Undergraduate Texts in Mathematics

Editors
F. W. Gehring
P. R. Halmos
Advisory Board
C. DePrima
I. Herstein
 Undergraduate Texts in Mathematics
Apostol: Introduction to Analytic
Number Theory.
1976. xii, 338 pages. 24 iIIus.
Armstrong: Basic Topology.
1983. xii, 251 pages. 132 iIIus.
Bak/Newman: Complex Analysis.
1982. x, 224 pages. 69 iIIus.
Banchoff/Wermer: Linear Algebra
Through Geometry.
1983. x, 257 pages. 81 iIIus.
Childs: A Concrete Introduction to
Higher Algebra.
1979. xiv, 338 pages. 8 iIIus.
Chung: Elementary Probability Theory
with Stochastic Processes.
1975. xvi, 325 pages. 36 iIIus.
Croom: Basic Concepts of Algebraic
Topology.
1978. x, 177 pages. 46 iIIus.
Fischer: Intermediate Real Analysis.
1983. xiv, 770 pages. 100 iIIus.
Fleming: Functions of Several Variables.
Second edition.
1977. xi, 411 pages. 96 iIIus.
Foulds: Optimization Techniques: An
Introduction.
1981. xii, 502 pages. 72 iIIus.
Franklin: Methods of Mathematical
Economics. Linear and Nonlinear
Programming. Fixed-Point Theorems.
1980. x, 297 pages. 38 iIIus.
Halmos: Finite-Dimensional Vector
Spaces. Second edition.
1974. viii, 200 pages.
Halmos: Naive Set Theory.
1974, vii, 104 pages.
Iooss/Joseph: Elementary Stability and
Bifurcation Theory.
1980. xv, 286 pages. 47 iIIus.
Kemeny/Snell: Finite Markov Chains.
1976. ix, 224 pages. 11 iIIus.
Lax/Burstein/Lax: Calculus with
Applications and Computing,
Volume I.
1976. xi, 513 pages. 170 iIIus.
LeCuyer: College Mathematics with
A Programming Language.
1978. xii, 420 pages. 144 iIIus.
MackiiStrauss: Introduction to Optimal
Control Theory.
1981. xiii, 168 pages. 68 iIIus.
Malitz: Introduction to Mathematical
Logic: Set Theory - Computable
Functions - Model Theory.
1979. xii, 198 pages. 2 iIIus.
Martin: The Foundations of Geometry
and the Non-Euclidean Plane.
1975. xvi, 509 pages. 263 iIIus.
Martin: Transformation Geometry: An
Introduction to Symmetry.
1982. xii, 237 pages. 209 iIIus.
Millman/Parker: Geometry: A Metric
Approach with Models.
1981. viii, 355 pages. 259 ilIus.
Prenowitz/ Jantosciak: Join Geometries:
A Theory of Convex Set and Linear
Geometry.
1979. xxii, 534 pages. 404 ilIus.
Priestly: Calculus: An Historical Approach.
1979, xvii, 448 pages. 335 ilIus.
Protter/Morrey: A First Course in Real
Analysis.
1977. xii, 507 pages. 135 illus.
(continued on page 259)
Thomas Banchoff
John Wermer

Linear Algebra
Through Geometry

With 81 Illustrations

Springer-Verlag
New York Heidelberg Berlin
Thomas Banchoff
John Wenner
Department of Mathematics
Brown University
Providence, RI 02912
U.S.A.

Editors
F. W. Gehring P. R. Halmos
Department of Mathematics Department of Mathematics
University of Michigan University of Indiana
Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Bloomington, IN 47405
U.S.A. U.s.A.

AMS Subject Classification: 15-01

Cover: Computer-generated projection of a four-dimensional cube (see Figure 4.5,

p. 223), by Thomas Banchoff with the assistance of Gerald Wei!.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Banchoff, Thomas.
Linear algebra through geometry.
(Undergraduate texts in mathematics)
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
I. Algebras, Linear. I. Wermer, John. II. Title.
III. Series.
QA184.B36 1983 512'.5 82-19446

© 1983 by Springer-Verlag New York, Inc.

