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Chapter 1: Vector Spaces

Linear algebra is the study of Linear Maps on finite-dimensional vector spaces.

Within this study, it is beneficial not to study just real numbers, but complex numbers as well.

We will generalize the concepts of a plane, and ordinary space to Rnand  Cn\R^{n} and\; \mathbb{C}^{n}, which will then be generalized to a vector space.

Following this, we will consider subspaces, which are to vector spaces, what subsets are to sets, sums, which are to vector spaces what unions are to subsets, and finally direct sums of subspaces, which are analogous to the union of disjoint sets.

Properties of Complex Arithmetic:

Commutativity:

α+β=β+α,α,βC\alpha + \beta = \beta + \alpha, \forall \alpha, \beta \in \mathbb{C}.

αβ=βα,α,βC\alpha \beta = \beta \alpha, \forall \alpha, \beta \in \mathbb{C}.

Assume that we have α=a+bi\alpha = a + bi, β=c+di\beta = c + di, where a,b,c,dRa, b, c, d \in \R:

α(β)=\alpha(\beta) =

(a+bi)(c+di)=(a + bi)(c + di) =

(acbd)+(ad+bc)i.(ac - bd) + (ad + bc)i.

β(α)=\beta(\alpha) =

(c+di)(a+bi)=(c + di)(a + bi) =

(cadb)+(cb+da)(ca - db) + (cb + da)

We know that from the commutativity of addition operations such as (acbd)+(ad+bc),(cadb)+(cb+da)(ac - bd) + (ad + bc), (ca - db) + (cb + da) are equivalent .

The same follows for ac,ca,bd,dbac, ca, bd, db, from the commutativity of multiplication.

Associativity:

(α+β)+λ=α+(β+λ),α,β,λC(\alpha + \beta) + \lambda = \alpha + (\beta + \lambda), \forall \alpha, \beta, \lambda \in \mathbb{C}.

α(βλ)=(αβ)λ,α,β,λC\alpha(\beta \lambda) = (\alpha \beta)\lambda, \forall \alpha, \beta, \lambda \in \mathbb{C}.

Identity:

1λ=λ,λC1\lambda = \lambda, \forall \lambda \in \mathbb{C}

Additive Inverse:

αC,!β:α+β=0\forall \alpha \in \mathbb{C}, \exists ! \beta : \alpha + \beta = 0.

Multiplicative Inverse:

αC,where  a0,!β:αβ=1\forall \alpha \in \mathbb{C}, \text{where}\; a \neq 0, \exists! \beta: \alpha \beta = 1

Distributive Property:

$$\lambda (\alpha + \beta) = \lambda ( \alpha) + \lambda

(\beta), \forall \alpha, \beta, \lambda \in \mathbb{C}$$.

Additive Inverse:

Let α,βC\alpha, \beta \in \mathbb{C}:

Let α-\alpha denote the additive inverse of α\alpha, thus !(α)\exists! (-\alpha), such that α+(α)=0\alpha + (- \alpha) = 0.

Subtraction:

Subtraction of complex numbers is defined like so:

βα=β+(α)\beta - \alpha = \beta + (- \alpha).

Division:

Division is defined as: β/α=β(1/α)\beta / \alpha = \beta(1 / \alpha).

Also, if we let α>0\alpha \gt 0, then 1/α1/\alpha is the multiplicative inverse of a, such that α(1/α)=1\alpha(1 / \alpha) = 1

Notation:

Throughout this book, we will use F\mathbb{F}, as a stand in for R,and  C\mathbb{R}, \text{and}\; \mathbb{C}, as both of these are examples of fields.

What this means, is that if we can prove a theorem holds for F\mathbb{F}, then we can prove that it holds for R,and  C\mathbb{R}, \text{and}\; \mathbb{C}.

The elements of some fields F\mathbb{F}, are referred to as scalars, which is a fancy term for number.

For αF\alpha \in \mathbb{F}, we consider αm\alpha^{m}, to be the product of α\alpha with itself mm times: am=ααm timesa^{m} = \underbrace{\alpha \cdot \cdot \cdot \alpha}_{\text{m times}}.

From this we can comfortably assume that:

(am)n=amn,m,nN  where  m,n>0.(a^{m})^{n} = a^{mn},\forall m,n \in \mathbb{N}\;\text{where}\; m,n \gt 0.

αβn=αn+βn,α,βF.\alpha \beta^{n} = \alpha^{n} + \beta^{n}, \forall \alpha, \beta \in \mathbb{F}.

Lists

Before we go into the definition of Rn\mathbb{R}^{n} and Cn\mathbb{C}^{n}, we should consider two important examples:

The set R2\mathbb{R}^{2}, which can be thought of as a plane, and is the set of all ordered pairs of real numbers:

R2=(x,y):x,yR\mathbb{R}^{2} = {(x,y): x,y \in \mathbb{R} }

R3=(x,y,z):x,y,zR\mathbb{R}^{3} = {(x,y,z): x,y,z \in \mathbb{R} }

In order to generalize these concepts to higher dimensions we need to use the concept of lists:

A list of length nn, is an ordered collection of nn elements: (x1xn)(x_1 \ldots x_n).

Two lists are equal iff they have the same number of elements in the same order.

Also, in order to define these higher dimensional analogues, we will use F\mathbb{F} which is equivalent to C  or  R.\mathbb{C}\; \text{or}\; \mathbb{R}.

Fn\mathbb{F}^{n} is the set of all lists of elements of F\mathbb{F}, where the lists are of length nn.

We can't visualize Rn,  where  n4\R^{n},\; \text{where}\; n \geq 4, and the same holds for Cn,  where  n>1\mathbb{C}^{n},\; \text{where}\; n > 1. However, while these lack physical geometric representations, we can still manipulate elements of Fn\mathbb{F}^n algebraically.

Addition in Fn\mathbb{F}^{n} is defined by adding the corresponding coordinates:

(x1xn)+(y1yn)=(x1+y1xn+yn)(x_{1} \ldots x_n) + (y_1 \ldots y_n) = (x_1 + y_1 \dots x_n + y_n)

However, it is typically easier to replace these lists with the variable that is subscripted to represent an element of the list, and results in cleaner mathematics:

If x,yFn,x+y=y+xx, y \in \mathbb{F}^n, x + y = y + x, meaning commutativity extends to Fn\mathbb{F}^n.

Proof of Commutativity of Addition

Let x=(x1xn)x = (x_1 \ldots x_n), and let y=(y1yn)y = (y_1 \ldots y_n).

x+y=(x1xn)+(y1yn)=x + y = (x_1 \ldots x_n) + (y_1 \ldots y_n) =

(x1+y1xn+yn)=(x_1 + y_1 \ldots x_n + y_n) =

(y1+x1yn+xn)=(y_1 + x_1 \ldots y_n + x_n) =

This holds as equivalent to the line above, due to the commutativity of addition in F\mathbb{F}.

(y1yn)+(x1xn)=(y_1 \ldots y_n) + (x_1 \ldots x_n) =

y+xy + x