The Intersection of Two Subspaces is also a Subspace
Problem 595
Let $U$ and $V$ be subspaces of the $n$-dimensional vector space $\R^n$.
Prove that the intersection $U\cap V$ is also a subspace of $\R^n$.
Add to solve laterLet $U$ and $V$ be subspaces of the $n$-dimensional vector space $\R^n$.
Prove that the intersection $U\cap V$ is also a subspace of $\R^n$.
Add to solve later Let $C[-1, 1]$ be the vector space over $\R$ of all continuous functions defined on the interval $[-1, 1]$. Let
\[V:=\{f(x)\in C[-1,1] \mid f(x)=a e^x+b e^{2x}+c e^{3x}, a, b, c\in \R\}\]
be a subset in $C[-1, 1]$.
(a) Prove that $V$ is a subspace of $C[-1, 1]$.
(b) Prove that the set $B=\{e^x, e^{2x}, e^{3x}\}$ is a basis of $V$.
(c) Prove that
\[B’=\{e^x-2e^{3x}, e^x+e^{2x}+2e^{3x}, 3e^{2x}+e^{3x}\}\]
is a basis for $V$.
Let $V$ be the vector space over $\R$ of all real $2\times 2$ matrices.
Let $W$ be the subset of $V$ consisting of all symmetric matrices.
(a) Prove that $W$ is a subspace of $V$.
(b) Find a basis of $W$.
(c) Determine the dimension of $W$.
Add to solve later Let $V$ be a vector space over a scalar field $K$.
Let $\mathbf{v}_1, \mathbf{v}_2, \dots, \mathbf{v}_k$ be vectors in $V$ and consider the subset
\[W=\{a_1\mathbf{v}_1+a_2\mathbf{v}_2+\cdots+ a_k\mathbf{v}_k \mid a_1, a_2, \dots, a_k \in K \text{ and } a_1+a_2+\cdots+a_k=0\}.\]
So each element of $W$ is a linear combination of vectors $\mathbf{v}_1, \dots, \mathbf{v}_k$ such that the sum of the coefficients is zero.
Prove that $W$ is a subspace of $V$.
Add to solve later Let $V$ be a subset of $\R^4$ consisting of vectors that are perpendicular to vectors $\mathbf{a}, \mathbf{b}$ and $\mathbf{c}$, where
\[\mathbf{a}=\begin{bmatrix}
1 \\
0 \\
1 \\
0
\end{bmatrix}, \quad \mathbf{b}=\begin{bmatrix}
1 \\
1 \\
0 \\
0
\end{bmatrix}, \quad \mathbf{c}=\begin{bmatrix}
0 \\
1 \\
-1 \\
0
\end{bmatrix}.\]
Namely,
\[V=\{\mathbf{x}\in \R^4 \mid \mathbf{a}^{\trans}\mathbf{x}=0, \mathbf{b}^{\trans}\mathbf{x}=0, \text{ and } \mathbf{c}^{\trans}\mathbf{x}=0\}.\]
(a) Prove that $V$ is a subspace of $\R^4$.
(b) Find a basis of $V$.
(c) Determine the dimension of $V$.
Add to solve later Let $V$ be a subspace of $\R^n$.
Suppose that $B=\{\mathbf{v}_1, \mathbf{v}_2, \dots, \mathbf{v}_k\}$ is a basis of the subspace $V$.
Prove that every basis of $V$ consists of $k$ vectors in $V$.
Add to solve later Let $V$ be a subspace of $\R^n$.
Suppose that
\[S=\{\mathbf{v}_1, \mathbf{v}_2, \dots, \mathbf{v}_m\}\]
is a spanning set for $V$.
Prove that any set of $m+1$ or more vectors in $V$ is linearly dependent.
Add to solve later Let $U$ and $V$ be finite dimensional vector spaces over a scalar field $\F$.
Consider a linear transformation $T:U\to V$.
Prove that if $\dim(U) > \dim(V)$, then $T$ cannot be injective (one-to-one).
Add to solve later (a) Let $S$ be the subset of $\R^4$ consisting of vectors $\begin{bmatrix}
x \\
y \\
z \\
w
\end{bmatrix}$ satisfying
\[2x+4y+3z+7w+1=0.\]
Determine whether $S$ is a subspace of $\R^4$. If so prove it. If not, explain why it is not a subspace.
(b) Let $S$ be the subset of $\R^4$ consisting of vectors $\begin{bmatrix}
x \\
y \\
z \\
w
\end{bmatrix}$ satisfying
\[2x+4y+3z+7w=0.\]
Determine whether $S$ is a subspace of $\R^4$. If so prove it. If not, explain why it is not a subspace.
(These two problems look similar but note that the equations are different.)
(The Ohio State University, Linear Algebra Final Exam Problem)
Read solution
Let $A$ and $B$ be $m\times n$ matrices.
