Maths-2 | Live Session | Week-4

Karthik Thiagarajan

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 Span, Basis and Dimension

Span

In a vector space V, given a set of vectors S v vn where S V,

span S
= { 1, ⋯ , } ⊂

we define to be the set of all linear combinations of vectors in

S.
( )

span S ( ) = { av
1 1
+ ⋯ + an vn ai R| ∈ }

Examples

If S R , then:
= {(1, 2)} ⊂
2

span S a a a R ( ) = {( , 2 ) | ∈ }

If S R , then:
= {(1, 0), (0, 1)} ⊂
2

span S a ( b
) = { ab R ab ab R
(1, 0) + (0, 1) | , ∈ } = {( , ) | , ∈ }

If S - R
= {(0, 1, 2), (1, 3, 4), (5, 0, 1)} ⊂
3

span S a ( b
) = { c - abc R
(0, 1, 2) + (1, 3, 4) + (5, 0, 1) | , , ∈ }

b c a b a b-c a b c R
= {( +5 , +3 ,2 +4 ) | , , ∈ }

A set S is called a spanning set of V if span S V. ( ) =

Basis

Given a vector space V, we call a set B V a basis of V if:

• B is linearly independent
⊂

• B spans V, i.e., span B V ( ) =

More succinctly, a basis is a linearly independent spanning set.

Examples

Consider:
B = {(1, 0), (0, 1)}

Check for linear independence:

a (1, 0) + b (0, 1) = (0, 0) ⟹ ( , ab ) = (0, 0) ⟹ a b = = 0

Check for spanning set:

( xy x
, ) = (1, 0) + y (0, 1)

Another example. Consider:

B = {(1, 1), (0, 1)}

Check for linear independence:

 a (1, 1) + b (0, 1) = (0, 0) ⟹ ( , aa b + ) = (0, 0) ⟹ a b
= = 0

Check for spanning set:

xy a b x a a x b y-x
y a b
=
( , ) = (1, 1) + (0, 1) ⟹ ⟹ = , =
= +

( xy x
, ) = (1, 1) + ( y-x )(0, 1)

Standard basis for Rn:

B = {(1, 0, ⋯ , 0), (0, 1, 0, ⋯ , 0), ⋯ , (0, ⋯ , 0, 1)}

Dimension

The dimension of a vector space is the cardinality of its basis. Thus the
dimension of Rn is n.
Useful Results

In all the results below, we will be considering Rn as the vector space.

S is some subset of Rn .
• A basis is a linearly independent spanning set.
• Basis is not unique.
• Every linearly independent set is not a basis.
• Every spanning set is not a basis.
• Every basis has the same cardinality and is equal ton.
• Rn
has dimension n.
• If S is a linearly independent set with S n, then S is a basis.
• If S is a spanning set with S n, then S is a basis.
| | =

• If S n, then S is linearly dependent.

| | =

• If S n, then S cannot be a spanning set.

| | >

| | <
1.
Which of the following statements are true regarding a vector space V and
a non-empty spanning set S V?
If v is an element of S, then S v is also a spanning set.
⊂

If v is some element of V, then S v is also a spanning set.

\{ }

S could be a basis of V.
∪{ }

If S is a basis of V, then S is linearly dependent.

If S is not a basis of V, for every v S, S v is also a spanning
∈ \{ }

set.

2.
Which of the following statements are true regarding a vector space V and
a non-empty linearly independent setS V?
If v is an element of S, then S v is also linearly independent.
⊂

If v is some element of V, then S v is also linearly independent.

\{ }

S could be a basis of V.
∪{ }

If S is a basis of V then it spans V.

If S is not a basis of V then there exists some element v in V such
that v span S .
∉ ( )
3.
Consider the set S :

S
1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

= 0 0 0 , 1 0 0 , 0 0 0 , 0 1 0 , 0 0 0 , 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1

What does span S ( ) represent?

