Merced College; Don Power

 

LINEAR ALGEBRA - CHAPTER 8, LECTURE

 

8.1  General Linear Transformations           Hwk:  1, 5, 9, 14, 17ab, 19, 21, 22, 28

 

Let u and v be vectors in a vector space V and let k be any scalar.  A linear transformation is any function T:V-->W for which the following two properties hold:

 

1.   T(u + v) = T(u) + T(v) and

 

2.   T(ku) = kT(u)

 

Note:  u and v are vectors in the domain V, and T(u), T(v) etc. are vectors in the range W

+

 

8.2  Kernel and Range           Hwk:  3, 4, 5a, 6a, 7bc, 8bc, 9, 10, 14ac, 16ac, 18, 19, 24, 25, 28, 29

 

New vocabulary for ideas developed previously

 

Kernel

 

Before:  If A is an mxn matrix, the nullspace is set of all solutions of the homogeneous system Ax=0, i.e. all the column vectors x (in Rn) that satisfy the equation Ax = 0, i.e {x | Ax = 0}

 

Also:    The nullspace of A is a subspace of Rn

The nullity of A is the dimension of the nullspace (and the number of free variables in the rref)

            Dimension theorem:  rank(A) + nullity(A) = n    [the number of columns]

 

New:  If T:V-->W (or TA), is a linear transformation (or the lin trans corresponding to mult by the matrix A), we say the kernel of T is the set of all vectors in V that are mapped to the zero vector in W, that is {x | T(x) = 0}

 

Also:    The kernel of T is a subspace of V

            The nullity of T is the dimension of the kernel, and nullity(TA) = nullity(A).

            Rank(TA) = Rank(A)

            Dimension theorem:  rank(T) + nullity(T) = n   [dimension of the domain]

 

Range

 

Before:  The column space of A is the set of all vectors b in Rm for which there is at least one vector x in Rn such that Ax = b, i.e. {b | Ax = b for some x}

 

And:     Column space of A is a subspace of Rm [the set of vectors of length m]

           

New:  The range of T:V-->W is the set of all vectors in W which are the image of some vector in V, i.e. {b | T(x) = b for some x in V}

 

And:     Range(T) is a subspace of W

 

Some Tasks:

 

1.  Is a given vector v in the kernel?  We must have T(v) = 0.  So, calculate T(v).  To have v in ker(T), the result must be 0.  Example:  Ex 1a vs 1b

 

2.   Is a given vector v in the range?  We must have T(x)= v for some unknown vector x.  So solve T(x)=v.  If any solution exists (whether unique or parameterized), v is in the range.  Example:  Ex 2a vs 2b

 

3.  Find a basis for the kernel.  This is the same as finding a basis for the nullspace:  solving T(x)=0 and parameterizing the solution.  Remember that the trivial solution may be the only solution, in which case the kernel consists of the 0 vector only.

 

4.  Find a basis for the range.  If given a matrix, find a basis for the column space.  Otherwise, find the images of the standard basis vectors.  Any linearly independent subset of these vectors will be a basis for the range.

 

 

8.3  Inverse Linear Transformations            Hwk:  1, 2bc, 3d, 4ac, 5, 7, 8a, 9, 10ac, 11, 13, 17ac, 20

 

 

8.4  Matrices of General Linear Transformations         Hwk:  1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 11

 

 

8.5  Similarity

 

 

Return to:  Merced College; Don Power               Updated 05/11/07 by Don Power