The LNM Institute of Information Technology

Jaipur, Rajsthan
Assignment 2 (Vector spaces) Subject Name: Linear Algebra
Q1. Show that any two row-equivalent matrices have the same row space. Give examples
to show that the column space of two row-equivalent matrices need not be same.
Q2. Find the conditions on the real numbers a, b, c, d so that the set {(x, y, z) R3 :
ax + by + cz = d} is a subspace of R3 .
Q3. Let P and Q be two subspaces of a vector space V . Show that P Q is a subspace
of V . Also show that P Q need not be a subspace of V . When is P Q a subspace
of V ?
Q4. Let P and Q be two subspaces of a vector space V . Define P + Q = {u + v : u
P, v Q}. Show that P + Q is a subspace of V . Also show that L(P Q) = P + Q.
Q5. Let S = {x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 } where x1 = (1, 0, 0, 0), x2 = (1, 1, 0, 0), x3 = (1, 2, 0, 0), x4 =
(1, 1, 1, 0). Determine all xi such that L(S) = L(S xi ).
Q6. Let C([.1, 1]) be the set of all continuous functions on the interval [.1, 1]. Let W 1 =
{f C([.1, 1]) : f (0.2) = 0}, and W 2 = {f C([.1, 1]) : f 0 ( 14 )exists}. Are W1,W2
subspaces of C([.1, 1])?
Q7. Let V = (x, y) : x, y R over R. Define (x, y)(x1 , y1 ) = (x+x1 , 0) and a(x, y) =
(ax, 0). Show that V is not a vector space over R.
Q8. Let V = R. Define x y = x y and a  x = ax. Which vector space axioms are
not satisfied here?
Q9. Let Mn (R) is the real vector space of all nn real matrices. Prove that the following
subsets are subspaces of Mn (R). (a) sln = {A Mn (R) : trace(A) = 0}
(b) Symn = {A Mn (R) : A = At } (c) Skewn = {A Mn (R) : A + At = 0}
Q10. Consider the vector space R2 . Let u1 = (1, 0). Find all choices for the vector u2 such
that the set {u1 , u2 } is linear independent subset of R2 . Does there exist choices for
vectors u2 , u3 such that the set {u1 , u2 , u3 } is linearly independent subset of R2 ?
Q11. If none of the elements appearing along the principal diagonal of a lower triangular
matrix is zero, show that the row vectors are linearly independent in Rn . The same
is true for column vectors.
Q12. Let S = {(1, 1, 1, 1), (1, .1, 1, 2), (1, 1, .1, 1)} R4 . Determine whether or not the
vector (1, 1, 2, 1) L(S)?
Q13. Show that S = {(1, 0, 0), (1, 1, 0), (1, 1, 1)} is a linearly independent set in R3 . In
general if {f1 , f2 , f3 } is a linearly independent set then {f1 , f1 + f2 , f1 + f2 + f3 } is
also a linearly independent set.

Q14. In R3 , give an example of 3 vectors u, v and w such that {u, v, w} is linearly dependent but any set of 2 vectors from u, v, w is linearly independent.
Q15. Suppose V is a collection of vectors such that V (C) as well as V (R) are vector spaces.
Prove that the set {u1 , u2 , ..., uk , iu1 , iu2 , ..., iuk } is a linearly independent subset of
V (R) if and only if {u1 , u2 , ..., uk } is a linear independent subset of V (C).
Q16. Under what conditions on are the vectors (1 + , 1 ) and ( 1, 1 + ) in C2 (R)
linearly independent?
Q17. Let u, v V and M be a subspace of V . Further, let K be the subspace spanned by
M and u and H be the subspace spanned by M and v. Show that if v Kand v is
not in M then u H.
Q18. Let S = {v1 , v2 , ..., vp } be a subset of a vector space V (F). Suppose L(S) = V but S
is not a linearly independent set. Then prove that each vector in V can be expressed
in more than one way as a linear combination of vectors from S.
Q19. Show that the set {(1, 0, 1), (1, i, 0), (1, 1, 1 i)} is a basis of C3 (C).
Q20. Let A be a matrix of rank r. Then show that the r non-zero rows in the row-reduced
echelon form of A are linearly independent and they form a basis of the row space
of A.
Q21. Find a basis of the vector space Pn (R). Also, find dim(Pn (R)). What can you say
about the dimension of P (R)?
Q22. Let W = {(x, y, z, w) R4 : x + y z + w = 0} be a subspace of R4 . Find its basis
and dimension.
Q23. Let V = {(x, y, z, w) R4 : x + y z + w = 0, x + y + z + w = 0} and W =
{(x, y, z, w) R4 : x y z + w = 0, x + 2y w = 0} be two subspaces of R4 . Find
bases and dimensions of V, W, V W and V + W .
Q24. Consider the real vector space, C([0, 2]), of all real valued continuous functions. For
each n consider the vector en defined by en (x) = sin(nx). Prove that the collection
of vectors {en : 1 n < } is a linearly independent set.
Q25. Let V be the set of all real symmetric n n matrices. Find its basis and dimension.
What if V is the complex vector space of all n n Hermitian matrices?