Linear Algebra and Differential Equations

Sartaj Ul Hasan

Department of Mathematics
Indian Institute of Technology Jammu
Jammu, India - 181221

Email: sartaj.hasan@iitjammu.ac.in

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 Lecture 06
(March 17, 2021)

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 Introduction to Fields

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Fields

Informal Definition: A field is a system with universal addition,

subtraction, multiplication, division (except by zero).
Formal Definition: A field F is a non-empty set together with two
operations + (known as addition) and . (known as multiplication)
which satisfies the following properties (axioms):
(a). < F, + > satisfies the following properties w. r. t. addition
(i) Closure property: For every x, y ∈ F, we have x + y ∈ F.
(ii) Associative property: x + (y + z) = (x + y ) + z for all x, y , z ∈ F.
(iii) Existence of Identity Element: There exist a unique element 0 (zero)
in F such that x + 0 = x = 0 + x for every x ∈ F.
(iv) Existence of Inverse: For each x ∈ F, there exists a unique element
−x ∈ F such that x + (−x) = 0 = (−x) + x.
(v) Commutative Property: x + y = y + x for all x, y ∈ F.
Remark: With the properties as described in (a), F is abelian group w.
r. t. addition.

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Fields (Conti . . . )

(b). < F, . > satisfies the following properties w. r. t. multiplication.

(i) Closure property: For every x, y ∈ F, we have x.y ∈ F.
(ii) Associative property: x.(y .z) = (x.y ).z for all x, y , z ∈ F.
(iii) Existence of Identity Element: There exist a unique non-zero
element 1 6= 0 (unity) in F such that x.1 = x = 1.x for every x ∈ F.
(iv) Existence of Inverse: For each non-zero x ∈ F, there exists a unique
element x −1 ∈ F such that x.x −1 = 1 = x −1 .x.
(v) Commutative Property: x.y = y .x for all x, y ∈ F.
Remark: With the properties as described in (b), F? = F − {0} is
abelian group w. r. t. multiplication.
(c). Distribution Law: Multiplication is distributive over addition.

x.(y + z) = x.y + x.z, ∀ x, y , z ∈ F

(x + y ).z = x.z + y .z, ∀ x, y , z ∈ F

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Fields (Conti. . . )
Note: The unity element 1 ∈ F is different from the zero element 0 ∈ F.
Hence, every field must have at least two elements, 0 and 1.
Examples: The well-known examples of fields are:
The set Q of rational numbers is a Field, known as Rational Field,
The set R of real numbers is a Field, known as Real Field,
The set C of complex numbers is a Field, known as Complex Field.
Examples of non-empty sets which are not Fields:
The set N of natural numbers is NOT a field as it does not have
additive identity, additive inverse property fails, multiplicative inverse
property fails.
The set Z of integers is NOT a field as multiplicative inverse property
fails.
The set M2×2 (R) (or R2×2 ) of all matrices over real field R is not a
field as the multiplicative commutative property and multiplicative
inverse property both fail.
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Fields (Conti . . . )
Are there other examples?
1 There are fields F which lie between Q and R, i.e., Q ( F ( R. For
√ √
example, Q( 2) = {a + b 2 : a, b ∈ Q} is a field. Verify it !!
2 We can construct example via modular arithmetic.

Recall: Let n be a +ve integer. Then for any integer x, x (mod n) is

defined to be the remainder after division by n. Note that the
remainder r must satisfy 0 ≤ r < n. For example, 11 (mod 3)= 2, 11
(mod 4)= 3, 10 (mod 5)= 0 etc.
Notation: For any integer n > 0, we define

Zn = {0, 1, 2, . . . , n − 1}.

We see that |Zn | = n.

Let n > 0 be fixed. Define two operations +n (modular addition or
simply addition) and ×n (modular multiplication or multiplication) by:

a +n b = (a + b) (mod n) for all a, b ∈ Zn

a ×n b = (ab) (mod n) for all a, b ∈ Zn

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Fields (Conti . . . )

Modular Arithmetic Operations

[(a mod n) + (b mod n)] mod n= (a + b) mod n.
[(a mod n) − (b mod n)] mod n= (a − b) mod n.
[(a mod n) × (b mod n)] mod n= (a × b) mod n.

