VECTORS AND SPACES

1. VECTOR INTRO FOR LINEAR ALGEBRA

a.
i. Vectors are entities which have both magnitude and direction
ii. For example, if we know something is moving 5 miles an hour, then that
information by itself would allow the entity to be a vector
1. To qualify as a vector, we would also need to know the direction in
which the object was moving
2. So, if an object is moving 5 mph to the east, then this would be a vector
iii. REPRESENTING VECTORS (IN 2D)
1. In two dimensions, a vector can be represented in the form of arrows
a. The length (in units) of the arrow gives the magnitude of the
vector
b. The direction of the arrow head gives the direction of the vector
c. For example, the above vector, would lie on the x axis, and have
5 units of length, where the positive x axis points to the east
2. The above vector, of 5 units in length, pointing to the east, can be
represented by any vector of length 5 units, and pointing to the east
iv. REPRESENTING VECTORS (MATHEMATICALLY)
1. Vectors are represented as variables, with arrows on the top, as shown
above
2. They can also be represented as coordinates, for example (5, 0), where
the first number represents the magnitude the vector moves in the
horizontal direction, and the second coordinate represents the
magnitude moved in vertical direction, as we move from the start of the
arrow to the end
3. They can also be represented as a column, as shown above

2. REAL COORDINATE SPACES

 a.
i. Consider the notation, R​2
1. This notation tells us that we are dealing with the set of all possible real
valued two - tuples, where a tuple is a permutation of numbers
2. In this case, the vector (3, 4) is also a two - tuple
a. Now, (3, 4) is distinct from (4, 3), which essentially, even on the
Cartesian plane, is shown as moving 4 on the horizontal
direction, and 3 along the vertical direction, starting from any
point in R​2
3. Thus, we can keep taking different, real, two - tuples, and create the
entire 2 D plane, or the 2D real coordinate space
ii. Similarly, we can have, R​n​, where we have n-tuple real numbers, which is a
general representation of the the n-dimensional real coordinate space
b. An entity is not a member of R​n​, when either of the two occurs
i. It has only (n - 1) real elements
1. In such a case, it would be a member of R​n - 1
ii. It has at least 1 component which is imaginary

3. ADDING VECTORS ALGEBRAICALLY AND GRAPHICALLY

 a.
i. Two vectors, can be added if they have the same dimensions
1. In such a case, the respective components of the vectors are added
together
2. Thus, ith component of the sum, is the sum of the ith component
3. Thus, in the above case, where a = (6, -2) and b = (- 4, 4), we have
a. a + b = (2, 2)
ii. GRAPHICAL INTUITION
1. The intuition for the sum can be seen as follows
a. We first move in the direction of vector a
b. From there, we move in the direction of vector b
c. Then, the point where we end up at, tells us how much we
really moved, relative to the starting point, ie. the tail of vector
a
2. As we can see, the order of operation does not matter, as we take the
sum of two vectors

4. MULTIPLYING A VECTOR BY A SCALAR

a.
i. Consider the vector a = (2, 1), as shown above
1. If we start at the origin, then the vector goes 2 in the positive horizontal
direction, and 1 in the positive vertical direction
ii. Consider the scalar, 3, being multiplied to the vector (2, 1)
1. One of the possible ways to define this multiplication, would be to
multiply each of the components by the scalar
 2. Then, we have the vector, 3a = (6, 2), which is depicted by the green
arrow, as shown above
a. As we can see, the vector still points in the same direction, but
its magnitude is 3 times that of the original vector
b. That is, the scalar, 3, scaled up the vector's magnitude by 3
times
iii. Consider the same vector, a = (2, 1), which is now multiplied by the scalar - 1
1. In this case, we have the vector (- 2, - 1)
a. Thus, if we start at the origin, we move two in the left horizontal
direction, and 1 in the negative vertical direction
2. As we can see above, multiplying the vector by a negative scalar of
magnitude 1 simply flips the direction of the vector