The underlying vector space is the set of all V M .S matrices,

is a subset of V and span S is a subspace of V. Any element in span S
3×3 = 3×3

( ) ( )

will be of this form:

a b c d e f
1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 + 1 0 0 + 0 0 0 + 0 1 0 + 0 0 0 + 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1

a
bd
0 0

cef
0

Since all the entries above the main diagonal are zero, any element in
span S is a lower triangular matrix. This implies span S is the set of
S
( ) ( )

all 3 × 3 lower triangular matrices. Also, is linearly independent. To

show this, set the linear combination to zero (matrix).

a
bd a b c d e f
0 0 0 0 0

cef
0 = 0 0 0 ⟹ = = = = = = 0

0 0 0

So S is in fact a basis for span S in this case. ( )

NOTE-1: If S V then span S is a subspace of V.

NOTE-2: If S V then S need not be a basis for span S .
⊂ ( )

⊂ ( )
4.
If S v
= { vn is a basis of Rm, what is the value of m - n?
1, ⋯ , }

Every basis of R m has m elements. Therefore m n. =

5.
Find a basis for R.
B 1
= { 1 }, B 2
= { 2 }, B 3
= 𝜋
2
+ e 2

• Any singleton set that has a non-zero element is linearly

S
independent. v v
• span v av a R
= { }, ≠ 0

x
({ }) = { | ∈ }

– x av a = ⟹ =
v
6.

Let V x y z x y - z and x y z R . Construct a basis for V.

= ( , , ) | = , , , ∈

Check if V is a subspace of R : 3

• V
x y z x y z V x y - z and x y - z
(0, 0, 0) ∈

x x y y-z z x x y y z z V
( 1
, 1
, 1
), ( 2
, 2
, 2
) ∈ ⟹ 1
= 1 1 2
= 2 2
⟹
•

• x y z V x y - z ax ay- az a x y z V
1
+ 2
= 1
+ 2
( 1
+ 2
) ⟹ ( 1
+ 2
, 1
+ 2
, 1
+ 2
) ∈

( , , ) ∈ ⟹ = ⟹ = ⟹ ( , , ) ∈

Every point x y z in V satisfies x- y z

( . If we can find the
, , ) + = 0

solutions to this equation, we can characterize every possible vector that

is in V. This is just one equation in three variables:

1- 1 1

We could treat y z to be independent variables and x to be a dependent

,

variable. Setting arbitrary real numbers to the independent variables

gives us:
x t -t y t z t
= , = , =

V as:
1 2 1 2

We can now characterize

V = {( x y z x y-z t -t t t t t t R
, , ) | = } = {( 1 2, 1, 2) | 1, 2, 3 ∈ }

We can decompose t - t t t as:

( 1 2, 1, 2)

t -t t t t
( 1
t - 2
, 1
, 2
) = 1
(1, 1, 0) + 2
( 1, 0, 1)

Therefore:

V span
= ({(1, 1, 0), ( - 1, 0, 1)})

It remains to verify that - is linearly independent,

B -
{(1, 1, 0), ( 1, 0, 1)}

which is left as an exercise to the reader. Hence

V.
= {(1, 1, 0), ( 1, 0, 1)}

is a basis for
7.
Find a basis for the following vector space:

yx
V y x y xy R
0

= 0 0 | + = 0, and , ∈

0 0 0

We can express any matrix in V as:

yx -x x -
y -x x -
0 0 0 1 1

0 0 = 0 0 = 0 0 1

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

-
V span -
0 1 1

= 0 0 1

0 0 0

-
V is this singleton set: -
0 1 1

Hence a basis for 0 0 1 .