Extended Euclidean Algorithm

If gcd(a, b) = d, then there are X , Y ∈ Z such that aX + bY = d.

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Fields (Conti . . . )

We can easily verify all the properties of a field for Zn –with the
exception of multiplicative inverse property.
Let us consider a few cases.
(i) Z2 = {0, 1}.
The only nonzero element is 1, and its inverse is 1 (this holds always
for unity element). Hence Z2 is a field. So we can construct various
vector spaces over the field Z2 . For example, Zn2 is the vector space of
all ordered n-tuple with entries 0 and 1. Subspaces of Zn2 play an
essential role in coding theory (part of both CSE and ECE).
(ii) Z3 = {0, 1, 2}.
Here we only need to consider the element 2 (since 1 has an inverse).
But 2 ×3 2 = 1 i.e. 2 has an inverse. Therefore Z3 is a field.
(iii) Z4 = {0, 1, 2, 3}.
Now it happens that Z4 is NOT a field.
Reason: A field can not have zero-divisors.

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Fields (Conti . . . )

Definition: A zero-divisor is an element a, a 6= 0, for which there is

an element b, b 6= 0 such that ab = 0.
Why does a field F have no zero divisors?
Suppose by way of contradiction (BWOC) that a ∈ F is a zero divisor.
Then a 6= 0 and there is an element b 6= 0 such that a.b = 0.
Multiplying by a−1 , we get:

a−1 .(a.b) = a−1 .0 or 1.b = 0 or b = 0.

But this is a contradiction, since b 6= 0.

Now, consider Z4 . We have 2 ×4 2 = 4 (mod 4)= 0, i.e. 2 is a zero
divisor. Therefore, Z4 can not be a field.

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Fields (Conti . . . )

Proposition: Zn is a field if and only if n a prime number.

Proof: [ =⇒ ] Suppose Zn is a field. We have to show n is a prime.
Suppose BWOC that n is not a prime. Then n = mk, where
1 < m < n, and 1 < k < n. Therefore m, k ∈ Zn . But, in Zn ,
m ×n k = n (mod n)= 0 and so m, k are zero divisors, which is a
contradiction.
[ ⇐= ] Given n is prime, to show that Zn is a field. It is enough to
show that every non-zero element a ∈ Zn has an inverse. Clearly
gcd(a, n) = 1. Thus by extended Euclidean algorithm, there are
integers x and y such that ax + yn = 1. Thus, ax = 1 (mod n),
which shows that a in invertible.

The field Zp plays a very big role in cryptography and coding theory.

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 Introduction to Vector Spaces

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Vector Space
Motivation: Think about the properties of usual vectors in 2-dimensional
or 3-dimensional space.
Definition: A vector space consists of a non-empty set V of objects
(called vectors) that can be added, that can be multiplied by an element
of a field F (called a scalar in this context), and for which certain axioms
hold. If u and v are two vectors in V , their sum is expressed as u + v and
the scalar product of u by an element a in F is denoted as au. These
operations are called vector addition and scalar multiplication,
respectively, and the following axioms (there are total 10) are assumed to
hold.
Axioms for vector addition:
(i) If u and v are in V , then u + v is in V .
(ii) u + v + w= (u + v) + w for all u, v and w in V .
(iii) An element 0 in V exists such that u + 0 = u = 0 + u for all u ∈ V .
(iv) For each u ∈ V , an element −u in V exists such that
u + (−u) = 0 = (−u) + u.
(v) u + v = v + u for all u and v in V
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Vector Space (Conti . . . )

Axioms for scalar multiplication:

(vi) If u is in V , then au is in V for all a in F.
(vii) a(u + v)= au + av for all u and v in V and all a in F.
(viii) (a + b)u= au + bu for all u in V and all a and b in F.
(viv) a(bu)= (ab)u for all u in V and all a and b in F.
(vv) 1u= u for all u in V . Here 1 is the multiplicative identity of F.
With these 10 properties, V is a vector space over F, some times
denoted by VF or just by V if the field F is clear from the context.

