Lecture 4

Now we have one of two main subspace theorems. It says we can extend a basis for a
subspace to a basis for the full space.
Theorem 0.1 (One subspace theorem). Let W be a subspace of a finite-dimensional vector
space V . If BW is a basis for W , there exists a basis B of V containing BW .
Proof. Consider all linearly independent subsets of V that contain BW (there is at least one,
BW !) and choose one, S, of maximal size. We know that #S dimV and if #S = dimV
it must be a basis and we are done, so assume that #S = k < dimV . We must then
have Span(S) 6= V so choose a vector v V \ Span(S). We claim that S {v} is linearly
independent, contradicting maximality of S. To see this write S = {v1 , . . . , vk } and
a1 v1 + + ak vk + bv = ~0 .
If b 6= 0 then we can solve for v, getting v Span(S), a contradiction, so we must have
b = 0. But then a1 v1 + + ak vk = ~0 and linear independence of S gives ai = 0 for all i, a
contradiction.
The second subspace theorem will follow from a dimension theorem.
Theorem 0.2. Let W1 , W2 be subspaces of V , a finite-dimensional vector space. Then
dim(W1 + W2 ) + dim(W1 W2 ) = dim(W1 ) + dim(W2 ) .
Proof. Let B be a basis for the intersection W1 W2 . By the one subspace theorem we can
find bases B1 and B2 of W1 and W2 respectively that both contain B. Write

B = {v1 , . . . , vk }
B1 = {v1 , . . . , vk , vk+1 , . . . , vl }
B2 = {v1 , . . . , vk , wk+1 , . . . , wm } .
We will now show that B = B1 B2 is a basis for W1 + W2 . This will prove the theorem,
since then dim(W1 + W2 ) + dim(W1 W2 ) = k + (l + m k) = l + m.
To show that B is a basis for W1 + W2 we first must prove Span(B) = W1 + W2 . Since
B W1 + W2 , we have Span(B) Span(W1 + W2 ) = W1 + W2 . On the other hand, each
vector in W1 + W2 can be written as w1 + w2 for w1 W1 and w2 W2 . Because B contains
a basis for each of W1 and W2 , these vectors w1 and w2 can be written in terms of vectors
in B, so w1 + w2 Span(B).
Next we show that B is linearly independent. We set a linear combination equal to zero:
a1 v1 + + ak vk + ak+1 vk+1 + + al vl + bk+1 wk+1 + + bm wm = ~0 . (1)
By subtracting the w terms to one side we find that bk+1 wk+1 + + bm wm W1 . But this
sum is already in W2 , so it must be in the intersection. As B is a basis for the intersection
we can write
bk+1 wk+1 + + bm wm = c1 v1 + + ck vk
for some ci s in F. Subtracting the ws to one side and using linear independence of B2 gives
bk+1 = = bm = 0. Therefore (1) reads

a1 v1 + + al vl = ~0 .

Using linear independence of B1 gives ai = 0 for all i and thus B is linearly independent.
The proof of this theorem gives:

Theorem 0.3 (Two subspace theorem). If W1 , W2 are subspaces of a finite-dimensional

vector space V , there exists a basis of V that contains bases of W1 and W2 .

Proof. Use the proof of the last theorem to get a basis for W1 + W2 containing bases of W1
and W2 . Then use the one-subspace theorem to extend it to V .
Note the difference from the one subspace theorem. We are not claiming that you can
extend any given bases of W1 and W2 to a basis of V . We are just claiming there exists at
least one basis of V such that part of this basis is a basis for W1 and part is a basis for W2 .
In fact, given bases of W1 and W2 we cannot generally find a basis of V containing these
bases. Take

V = R3 , W1 = {(x, y, 0) : x, y R}, W2 = {(x, 0, z) : x, z R} .

If we take bases B1 = {(1, 0, 0), (1, 1, 0)} and B2 = {(1, 0, 1), (0, 0, 1)}, there is no basis of
V = R3 containing both B1 and B2 since V is 3-dimensional.
We now move on to the main subject of the course, linear transformations.

Linear transformations

Definition 0.4. Let V and W be vector spaces over the same field F. A function T : V W
is called a linear transformation if

T (v1 + v2 ) = T (v1 ) + T (v2 ) and T (cv1 ) = cT (v1 ) for all v1 , v2 V and c F .

As usual, we only need to check the condition

T (cv1 + v2 ) = cT (v1 ) + T (v2 ) for v1 , v2 V and c F .

Examples

1. Consider C as a vector space over itself. Then if T : C C is linear, we can write

T (z) = zT (1)

so T is completely determined by its value at 1.

2
2. Let V be finite dimensional and B = {v1 , . . . , vn } a basis for V . Each v V can be
written uniquely as
v = a1 v1 + + an vn for ai F .
So define T : V Fn by T (v) = (a1 , . . . , an ). This is called the coordinate map relative
to B. It is linear because if v = a1 v1 + + an vn , w = b1 v1 + + bn vn and c F,

cv + w = (ca1 + b1 )v1 + + (can + bn )vn

is one representation of cv + w in terms of the basis. But this representation is unique,

so we get

T (cv + w) = (ca1 + b1 , . . . , can + bn )

= c(a1 , . . . , an ) + (b1 , . . . , bn )
= cT (v) + T (w) .

3. Given any m n matrix A with entries from F (the notation from the homework is
A Mm,n (F), we can define a linear transformations LA : Fn Fm and RA : Fm Fn
by
LA (v) = A v and RA (v) = v A .
Here we are using matrix multiplication and in the first case, representing v as a column
vector. In the second, v is a row vector.

4. In fact, the set of linear transformations from V to W , written L(V, W ), forms a vector
space! Since the space of functions from V to W is a vector space, it suffices to check
that it is a subspace. So given T, U L(V, W ) and c F, we must show that cT + U
is a linear transformation. So let v1 , v2 V and c0 F:

(cT + U )(c0 v + w) = (cT )(c0 v + w) + U (c0 v + w)

= c(T (c0 v + w)) + U (c0 v + w)
= c(c0 T (v) + T (w)) + c0 U (v) + U (w)
= c0 (cT (v) + U (v)) + cT (w) + U (w)
= c0 (cT + U )v + (cT + U )(w) .