0 0 0
8.
Find a basis for the following vector space:

xy
V x xy R
0

= 0 0 | , ∈

0 0 0

• Is V a subspace of M ? Yes
• V is the set of all matrices A that have the following property:
3×3

A A
• First find a spanning set for V by reducing A in terms of simpler
12 = 23

matrices (where most elements are 0)

• Check if these simpler matrices are linearly independent.

yx
y y x
0 0 1 0 0 0 1

0 0 = 0 0 1 + 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

B
0 1 0 0 0 1

= 0 0 1 , 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0

span B V( ) =

Standard basis for M 3×3 will have nine elements, three of which are:

B
0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
= ⋯ 0 0 0 , 0 0 1 , 0 0 0 ⋯

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
9.
Let S be a subset of R 5
such that span S R . What is the smallest
5

cardinality of S?
( ) =

10.
If V 1
and V 2
are subspaces of V. Is V V 1
∩ 2
a subspace of V?
Yes

11.
If V 1
and V 2
are subspaces of V. Is V V 1
∪ 2
a subspace of V?
False. Here is a counter example:

V 1
= {( x , 0) | x R V
∈ }, 2
= {(0, y y R
) | ∈ }

(1, 0), (0, 1) ∈ V V

1 ∪ 2

(1, 0) + (0, 1) = (1, 1) ∉ V V

1
∪ 2

In this problem V V
1
∪ 2
is the x-axis and the y-axis.
12.
Let V x y z w x z y w R . Construct a basis for V.
= {( , , , ) | + = + } ⊂
4

Every element in V should satisfy:

x- y z- w + = 0

The corresponding matrix form:

1- 1 1 - 1

We have three independent variables and one dependent variable:

x t -t t y t z t w t = 1 2 + 3, = 1, = 2, = 3

Therefore, we can represent V as:

V t -t t t t t t t t R
= {( 1 2
+ 3
, 1
, 2
, 3
) | 1
, 2
, 3
∈ }

We can now decompose t - t t t t t in terms of simpler vectors.

( 1 2
+ 3
, 1
, 2
, 3
)

The way we do this is to set one independent variable to 1 and the rest of
the independent variables to 0 and then solve for the dependent variable:

( t -t t t t t
1 2 + t3, 1, t - 2, t 3) = 1 (1, 1, 0, 0) + 2( 1, 0, 1, 0) + 3 (1, 0, 0, 1)

We now have a spanning set for V:

V span -
= ({(1, 1, 0, 0), ( 1, 0, 1, 0), (1, 0, 0, 1)})

All that remains is to check if B given below is also linearly

independent, which it is. Therefore, a basis for V is:

B - = {(1, 1, 0, 0), ( 1, 0, 1, 0), (1, 0, 0, 1)}

13.

Let V x xn w x
= ( 1
, ⋯ , wn xn and w wn
) | 1 1
Rn . Show
+ ⋯ + = 0 1
⋯ ≠ 0 ⊂

that V is a subspace of R n Construct a basis for V. .

To find a basis for V, we note that there is one dependent variable. It

could be any one of the n variables. In this case we choose x .

x -w
1

• Set x x 2
xn . Then w x w
= 1, 3
=⋯=
w . This
= 0 1 1
+ 2
= 0 ⟹ 1
=
2

-w
1

w
2
gives us one vector: . , 1, 0, ⋯ , 0

x -w
1

• Set x x x3 = 1, xn . Then w x w
2 = 4 =⋯=
w . This = 0 1 1 + 3 = 0 ⟹ 1 =
2

-w
1

w
3
gives us another vector: . , 1, 0, ⋯ , 0
1

Continuing with this trend will give us n - vectors: 1

B -w -w -wn
w w w
2 3
= , 1, 0, ⋯ , 0 , , 0, 1, ⋯ , 0 , ⋯ , , 0, 0, ⋯ , 1
1 1 1

We claim that B is a basis for V. Let us call these n - vectors

v vn . vi has xi , x -w
1

i and all the other components to be zero.

2, ⋯ ,
w = 1 1 =
1

B v v vn = { 2
, 3
, ⋯ , }

It is left to the reader to show that B is a basis for V.

