Lecture 3: Vector subspaces, sums, and direct

sums (1)

Travis Schedler

Thurs, Sep 15, 2011 (version: Thurs, Sep 15, 1:00 PM)

Goals (2)

• Understand vector subspaces and examples

• Go over a model proof
• Understand intersections, sums, and direct sums
• Preview bases

Warm-up exercise 1 (3)

Which of the following are subspaces of R3 ?
(a) The plane x = y
(b) The line (1 + t, 2t, 3t)
(c) The locus x2 + y 2 + z 2 = 0
(d) The locus x2 + y 2 − z 2 = 0
Answer: (a): yes: this is a plane through the origin. (b): no: this does not
contain the origin (it is a line though) so it is not a subspace. (c): yes: this is
just the zero point, so it is a subspace. (d): no: this is a conic which is closed
under scaling but not under addition, so is not a subspace.

Warm-up exercise 2 (4)

Which of the following are subspaces of the vector space of all functions
{0, 1, . . . , n − 1} → C?
(a) All functions such that f (3) = 2f (1)
(b) All functions such that f (5) = f (6) = 0
(c) All functions such that f (2) − f (0) = 1
(d) All functions such that f (2)f (5) = 0

1
Answer: (a): yes: if f and g satisfy these properties, so do f + g and af for
all a ∈ C: f (3) = 2f (1) and g(3) = 2g(1) imply (f + g)(3) = 2(f + g)(1) and
similarly af (3) = 2af (1). (b): yes: The same argument applies. (c): This is
not a subspace: the zero function doesn’t satisfy this condition. (d): No: we
can take f (2) = 1 and f (k) = 0 for all k 6= 0, and g(5) = 1 and g(k) = 0 for all
k 6= 5, then f (2)f (5) = g(2)g(5) = 0 but (f + g)(2)(f + g)(5) = 1 6= 0.

Warm-up exercise 3 (5)

Which of the following sums are direct?
(a) {(x = y)-axis} + {yz-plane}
(b) {x-axis} + {xy-plane}
(c) {0} + V for V a vector space.
(d) {Constant functions R → R}+{Functions f : R → R such that f (0) = 0}
Here, a constant function f : X → F is a function such that f (x) = f (y) for all
x, y ∈ X.
Answer: (a): Yes: this sum is R3 , and every (a, b, c) can be written uniquely
as (a, a, 0) + (0, b − a, c) of this form. (b): No: the sum is the xy-plane and, for
example, (1, 0) = (1, 0) + (0, 0) = (0, 0) + (1, 0), so there is no unique expression
as a sum of a vector in the x-axis and one in the xy-plane. (c): Yes: for every
v ∈ V , we can uniquely write v = 0+v. (d): Yes: for every function f : R → R,
let g be the constant function g(x) = f (0) for all x. Then (f − g)(0) = 0, and
f = g + (f − g) is the unique decomposition (why?).

Easier solution (6)

Which of the following sums are direct?
(a) {(x = y)-axis} + {yz-plane}
(b) {x-axis} + {xy-plane}
(c) {0} + V for V a vector space.
(d) {Constant functions R → R}+{Functions f : R → R such that f (0) = 0}
Let us use what you should have read in the book:
Proposition 0.1 (Proposition 1.9). Suppose that U and W are subspaces of V .
Then V = U ⊕ W if and only if V = U + W and U ∩ W = {0}.
We can apply this simply to V = U + W , so then the sums are direct if and
only if U ∩ W = {0}.
Then, this property is true for (a), (c), and (d), but not for (b).
Caution: this proposition does not generalize to sums of three or more
subspaces (Ui ∩ Uj = 0 for all i, j does not imply U1 + · · · + Um is direct)! Can
you give an example? Ex: x-axis + y-axis + (x = y line) = R2 is not direct!

2
Subspaces of vector spaces (recap) (7)
Definition 1. A subspace U of a vector space V is a subset containing 0 ∈ V
such that, for all u1 , u2 ∈ U and all a ∈ F,
u1 + u2 ∈ U, au1 ∈ U.
We write U ⊆ V to denote that U is a subspace [or subset] of V .
• Caution: ⊆ can be used to denote either subspace or subset. The meaning
should be clear by context.
• A subspace is the same thing as a subset which is also a vector space,
using the addition and scalar multiplication.
• Note that the condition above that a subspace U contains 0 is equivalent
to the condition that it be nonempty, by the following result: Claim. If
u ∈ U , then 0 · u = 0.

Proof of claim (8)

Claim. If u ∈ U , then 0 · u = 0.
Proof. First,
0 · u = (0 + 0) · u = 0 · u + 0 · u. (0.2)
Here, we used that 0 + 0 = 0 (additive identity of a field, or fact for F = R and
C); then distributivity. Next,

0 = 0 · u + (−(0 · u)) = (0 · u + 0 · u) + (−(0 · u))

= (0 · u) + (0 · u + (−(0 · u))) = 0 · u + 0 = 0 · u.
Here, we used the existence of an additive inverse −(0 · u) of 0 · u, then (0.2),
then associativity, then the additive inverse property, then the additive identity
property.