Most often, we will be dealing with the field R of real numbers throughout
this course.

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Vector Space (Conti . . . )
Example 1: Let V consists of a single object, which we denote by 0
and define
0 + 0 = 0 and a0 = 0 for all a ∈ F.
Then V is a vector space.
Example 2: The space V = Rn of n-tuples (for any n ≥ 1). There
are often
 referred
 to as(column)
 vectors. The base field is F = R.
X1 Y1
X2  Y2 
If u =  .  and v =  .  are any two vectors in Rn , then
   
.
 .   .. 
Xn Yn
   
X1 + Y1 aX1
X2 + Y2  aX2 
u+v =  and au =  ..  for any scalar a ∈ R.
   
..
 .   . 
Xn + Yn aXn
Note: Rn is usually referred as Euclidean space.
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Vector Space (Conti . . . )

Example 3: The space Rm×n of m × n matrices with real entries.

Again, the base field is R. Rm×n is a vector space over R

Remark: If we consider an image, it can be regarded as a rectangular

array of numbers corresponding to the light intensity at each pixel.
Usually, we restrict the values to be positive integers or even just
0 − 1. However, while doing the computations in image processing,
we treat them as real numbers. So these vector spaces play a major
role in image processing.

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Vector Space (Conti . . . )

Example 4: The space C [0, 1] of continuous functions from the

closed interval [0, 1] on the real line to R, i.e.

C [0, 1] = {f : f is a continuous function, f : [0, 1] −→ R}.

Remark: This space and related spaces play a major role in signals
and systems, since an analogue signal is usually thought of as a
continuous function of time. In other words, a signal is nothing but a
“vector” in such a vector space.
Note: The above is an example of a “function” space.

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Vector Space (Conti . . . )

Example 5: The space R∞ of real sequences is a vector space over

R, i.e.

R∞ = {< an > : < an > is a sequence with real number terms}.

Of more interest than R∞ itself, is c, the subset of convergent

sequences. It is also a vector space.
Note: the above are examples of “sequence” spaces. Sequence
spaces also play a major role in the study of signals, specifically
discrete or digital signals

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Vector Space (Conti . . . )
Example 6: The space Rn [t] of polynomials of degree ≤ n with real
coefficients.
Note: The zero polynomial, which technically does not have any
degree, is regarded as an element of Rn [t] for all n = 0, 1, 2, . . .
Example 7: The space R[t] of all polynomials with real coefficients.
Note: These two examples are closely related to each other. We can
see that Rn [t] is actually a subset of R[t] (for all n).
Example 8: A set that is NOT a vector space
Take V = R2 , F = R. Define “vector addition”and “scalar
multiplication” as follows:
If u = (u1 , u2 ), v = (v1 , v2 ), then u + v = (u1 + v1 , u2 + v2 ) and
au = (au1 , 0) for a ∈ R.
Since 1(−2, 3) = (−2, 0) 6= (−2, 3), V is NOT vector space over F.
Note that except this property, the remaining 9 properties are
satisfied.

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Vector Space (Conti . . . )

Example 9: Let V = R+ , the set of all positive real numbers. For

u, v ∈ R+ and t ∈ R, define:
u + v = uv [Vector addition is numerical multiplication]
tu = u t [Scalar multiplication is numerical exponentiation]
Then V is vector space over R.
Here 0 = 1, −u = u1 .
Example 10: RR , QQ , CC are vector spaces. More generally, for any
field F, FF is a vector space.
Example 11: RQ and CR are vector spaces.
Example 12: If F is a field, then for n ≥ 1, Fn is a vector space over
F. In this example, replace F by Zp , R, Q and C and then verify all
the vector space properties.

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Vector Space (Conti . . . )

Direct Consequence of the Vector Space Definition Properties

Proposition 7: Let V be a vector space. Then:

(a) The zero vector is unique.
(b) The additive inverse vector of any vector u is unique; we use the
notation −u for the inverse vector.
(c) 0u = 0 for every vector u.
(d) a0 = 0 for every scalar a.
(e) −u = (−1)u for every vector u.
Proof: Left as an exercise.

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