Softcover reprint of the hardcover 15t edition 1983
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be translated or reproduced in any
form without written permission from Springer-Verlag, 175 Fifth Avenue, New
York, New York 10010, U.S.A.

Typeset by Computype, Inc., St. Paul, MN.

987654 32 1

ISBN-13: 978-1-4684-0163-9 e-ISBN-13: 978-1-4684-0161-5

DOl: 10.1007/978-1-4684-0161-5
To our wives Lynore and Kerstin
Preface

In this book we lead the student to an understanding of elementary linear

algebra by emphasizing the geometric significance of the subject.
Our experience in teaching beginning undergraduates over the years has
convinced us that students learn the new ideas of linear algebra best when
these ideas are grounded in the familiar geometry of two and three
dimensions. Many important notions of linear algebra already occur in
these dimensions in a non-trivial way, and a student with a confident grasp
of these ideas will encounter little difficulty in extending them to higher
dimensions and to more abstract algebraic systems. Moreover, we feel that
this geometric approach provides a solid basis for the linear algebra needed
in engineering, physics, biology, and chemistry, as well as in economics and
statistics.
The great advantage of beginning with a thorough study of the linear
algebra of the plane is that students are introduced quickly to the most
important new concepts while they are still on the familiar ground of
two-dimensional geometry. In short order, the student sees and uses the
notions of dot product, linear transformations, determinants, eigenvalues,
and quadratic forms. This is done in Chapters 2.0-2.7.
Then the very same outline is used in Chapters 3.0-3.7 to present the
linear algebra of three-dimensional space, so that the former ideas are
reinforced while new concepts are being introduced.
In Chapters 4.0-4.2 we deal with geometry in a space of four dimensions
and introduce linear transformations and matrices in four variables.
Finally, in Chapters 5.1-5.3 we study systems of linear equations in n
unknowns, and in conjunction with such systems we develop the notions
of n-dimensional vector algebra and the ideas of subspace, basis, and
dimension.
Vlll Linear Algebra Through Geometry

Except in a single chapter, the student need only know basic high school
algebra and geometry and introductory trigonometry in order to read this
book. The exception is Chapter 2.8, Differential Systems, where we assume
a knowledge of elementary calculus.

Acknowledgments
We would like to thank the many students in our classes over the years
whose interest and suggestions have helped in the development of this
book. Our special thanks go to Dale Cavanaugh, and to Elaine Haste for
the work of typing our manuscript.
Contents

Preface vii
Acknowledgments viii

1.0 Vectors in the Line

2.0 The Geometry of Vectors in the Plane 3

2.1 Transformations of the Plane ' 23
2.2 Linear Transformations and Matrices 29
2.3 Sums and Products of Linear Transformations 39
2.4 Inverses and Systems of Equations 49
2.5 Determinants 60
2.6 Eigenvalues 74
2.7 Classification of Conic Sections 84
2.8 Differential Systems 96

3.0 Vector Geometry in 3-Space 111

3.1 Transformations of 3-Space 126
3.2 Linear Transformations and Matrices 130
3.3 Sums and Products of Linear Transformations 135
3.4 Inverses and Systems of Equations 145
3.5 Determinants 163
3.6 Eigenvalues 175
3.7 Symmetric Matrices 190
3.8 Classification of Quadric Surfaces 202
x Linear Algebra Through Geometry

4.0 Vector Geometry in 4-Space 207

4.1 Transformations of 4-Space 216
4.2 Linear Transformations and Matrices 224

5.1 Homogeneous Systems of Equations 228

5.2 Subspace, Linear Dependence, Dimension 236
5.3 Inhomogeneous Systems of Equations 244

Afterword 253

Index 255