Note: V is called a hyperplane in R n and is the generalization of a plane

in R . V is a n - dimensional subspace that is embedded in R n . For
3

n
1

= 2, 3we have the following familiar geometric objects:

• line in R passing through origin, w x
2
wx + = 0

• plane in R passing through origin, w x wx wx

1 1 2 2

3
1 1
+ 2 2
+ 3 3
= 0
14.
If v v v is a basis of V, which of the following are also bases of V?
v v v v
{ 1
, 2
, 3
}

v v v v v
{ 1
, 2
, 1
+ 3
}

v v v v -v
{ 1
, 1
+ 2
, 1
+ 3
}

v v -v v -v
{ 1
, 1
+ 2
, 1 3
}

{ 1
, 1 2
, 1 3
}

If v v v is a basis then v v v is linearly independent. Let us

v v v v v and show that it is also
{ 1
, 2
, 3
} { 1
, 2
, 3
}

consider the second option { 1

, 1
+ 2
, 1
+ 3
}

linearly independent.

av b v v c v v a b c v bv cv
1 + ( 1 + 2) + ( 1 + 3) = ( + + ) 1 + 2 + 3 = 0

a b c b c a b c + + = 0, = 0, = 0 ⟹ = = = 0

Since V has a basis of cardinality 3 and since { v v v v v

1, 1 + 2, 1 + 3} is
linearly independent and has cardinality 3, it is also a basis. A similar
procedure can be followed to verify that all the other options are also
bases for V.
15.
Find the dimension of Mm n R . ×
( )

Cardinality of a basis for M m n R is mn. Hence Mm n R has dimension

mn.
×
( ) ×
( )

16.
Find the dimension of the following vector space:

V A
= | sum of entries in each row is 0, and A M R
∈ 3×2
( )

Every matrix A V is of this form:

∈

x -x
A y -y
z -z
=

We can now decompose this as:

-
A x y - z
1 1 0 0 0 0

-
= 0 0 + 1 1 + 0 0

0 0 0 0 1 1

-
V span B where B -
1 1 0 0 0 0

We see that . We can

-
= ( ) = 0 0 , 1 1 , 0 0

0 0 0 0 1 1

verify that B is a basis for V.

17.
Find a basis for span S M R where:
( ) ⊂ 2×2
( )

S - =
-
1

1
0

2
,
0

1
1

1
,
1

0
1

1
,
1

1
2

The standard basis for M R 2×2 ( ) is:

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

We see that M R has dimension 4. Note that R 4

is also a four
M R
2×2 ( )

dimensional vector space. This means that every vector in 2×2 ( ) can be
uniquely mapped to a vector in R . This is how we map the two bases:
4

1 0
↔ (1, 0, 0, 0)
0 0

0 1
↔ (0, 1, 0, 0)
0 0

0 0
↔ (0, 0, 1, 0)
1 0

0 0
↔ (0, 0, 0, 1)
0 1

Think about this as flattening the matrix into a vector row-wise. Now, we
can represent any matrix in M 2×2 in terms of a vector in R 4
and vice
versa:

ab abcd
cd ↔ ( , , , )

Going back to S, we can represent each element of S in terms of a vector

in R . Let us call this new set P:
4

S =
-
1

1
0

2
,
0

1 -
1

1
,
1

0
1

1
,
1

1
2

P = {(1, 0, - 1, 2), (0, 1, 1, - 1), (1, 1, 0, 1), (1, 2, 1, 0)}

We can now proceed as before to find a basis for span P : ( )

- - -
- - -
1 0 1 2 1 0 1 2 1 0 1 2

- -
0 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 1
→ →

-
1 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 1

1 2 1 0 1 2 1 0 0 2 2 2
 - - -
- - -
1 0 1 2 1 0 1 2 1 0 1 2

-
0 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 1
→ →

- -
0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 2 2 2 0 2 2 2 0 0 0 0

Thus a basis for span P is - - 1)}. We can now convert

this into a basis for span S :
( ) {(1, 0, 1, 2), (0, 1, 1,

( )

