linear systems, without explicitly
stating that square matrices of fixed order were an example of a vector space" according to Moore’s
Axiomatization of Linear Algebra: 1875-1940.

One of the few was Pincherle, who in 1901 published a book about operators on what he called linear
sets or linear spaces, focusing on infinite-dimensional ones like spaces of analytic functions. Another
was Burali-Forti, who applied vector spaces in projective geometry in 1896, and then in vector calculus
in 1910. In 1912 he published a book Transformations Lineaires, co-authored with Marcolongo, which
opens with:“We briefly set forth the foundations of the general theory of linear systems and linear
operators. Generally, these matters are familiar in large part”.

People started viewing matrices as linear transformations from that point on, but history is rarely so
straightforward. As Moore writes, “although this general notion [of vector space] was first formulated
by Peano in a geometric context in 1888, it remained almost unknown at the time. Three decades later
it was rediscovered independently in two quite distinct branches of mathematics: functional analysis
and ring theory. In ring theory, its roots were in Dedekind's work on algebraic number theory… The
period in question can be considered to end with the publication in 1941 of A Survey of Modern
Algebra by the young algebraists Garrett Birkhoff and Saunders Mac Lane, who were then at
Harvard”.

The first branch was deeply influenced by von Neumann's Mathematical Foundations of Quantum
Mechanics (1932) that formalized the subject in terms of Hilbert spaces and self-adjoint operators, and
the Polish school of functional analysis. Banach's Théorie des Opérations Linéaires also came out in
1932, and his point was that it is much more efficient to prove a result once about all vector spaces than
to prove it repeatedly for 10 different function spaces. The second branch owes its rediscovery to the
work of Emmy Noether and van der Waerden in 1920s, which culminated in der Waerden's highly
influential two volume Modern Algebra (1930,31). A new generation of algebraists was raised on it,
and it featured vector spaces and linear transformations among many other innovations,
3.1 Ancient Mathematics

The concept of transformations, although not explicitly defined as such, can be traced back to ancient
civilizations such as Babylonian and Egyptian mathematics. The ancient mathematicians used
geometric constructions and manipulations that can be seen as early forms of transformations.
3.2 Greek Mathematics

In ancient Greece, Euclid's "Elements" laid the groundwork for geometry. Euclidean transformations,
such as translations, rotations, reflections, and dilations, were implicitly present in Euclid's work.
However, they were not formalized as transformations in the modern sense.
3.3 17th and 18th Centuries

With the development of analytic geometry, particularly by René Descartes and Pierre de Fermat, the
idea of representing geometric objects using algebraic equations emerged. This laid the foundation for
the formalization of transformations.
3.4 19th Century

The notion of a linear transformation began to take shape in the 19th century with the work of
mathematicians like Augustin-Louis Cauchy and Hermann Grassmann. These mathematicians laid
down the groundwork for what would later become the field of linear algebra.
3.5 Cayley and Sylvester

Arthur Cayley and James Joseph Sylvester made significant contributions to the theory of matrices and
linear transformations in the mid-19th century. Cayley introduced the concept of matrices as a tool for
studying linear transformations, while Sylvester studied the properties of linear transformations in
depth.
3.6 Development of Linear Algebra

The formalization of linear algebra as a distinct branch of mathematics occurred in the late 19th and
early 20th centuries. Mathematicians such as David Hilbert, Emmy Noether, and Felix Klein
contributed to the development of linear algebra as a powerful tool for studying linear transformations
and their properties.
3.7 Abstract Algebra

In the 20th century, the concept of a linear transformation was abstracted further in the context of
abstract algebra. The study of groups, rings, and vector spaces provided a more general framework for
understanding linear transformations.
3.8 Modern Applications

Linear transformations are now fundamental in various fields such as physics, computer graphics,
engineering, and data analysis. They form the basis of many mathematical models and algorithms used
in these disciplines.

Overall, the history of linear transformations reflects the evolution of mathematical thought, from its
geometric origins to its abstract modern formulations, with applications spanning numerous fields of
science and engineering.
References
brilliant.org/wiki/linear-transformations/
hsm.stackexchange.com/questions/3214/when-did-people-start-viewing-a-matrix-as-a-linear-
transformation