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 RnandCn, 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.
Complex numbers were created so that negative numbers could be given square roots, with the chief assumption being that: i2=−1.
Let −α denote the additive inverse of α, thus ∃!(−α), such that α+(−α)=0.
Subtraction:
Subtraction of complex numbers is defined like so:
β−α=β+(−α).
Division:
Division is defined as: β/α=β(1/α).
Also, if we let α>0, then 1/α is the multiplicative inverse of a, such that α(1/α)=1
Notation:
Throughout this book, we will use F, as a stand in for R,andC, as both of these are examples of fields.
What this means, is that if we can prove a theorem holds for F, then we can prove that it holds for R,andC.
The elements of some fields F, are referred to as scalars, which is a fancy term for number.
For α∈F, we consider αm, to be the product of α with itself m times: am=m timesα⋅⋅⋅α.
From this we can comfortably assume that:
(am)n=amn,∀m,n∈Nwherem,n>0.
αβn=αn+βn,∀α,β∈F.
Lists
Before we go into the definition of Rn and Cn, we should consider two important examples:
The set R2, which can be thought of as a plane, and is the set of all ordered pairs of real numbers:
R2=(x,y):x,y∈R
R3=(x,y,z):x,y,z∈R
In order to generalize these concepts to higher dimensions we need to use the concept of lists:
A list of length n, is an ordered collection of n elements: (x1…xn).
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 which is equivalent to CorR.
Fn is the set of all lists of elements of F, where the lists are of length n.
We can't visualize Rn,wheren≥4, and the same holds for Cn,wheren>1. However, while these lack physical geometric representations, we can still manipulate elements of Fn algebraically.
Addition in Fn is defined by adding the corresponding coordinates:
(x1…xn)+(y1…yn)=(x1+y1…xn+yn)
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,y∈Fn,x+y=y+x, meaning commutativity extends to Fn.
Proof of Commutativity of Addition
Let x=(x1…xn), and let y=(y1…yn).
x+y=(x1…xn)+(y1…yn)=
(x1+y1…xn+yn)=
(y1+x1…yn+xn)=
This holds as equivalent to the line above, due to the commutativity of addition in F.