B =
-
1

1
0

2
,
0

1 -
1

We can verify that B is indeed linearly independent:

a- 1

1
0

2
+ b - 0

1
1

1
=
0

0
0

0
⟹ a b
= = 0
18.
Find the dimension of the following vector space:

V = ( xyzw x y z wx w y z
, , , ) | + = + , + = + , and xyzw R
, , , ∈

Homework

19.
Find a basis for span S ( ) where S = {(1, 0, 1, 2, 1), (0, - 1, 1, 2, 1), (1, - 1, 2, 4, 2)}.

Add all the vectors as rows of a matrix. Find the RREF of this matrix.
Discard the zero rows. Add the non-zero rows as vectors in B. B is a
basis for span S .( )

- - - -
1 0 1 2 1 1 0 1 2 1

-
0 1 1 2 1 → 0 1 1 2 1

1 1 2 4 2 0 0 0 0 0

B = {(1, 0, 1, 2, 1), (0, 1, - - -

1, 2, 1)}

20.
Find the rank of the following matrix:

0 1 3 1

1 0 0 1

3 2 0 3

Rank of a matrix is the number of non-zero rows in the RREF of the matrix.
Reduce the matrix to RREF and find the number of non-zero rows.

21.
Find a basis for span S ( ) where S = {(1, 2, 0), (0, 3, 1), (3, 3, - 1), (3, 0, - 2)}.

Add all the vectors as rows of a matrix and find its RREF:

1 2 0 1 2 0 1 2 0

- - - - -
0 3 1 0 3 1 0 3 1
→ →

- - - -
3 3 1 0 3 1 0 3 1

3 0 2 3 0 2 0 6 2

1 2 0 1 2 0 1 2 0

- -
0 3 1 0 3 1 0 3 1
→ →

- - - -
0 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 6 2 0 6 2 0 0 0
 1 2 0
1 2 0 1 0
- 2
3

0 3 1 1 1
0 1 3 0 1
→ → 3
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

A basis for span S

( ) is:

B = 1, 0,
- 2
3 , 0, 1,
1
3

22.
What is the maximum and minimum value for the rank of an arbitrary m n
×

matrix?

The row rank and the column rank of a matrix is the same. The column rank
is defined as the dimension of the column space. The column space is the
span of all the columns of the matrix. There are n columns, each of which
is a vector in Rm. So, the dimension of the column space could be at most
min (m n . The smallest value that the rank of matrix could take is .
, ) 0

This is because a zero matrix has rank . So we have for an m n matrix

A:
0 ×

rank A 0 ⩽ mn ( ) ⩽ min ( , )
23.
-
- a.
2 3 4

What is the rank of the matrix is then find the value of

- a
0 1 2 2

1 3

- - a - a
- - -
2 3 4 1 3 1 3

→ →

- a -a -a
0 1 2 0 1 2 0 1 2

1 3 0 3 4 2 0 0 10 2

If a ≠ 5, then the rank of the matrix is 3. Since rank is 2, the last row
should be a zero row, therefore a = 5.
24.

x y z x y z are non-zero distinct integers?

1 1 1

What is the rank of where , ,

x y z
2 2 2

Homework

25.
Show that the span of the rows of a matrix is equal to the span of the
rows of its RREF.

M r r r
= { 1, 2, 3}

• Swap two rows

– span r r r span r r r
({ 2 , 1 , 3 }) = ({ 1 , 2 , 3 })

• Scale a row by a non-zero constant

– span cr r r
({ span r r r
1, 2, 3 }) = ({ 1, 2, 3 })

• Add one row to the other

– span r r r r span r r r
({ 1 + 2, 2, 3 }) = ({ 1, 2, 3 })

26.
Show that all the non-zero rows of a matrix in reduced row echelon form
are linearly independent.

Homework

27.
If the rank of a n n matrix is n, show that the rows form a basis for
×

Rn.
Homework