Practice Problems (1) Determine if the vector (-2,0,3), can be expressed as a linear combination of the vectors (1,3,0) and

(2,4,-1). Solution: (2, 3, 0) = 4(1, 3, 0) + (3)(2, 4, 1). (2) Determine if the polynomial 2x3 2x2 + 12x 6 can be expressed as a linear combination of x3 2x2 5x 3 and 3x3 5x2 4x 9. Solution: 2x3 2x2 + 12x 6 = (4)(x3 2x2 5x 3) + 2(3x3 5x2 4x 9). (of course, you have to nd a solution of a suitable system of equations to come up with this answer! (3) Determine if the polynomial 3x3 2x2 + 7x + 8 can be expressed as a linear combination of x3 2x2 5x 3 and 3x3 5x2 4x 9. Solution: Start with 3x3 5x2 4x 9 = a(x3 2x2 5x 3) + b(3x3 5x2 4x 9) and try to nd a s olution of the system of equations. Show that there are no such a and b. 1 2 (4) Determine if the matrix is in the span of 3 4 S = {A = 1 0 1 4 ,B = 0 1 0 1 ,C = 1 2 3 16 1 1 0 0 }.

Solution: Note that 3A + 4B 2C =

. Thus, the given

matrix is not in the span of A, B, C. (5) Prove that span({x}) = {ax|a F }. Solution: Follows from the denition. (6) Show that a subset W of a vector space V is a subspace of V if and only if span W = W. Solution: If span W = W then W contanis all linear combinations of its elements. That is , if x, y W then (i) x + y,, (ii) 0 W, and (iii) x W for F . Hence W is a subspace of V . Conversely, if W is a subspace of V then for any subset {u1 , ...., un } in W, 1 u1 + .... + n un W for every 1 , .....n F . (why?) Thus, spanW W . Hence the result. (7) Show that if S1 , S2 are subsets of a vector space V such that S1 S2 , then span(S1 ) span (S2 ). If S1 S2 and span(S1 ) = V, deduce that span(S2 ) = V. Solution: If Let u spanS1 . Then, u = m i ui for ui S1 , i=1 i F . But, if ui S1 then ui S2 . Thus The RHS is also in span S2 . That implies, U span S2 . To prove the second part, start with v V. Since, S1 S2 , from the rst part it follows spanS1 spanS2 . This means V span S2 . Hence, V =span S2 . (8) Show that S1 and S2 are arbitrary subsets of a vector space V then span(S1 S2 ) = span(S1 ) + span(S2 ). Solution: Let u span (S1 S2 ), then
m n

u=
i=1

i ui +
i=1

i vi

for ui S1 , i = 1, ..m and vi S2 , i = 1, ...n, and i , i F . Then, u spanS1 + spanS2 .

1

(9) Let S1 and S2 be subsets of a vector space V . Prove that (S1 S2 ) span(S1 ) span(S2 ). Give an example in which span(S1 S2 ) and span(S1 ) span(S2 ) are are equal and one in which they are not equal. Solution: Start with an element in S1 S2 and use the fact that S span S, for a subset S of V . When S1 = S2 clearly, span(S1 S2 ) = span S1 span S2 . ( For an explicit example, start with two sets each containing a single (dierent) element of I 2 . Check the result. R Let S1 = {(1, 0), (0, 1)} and S2 = {(1, 1)}. Span S1 = I 2 . spanS2 = R {(x, y)|y = x}; clearly span S1 span S2 = span S2 . Since, S1 S2 = span S1 S2 = {0}.