The Vector Space Consisting of All Traceless Diagonal Matrices
Problem 79
Let $V$ be the set of all $n \times n$ diagonal matrices whose traces are zero.
That is,
\begin{equation*}
V:=\left\{ A=\begin{bmatrix}
a_{11} & 0 & \dots & 0 \\
0 &a_{22} & \dots & 0 \\
0 & 0 & \ddots & \vdots \\
0 & 0 & \dots & a_{nn}
\end{bmatrix} \quad \middle| \quad
\begin{array}{l}
a_{11}, \dots, a_{nn} \in \C,\\
\tr(A)=0 \\
\end{array}
\right\}
\end{equation*}
Let $E_{ij}$ denote the $n \times n$ matrix whose $(i,j)$-entry is $1$ and zero elsewhere.
(a) Show that $V$ is a subspace of the vector space $M_n$ over $\C$ of all $n\times n$ matrices. (You may assume without a proof that $M_n$ is a vector space.)
(b) Show that matrices
\[E_{11}-E_{22}, \, E_{22}-E_{33}, \, \dots,\, E_{n-1\, n-1}-E_{nn}\]
are a basis for the vector space $V$.
(c) Find the dimension of $V$.
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