Examples of subspaces (9)

• For every vector space V , {0} ⊆ V .
• {0} ⊆ x-axis ⊆ x, y-plane ⊆ R3 . More generally, we can take any line or
plane through the origin in R3 , which is a subspace.
• More generally, for m ≤ n, there is a subspace
{(a1 , . . . , am , 0, . . . , 0) : a1 , . . . , am ∈ F} ⊆ Fn .
Informally, this says that Fm ⊆ Fn for m ≤ n (we will make this precise
later). Caution: there are other ways to realize Fm inside Fn , e.g., the
subspace such that the first n − m coordinates are zero, rather than the
last n − m coordinates. (Correspondingly, in the previous example, we
could have taken the z-axis and the y, z-plane).

3
 • Similarly, the vector space of functions f : {1, 2, . . . , n} → F, and the
subspace of functions f such that 0 = f (m + 1) = f (m + 2) = · · · =
f (n). Informally, this says that functions on {1, . . . , m} are a subspace of
functions on {1, . . . , n}.

More examples of subspaces (10)

• For F = R, we have: P(R) ⊆ Continuous functions R → R ⊆ All functions R → R.

• We already observed that, for all F, P(F) ⊆ F∞ . This is the subspace of
lists which terminate in an infinite sequence of zeros.

• For any set X and any F, let V be the vector space of all functions X → F.
Then, for every subset Y ⊆ X, we can consider the vector subspace U ⊆ V
of all functions vanishing on Y , i.e., all f such that f (y) = 0 for all y ∈ Y .
(This generalizes the last example from the last slide).

Intersections, unions, and sums (11)

We can form intersections of vector spaces:
Proposition 0.3. If U, W ⊆ V are subspaces, so is the intersection U ∩ W .

Idea of proof: Each defining property of a subspace (containing zero, being

closed under addition, being closed under scalar multiplication) is preserved by
taking intersections.
However, this is not true of unions. Why?
Example: x-axis ∪ y-axis is not a subspace (not closed under addition).
Instead, we can perform sum operations:
Definition 2. U + W = {u + w | u ∈ U, w ∈ W }.
Proposition 0.4. If U, W ⊆ V are subspaces, so is U + W .
Idea of proof: (u1 +w1 )+(u2 +w2 ) = (u1 +u2 )+(w1 +w2 ), and a(u1 +w1 ) =
au1 + aw1 .

Direct sums (12)

Suppose U1 , . . . , Um ⊆ V .
Definition 3. The sum U1 + · · · + Um is direct if every v ∈ U1 + · · · + Um has
a unique expression as v = u1 + · · · + um for u1 ∈ U1 , u2 ∈ U2 , . . . , um ∈ Um .
Example: x-axis + y-axis + z-axis = R3 .

Definition 4. Let U1 ⊕ · · · ⊕ Um denote U1 + · · · + Um in the case that the sum

is direct (otherwise we may not use ⊕).
So, we may write x-axis ⊕ y-axis ⊕ z-axis, but we may not write x-axis ⊕
xy-plane.

4
Example: R3 (13)
Take V = R3 . We can describe all subspaces:
• {0} and R3 themselves;
• All lines and planes through the origin.

(*) Given any two distinct lines U1 , U2 through the origin, we can take the
plane U1 + U2 that they span.

(**) Given a plane U through the origin, and a line W not in that plane, we
can take U + W = R3 : they span everything.
• On the other hand, if U1 = U2 , then U1 + U2 = U1 = U2 .
• Similarly, if U1 ⊆ U2 , then U1 + U2 = U2 .

In the cases of (*) and (**), every vector v ∈ R3 is a unique sum of a vector
of U and one of W . So these are direct sums. The last two examples are not
direct (unless U1 = {0}).

Preview: bases (14)

We want to understand bases: in the case of the vector space of all greyscale
800 × 600-images, there are at least two important ones: the basis of pixel
coordinates, and the basis of frequency coordinates.
Definition 5 (cf. Proposition 2.8). A basis of a vector space V is a list of
vectors (v1 , . . . , vn ) in V such that, for all v ∈ V , there is a unique expression

v = a1 v1 + · · · + an vn ,

for a1 , . . . , an ∈ F.
Notice the similarity with direct sums: here we have a unique expression
using vectors, whereas a direct sum is a unique expression involving subspaces.
(Exercise: Make a precise connection between the two notions!)
In the case of images, the pixel basis is v0 , . . . , v479999 where vi is the image
with only the pixel i in white, and all other pixels black (black is the value 0).

Bases preview continued (15)

The frequency basis is w0 , . . . , w479999 where wi is the image corresponding
to a sine wave with frequency i: so w0 is solid white, and w479999 alternates
every pixel between black and white; the halfway w240000 would be white, grey,
black, grey, repeated over an over, etc.
We are going to explain bases from a theoretical point of view, as lists having
two weaker properties at the same time: linear independence, and spanning.
Roughly, linear independence says that there is at most one expression v =
a1 v1 + · · · + an vn , and spanning says there is at least one such expression.

5
 For next time: Read Section 2 through Proposition 2.7, paying particular
attention to the proof of Theorem 2.6. Come prepared with questions!
(Otherwise, you won’t understand this proof.)

Reminder: PS1 due tomorrow (Friday) by 5:10 PM, in envelope outside

room 2-172 (or email PDF to instructor).