Math 250B

Handout: Spanning Sets

Fall 2012

HANDOUT PART I: Computing the span of a set of vectors.

Background: Let V be a vector space, and suppose that v1 , v2 , . . . , vk are vectors in V . Recall
that the span of these vectors is given by
span{v1 , v2 , . . . , vk } = {all linear combinations of v1 , v2 , . . . , vk }
= {c1 v1 + c2 v2 + + ck vk : c1 , c2 , . . . , ck R}.
Example 1: Let V = M2 (R). What is

 
1 0
0
span
,
0 0
0

1
0

 
0
,
0

0
1


?

Solution: A linear combination of these three vectors takes the form






 
1 0
0 1
0 0
c1
c1
+ c2
+ c3
=
0 0
0 0
0 1
0

c2
c3


,

which is the general form for an upper triangular matrix. Therefore,


 
 

1 0
0 1
0 0
span
,
,
= {all 2 2 upper triangular matrices}.
0 0
0 0
0 1
2
Recall also that if span{v1 , v2 , . . . , vk } = V (that is, the vectors v1 , v2 , . . . , vk manage to span the
whole of V ), we call {v1 , v2 , . . . , vk } a spanning set for V .
Scotts Super Fact on Spanning Sets for Rn : If we take exactly n vectors in Rn , say v1 , v2 , . . . , vn ,
then these vectors will span Rn PRECISELY IF AND ONLY IF the n n matrix A whose columns
consist of the vectors v1 , v2 , . . . , vn is invertible.
We saw this in class for some examples in R2 .


Example 2: {(1, 2), (3, 4)} is a spanning set for R since

1
2

3
4

is an invertible matrix.


1 2
Example 3: {(1, 4), (2, 8)} is not a spanning set for R since
is not an invertible matrix.
4 8
In fact, the two points (1, 4) and (2, 8) both lie on the same line, so linear combinations of them
will still remain on the one and same line. We cannot reach any points lying off of this linewere
stuck on the line itself!
2

1 4 7
Example 4: {(1, 2, 3), (4, 5, 6), (7, 8, 9)} is not a spanning set for R3 , since 2 5 8 is not an
3 6 9
invertible matrix (check it has determinant zero).
2
2

Next consider an example for polynomials:

Example 5: Show that {1, 1 + x, 1 + x + x2 , 1 + x + x2 + x3 } is a spanning set for P3 (R).
Solution: We are really being asked to show that every polynomial in P3 (R) can be expressed as a
linear combination of 1, 1 + x, 1 + x + x2 , and 1 + x + x2 + x3 . Let us try to write
a + bx + cx2 + dx3 = c1 (1) + c2 (1 + x) + c3 (1 + x + x2 ) + c4 (1 + x + x2 + x3 ).
On the right-hand side, we can multiply the constants in and re-group according to the different
powers of x, beginning with the constant term. The result is
a + bx + cx2 + dx3 = (c1 + c2 + c3 + c4 ) + (c2 + c3 + c4 )x + (c3 + c4 )x2 + c4 x3 .
Equating powers of x on each side of the equation, we see that
a = c1 + c2 + c3 + c4 ,

b = c2 + c3 + c4 ,

c = c3 + c4 ,

d = c4 .

Therefore, we see that we can solve for c1 , c2 , c3 , c4 in terms of a, b, c, and d. (Specifically, we have
c4 = d, then c3 = c d, then c2 = b (c d) d = b c, then c1 = a (b c) (c d) d = a b.
This calculation is not necessary, by the way, for our purposes here. All we must determine is that
we CAN solve itwe dont actually have to solve it.)) Thus, we can write the arbitrary polynomial
a + bx + cx2 + dx3 as a linear combination of 1, 1 + x, 1 + x + x2 , and 1 + x + x2 + x3 .
2
HANDOUT PART II: Finding a spanning set for a subspace
In the above examples in Part I, I gave you a set of vectors and asked you what subspace they
spanned (and if they were a spanning set for V ). In Part II, we now turn this around: given a
subspace, find a set of vectors that will span it.
Example 6: If V = P3 (R), one spanning set is {1, x, x2 , x3 } since the set of all linear combinations
of these four vectors is c1 (1) + c2 (x) + c3 (x2 ) + c4 (x3 ) = c1 + c2 x + c3 x2 + c4 x3 , which represents
an arbitrary polynomial in V . Another spanning set is the set of polynomials in Example 5.
2
Example 7: Find a spanning set for the subspace of all 3 3 symmetric matrices.

a b c
Solution: A typical 3 3 symmetric matrix has the form b d e . The trick to doing these
c e f
problems is to simply bust out the variables into a linear combination. To see what I mean, Ill
show you!

a b c
1 0 0
0 1 0
0 0 1
0 0 0
0 0 0
0
b d e = a 0 0 0 +b 1 0 0 +c 0 0 0 +d 0 1 0 +e 0 0 1 +f 0
c e f
0 0 0
0 0 0
1 0 0
0 0 0
0 1 0
0
This is the linear combination, and the
this linear combination:

 1 0 0
0 1 0
0
0 0 0 , 1 0 0 , 0
0 0 0
0 0 0
1

spanning set itself is just the set of 6 matrices making up

0
0
0

1
0
0 , 0
0
0

0
1
0

0
0
0 , 0
0
0

0
0
1

0
0
1 , 0
0
0

0
0
0

0 
0 .
1

0
0
0

0
0 .
1

2
Example 8: Find a spanning set for the set of polynomials of the form1 ax2 + bx + b a.
Solution: Again, the idea is to bust apart the variablesits easy! Here it is:
ax2 + bx + b a = a(x2 1) + b(x + 1),
so the spanning set for this space is {x2 1, x + 1}.

Example 9: Find a spanning set for the space of 2 2 matrices whose four entries add
up to zero.
Solution: This problem is slightly trickier than Example 8, because before we can do the bust it
apart game, we first have to write down the form of one of these matrices. The basic idea is that 3
of the 4 numbers in the 2 2 matrix can be decided arbitrarily (theyre freely chosen),
so long as the


a
b
4th number cancels them out. The general form would be something like this:
.
c (a + b + c)
(Note that other forms could be givensee below.) Now bust it apart like before:








a
b
1
0
0
1
0
0
=a
+b
+c
.
c (a + b + c)
0 1
0 1
1 1
So the spanning set is just the matrices we have extracted on the right-hand side:

 
 

1
0
0
1
0
0
,
,
.
0 1
0 1
1 1
Note 1: We could have just as easily had the form


a
b
,
(a + b + c) c
since these four numbers add up to zero as well. Busting this apart would give us the spanning set

 
 

1 0
0 1
0 0
,
,
,
1 0
1 0
1 1
which is different (but still correct) from the spanning set obtained above.



a
b
, since although these entries do add up to
a b
zero, this does not represent the most general form for an element of the space. Indeed, we only




1 0
0
1
need two matrices,
and
, to span the matrices of this more restrictive form.
1 0
0 1


1
2
Notice that the entries of the matrix
fit the requirement that they add up to zero, but
3 6
this matrix does not have the form given in Note 2.
2
Note 2: We cannot use the general form

1 Recall

that this set of polynomials was shown to form a subspace of P2 (R) in the Group Work.