5. VECTOR EXAMPLES

a.
i. A
6. UNIT VECTORS INTRO

a.
i. UNIT VECTOR
︿
1. Consider the unit vector, i , which is defined as a vector with magnitude
1, pointing in the positive x direction
︿
a. That is, i = (1, 0), where (1, 0) can also be represented as a
column, as shown above
 ︿
b. This definition of the unit vector i tells us that it is a vector
which goes in the horizontal direction, and has a magnitude of 1
2. By this definition, we can define a unit vector for each of the dimensions
we are operating in
︿
a. For example, we can define j = (0, 1), as the unit vector which
goes 1 unit in the positive vertical direction
ii. SPANNING R​2
︿ ︿
1. Now, using the above definitions of i and j , we can create any vector
in R​2​, and essentially, span the Cartesian plane
2. This is because, any vector in R​2​, is essentially a linear combination of
︿ ︿
the vectors i and j
3. For example, consider the vector v = (2, 3), as shown above
︿
a. This vector can be represented by scaling and combining i and
︿
j , as follows
︿ ︿
i. v = 2i + 3j
b. Where, essentially, we are scaling the unit vector in the
horizontal direction by 2, and then adding it to the unit vector in
the vertical direction, which is scaled up by 3

7. PARAMETRIC REPRESENTATIONS OF LINES

a.
i. Consider the vector, v = (2, 1), using which, we can create the set S, as follows
1. S = {c​v: c ∈ R​​}
a. That is, S is the set of vectors which are collinear to c
2. And using the above definition of S, we can create all vectors which are
are collinear, or parallel to vector ​v
3. Now, if we use position vectors, then we can represent all lines of slope
½, using ​v
ii. Consider for example, the point (2, 4), and a line parallel to the original collinear
vector, that goes through the point (2, 4)
1. If we scale our original vector, ​v​, and we add the vector x, then we can
reach a corresponding point on the line which contains the point (2, 4)
2. Thus, we can define another set, L, as follows
a. L = {​x ​+ t​v​|t ∈ R​​}, which is the set of all points, or position
vectors, represented by the blue line
b. That is, the end points of the vectors defined by L lie on the blue
line, as shown above
iii. GENERAL DEFINITION
1. Consider two position vectors, ​a = (2, 1), and ​b = (0, 3), ie. their
endpoints represent the corresponding points in R​2​, and we are to find
the parametrization of the line which goes through the two points, (2, 1)
and (0, 3)
2. Now, any scaled version of the vector (​b - a​)​ , can be used to represent
the points which lie on the line that passes through (2, 1) and (0, 3)
a. Thus, we have t(​b - ​a)​ , which represents points parallel to, or on
the line containing (2, 1), and (3, 0)
b. However, since we are in standard form, t(​b - ​a​) is parallel to the
line we are concerned, and passes through the origin
c. Hence, to reach the concerned line, we either need to add ​a or
b​​, to the above expression, to shift up the original vector to the
desired line
3. Thus, to find a line that passes through ​a​ and ​b​, we have
a. L = {​a​ + t(​b - a​)​ }|t ∈ R} or L = {​b​ + t(​b - a​​)}|t ∈ R}
 b. So, for ​a​ = (2, 1), and ​b​ = (0, 3), we have
i. x coordinate = 0 + t(0 - 2) = - 2t
ii. y coordinate = 3 + t(3 - 1) = 2t + 3

b.
i. Using the above definition of a parameterized line in R​2​, we can extend this
definition of a line to n dimensions
ii. Consider for example, the case in R​3​, for some ​a​, ​b ∈ R​3​​ ​, then the line passing
through ​a​ and ​b ​is given as
a. x coordinate = x​2​ + t(x​2​ - x​1​)
b. y coordinate = y​2​ + t(y​2​ - y​1​)
c. z coordinate = z​2​ + t(z​2​ - z​1​)
2. Where the line vector itself is defined for all t ∈ R, as
a. L = ( (x​2 + t(x​2 - x​1​)), (y​2 + t(y​2 - y​1​)), (z​2 + t(z​2 - z​1​)) ), which can be
represented as a column vector as well
iii. In dimensions greater than 2, say 3, a line cannot be expressed in the form
1. ax + by + cz = k
a. This is the definition of a plane, in 3D