Prove that
\[\rk(A+B) \leq \rk(A)+\rk(B).\]
Let $U$ and $V$ be finite dimensional subspaces in a vector space over a scalar field $K$.
Then prove that
\[\dim(U+V) \leq \dim(U)+\dim(V).\]
Let $\calF[0, 2\pi]$ be the vector space of all real valued functions defined on the interval $[0, 2\pi]$.
Define the map $f:\R^2 \to \calF[0, 2\pi]$ by
\[\left(\, f\left(\, \begin{bmatrix}
\alpha \\
\beta
\end{bmatrix} \,\right) \,\right)(x):=\alpha \cos x + \beta \sin x.\]
We put
\[V:=\im f=\{\alpha \cos x + \beta \sin x \in \calF[0, 2\pi] \mid \alpha, \beta \in \R\}.\]
(a) Prove that the map $f$ is a linear transformation.
(b) Prove that the set $\{\cos x, \sin x\}$ is a basis of the vector space $V$.
(c) Prove that the kernel is trivial, that is, $\ker f=\{\mathbf{0}\}$.
(This yields an isomorphism of $\R^2$ and $V$.)
(d) Define a map $g:V \to V$ by
\[g(\alpha \cos x + \beta \sin x):=\frac{d}{dx}(\alpha \cos x+ \beta \sin x)=\beta \cos x -\alpha \sin x.\]
Prove that the map $g$ is a linear transformation.
(e) Find the matrix representation of the linear transformation $g$ with respect to the basis $\{\cos x, \sin x\}$.
(Kyoto University, Linear Algebra exam problem)
Add to solve later Let $V$ be a vector space over a field $K$.
If $W_1$ and $W_2$ are subspaces of $V$, then prove that the subset
\[W_1+W_2:=\{\mathbf{x}+\mathbf{y} \mid \mathbf{x}\in W_1, \mathbf{y}\in W_2\}\]
is a subspace of the vector space $V$.
Let $A$ be an $n\times n$ idempotent matrix, that is, $A^2=A$. Then prove that $A$ is diagonalizable.
Add to solve later Let $T:\R^3 \to \R^3$ be a linear transformation and suppose that its matrix representation with respect to the standard basis is given by the matrix
\[A=\begin{bmatrix}
1 & 0 & 2 \\
0 &3 &0 \\
4 & 0 & 5
\end{bmatrix}.\]
(a) Prove that the linear transformation $T$ sends points on the $x$-$z$ plane to points on the $x$-$z$ plane.
(b) Prove that the restriction of $T$ on the $x$-$z$ plane is a linear transformation.
(c) Find the matrix representation of the linear transformation obtained in part (b) with respect to the standard basis
\[\left\{\, \begin{bmatrix}
1 \\
0 \\
0
\end{bmatrix}, \begin{bmatrix}
0 \\
0 \\
1
\end{bmatrix} \,\right\}\]
of the $x$-$z$ plane.
Let $W_1, W_2$ be subspaces of a vector space $V$. Then prove that $W_1 \cup W_2$ is a subspace of $V$ if and only if $W_1 \subset W_2$ or $W_2 \subset W_1$.
Add to solve later Suppose that the vectors
\[\mathbf{v}_1=\begin{bmatrix}
-2 \\
1 \\
0 \\
0 \\
0
\end{bmatrix}, \qquad \mathbf{v}_2=\begin{bmatrix}
-4 \\
0 \\
-3 \\
-2 \\
1
\end{bmatrix}\]
are a basis vectors for the null space of a $4\times 5$ matrix $A$. Find a vector $\mathbf{x}$ such that
\[\mathbf{x}\neq0, \quad \mathbf{x}\neq \mathbf{v}_1, \quad \mathbf{x}\neq \mathbf{v}_2,\]
and
\[A\mathbf{x}=\mathbf{0}.\]
(Stanford University, Linear Algebra Exam Problem)
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Let $V$ be the subspace of $\R^4$ defined by the equation
\[x_1-x_2+2x_3+6x_4=0.\]
Find a linear transformation $T$ from $\R^3$ to $\R^4$ such that the null space $\calN(T)=\{\mathbf{0}\}$ and the range $\calR(T)=V$. Describe $T$ by its matrix $A$.
Let $S$ be the subset of $\R^4$ consisting of vectors $\begin{bmatrix}
x \\
y \\
z \\
w
\end{bmatrix}$ satisfying
\[2x+3y+5z+7w=0.\]
Then prove that the set $S$ is a subspace of $\R^4$.
(Linear Algebra Exam Problem, The Ohio State University)
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Let $P_2$ be the vector space of all polynomials of degree $2$ or less with real coefficients.
Let
\[S=\{1+x+2x^2, \quad x+2x^2, \quad -1, \quad x^2\}\]
be the set of four vectors in $P_2$.
Then find a basis of the subspace $\Span(S)$ among the vectors in $S$.
(Linear Algebra Exam Problem, the Ohio State University)
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