LINEAR ALGEBRA (MA20105)

Problems Sheet-1
Notation: In the following F = R.

1. Prove that (Fn , +) is a vector space over F, where + is coordinate wise addition and c(a1 , . . . , an ) :=
(ca1 , . . . , can ), (a1 , . . . , an ) ∈ Fn , c ∈ F.

2. Let Mm×n (F) be the set of all m × n matrices over F. Prove that Mm×n (F) forms a vector space
under matrix addition and scalar multiplication.

3. On Rn , define two operations

α⊕β = α − β

c ∗ α = −cα.

The operations on the right are the usual ones. Which of the axioms for a vector space are
satisfied by (Rn , ⊕, ∗)?

4. On R2 , define
(x, y) + (x1 , y1 ) = (x + x1 , 0)

c(x, y) = (cx, 0).

Is R2 , with these operations, a vector space over R? Provide reasons.

5. Let P [x]≤n := {a0 + a1 x + · · · + an xn : ai ∈ F, 1 ≤ i ≤ n} (set of all polynomials of degree ≤ n).

Let p(x) = a0 + a1 x + · · · + an xn , q(x) = b0 + b1 x + · · · + bn xn ∈ P [x]≤n . Define

p(x) + q(x) := (a0 + b0 ) + (a1 + b1 )x + · · · + (an + bn )xn

cp(x) := ca0 + ca1 x + · · · + can xn .

Prove that P [x]≤n is a vector space over F with the above operations.

Subspace related problems

1. Which of the follwing sets of vectors α = (a1 , · · · , an ) in Rn are subspaces of Rn (n ≥ 3)?

(i) all α such that a1 ≥ 0;
(ii) all α such that a1 + 3a2 = a3 ;
(iii) all α such that a2 = a21 ;
(iv) all α such that a1 a2 = 0;
(v) all α such that a1 ∈ Q?

1
2. Let V be the real vector space of all functions from R → R. Which of the following sets of
functions are subspaces of V ?
(i) all f such that f (x2 ) = f (x)2 ;
(ii) all f such that f (0) = f (1);
(iii) all f such that f (3) = 1 + f (−5);
(iv) all f such that f (−1) = 0;
(v) all f which are continuous.

3. If S1 , S2 , . . . Sk are subsets of a vector space V , the set of all sums α1 + α2 + · · · + αk of vectors

Pk
αi ∈ Si is called the sum of the subsets S1 , . . . Sk and is denoted by S1 + · · · Sk or by i=1 Si .
Pk
If W1 , . . . Wk are subspaces of V , then check that the sum i=1 Wi is a subspace of V which
contains each of the subspaces Wi , 1 ≤ i ≤ k.

4. Prove that the union of two subspaces W1 , W2 of a vector space V is not a subspace in general
but the intersection is. If W1 ∪ W2 is a subspace of V , then prove that W1 ⊂ W2 or W2 ⊂ W1 .

5. Let W1 and W2 be two subspaces of a vector space V such that W1 +W2 = V and W1 ∩W2 = {0}.
Prove that for each vector α ∈ V there are unique vectors α1 ∈ W1 , α2 ∈ W2 such that
α = α1 + α2 .