Lecture #3 Dr.

Muhammad Awais Yousaf Monday, October 9, 2023

Linear Algebra

These notes are intended as a rough guide to the course Further Linear Algebra which is a part of
the The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, 2nd semester course in The Department of
Mathematics. Please do not expect a polished account. They are lecture notes, not a carefully
checked text-book. Nevertheless, I hope they may be of some help.

The course is designed to build on 1st year Linear Algebra. The syllabus for that course
includes matrices, row reduction of matrices to echelon form, rank of a matrix, solution of
simultaneous linear equations, vector spaces and their subspaces, linear dependence and
independence, bases and dimension of a vector space, linear transformations, and their matrices
with respect to given bases, and eigenvalues and eigenvectors of a square matrix or of a linear
transformation of a vector space to itself.
As a consequence, the lecture course, and therefore also this set of notes, naturally
divides into four parts: the first is a study of vector spaces over arbitrary fields; then we study
linear transformations of a vector space to itself; third, a treatment of real or complex inner
product spaces; and finally, the theory of adjoins of linear transformations on inner product
spaces.

Readings
There is no specific essential reading for this chapter. It is essential that you do some
reading, but the topics discussed in this chapter are adequately covered in so many texts on
‘linear algebra’ that it would be artificial and unnecessarily limiting to specify precise passages
from precise texts. The list below gives examples of relevant reading.

1. S. M. Yusuf, Mathematical Methods, Chapter 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6.

2. Ostaszewski, A. Advanced Mathematical Methods. Chapter 1, sections 1.1–1.7;
Chapter 3, sections 3.1–3.2 and 3.4.
3. Leon, S.J., Linear Algebra with Applications. Chapter 1, sections 1.1–1.3;
Chapter 2, section 2.1; Chapter 3, sections 3.1–3.6; Chapter 4, sections 4.1–4.2.

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 Lecture #3 Dr. Muhammad Awais Yousaf Monday, October 9, 2023

1.1 Fields
Let F be a non-empty set containing at least two elements, such that
1) F is a commutative group under addition,
2) the non-zero elements of F form a commutative group under multiplication, and
3) multiplication is distributive over addition, that is, a(b + c) = ab + ac for all a, b, c  F .

Then F is called a field.

For example, C , the set of complex numbers, is a field. The set R , of real numbers, is
also a field. In C , the identity element under addition is 0 + 0i and inverse of a + ib is − (a + ib)
. The identity element under multiplication is 1+ 0i and the inverse of a + ib under
a − ib
multiplication is . The left and right distributive laws are satisfied by the elements of C .
a2 + b2
Thus, one can show easily that C is a field.

What is a vector? Many are familiar with the concept of a vector as:
• Something which has magnitude and direction.
• an ordered pair or triple.
• a description for quantities such as Force, velocity and acceleration.
Such vectors belong to the foundation vector space R n of all vector spaces. The
properties of general vector spaces are based on the properties of R n . It is therefore helpful to
consider briefly the nature of R n .

1.2 Vector Spaces

A vector space is a nonempty set V , whose objects are called vectors, equipped with
two operations, called addition and scalar multiplication: For any two vectors 𝑢, 𝑣 in 𝑉 and a
scalar 𝑎, there are unique vectors 𝑢 + 𝑣 and 𝑎𝑢 in 𝑉 such that the following properties are
satisfied.
1) (𝑢 + 𝑣) + 𝑤 = 𝑢 + (𝑣 + 𝑤), for all u, v, w V .
2) There is a vector 0, called the zero vector, such that 𝑢 + 0 = 0 + 𝑢 = 𝑢

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 Lecture #3 Dr. Muhammad Awais Yousaf Monday, October 9, 2023

3) For any vector 𝑢 there is a vector −𝑢 such that 𝑢 + (−𝑢) = (−𝑢) + 𝑢 = 0

4) 𝑢 + 𝑣 = 𝑣 + 𝑢, for all u, v V .

5) (ab)v = a(bv), for all a, b  F , and v  V

6) a(v + w) = av + aw, for all a  F , and v, w  V

7) (a + b)v = av + bv, for all a, b  F , and v  V

8) 1.v = v, for all v  V , 1 being the unity.

Example 1.2.1
Let V = {(a1 , a 2 ,...., a n ) : where ai  F } then V is a vector space over F. For, let

v1 = (a1 , a 2 ,..., a n ) and v2 = (b1 , b2 ,...,bn )  V where a1 , b1  F . Then v1 + v 2 =

(a1 + b1 , a2 + b2 ,..., an + bn ) and v = (a1 ,a2 ,...,an )  V because each ai + bi and ai  F .
Hence V forms a commutative group under addition.
i) (ab)v1 = (ab)(a1 , a2 ,..., an ) = (aba1 , aba2 ,..., aban ) = a(ba1 , ba2 ,...,ban ) = a(bv).

ii) Also a(v1 + v2 ) = a{(a1 + b1 ,...., a n + bn )} = (aa1 + ab1 ,..., aan + abn ) = (aa1 ,..., aan )

+ (ab1 ,..., abn ) = a(a1 ,..., an ) + a(b! ,...,bn ) = av1 + av 2 .

iii) (a + b)v = (a + b)(a1 , a2 ,..., an ) = ((a + b)a1 , (a + b)a2 ,..., (a + b)an ) =

(aa1 + ba1 ,..., aan + ban ) = (aa1 ,..., aan ) + (ba1 ,...,ban ) = a(a1 ,..., a n ) + b(a1 ,..., a n )
= av + bv.
iv) 1.v = 1(a1 , a2 ,..., an ) = (1.a1 ,1.a2 ,...,1.an ) = (a1 , a2 ,..., an ) = v
Hence V is a vector space over the field F.
Example 1.2.2
Let V be the set of all n  m matrices with entries from a field F , then V is a vector
space over F .
Let V = {[aij ] : i = 1,2,..., n, j = 1,2,..., m}. Then addition and scalar multiplication hold in

V being a set of matrices. The zero matrix is the additive identity and for are all A in V there
exists - A in V such that [ A] + [− A] = [0]. This shows that V contains the additive identity and

inverses. Also A + B = B + A for all A, B  V . Hence the set of all n  m matrices forms a
commutative group under addition.

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 Lecture #3 Dr. Muhammad Awais Yousaf Monday, October 9, 2023

i) If A = [aij ]  V then (ab) A = [abaij ] = a(bA).

ii) If A = [aij ] and B = [bij ] belong to V then a( A + B) = a[aij + bij ] = [a(aij + bij )] =

[aaij ] + [abij ] = aA + aB.

iii) If a, b  F and A  V , then (a + b) A = (a + b)[aij ] = [aaij ] + [baij ] = aA + bA.

iv) If A  V , then 1. A = 1.[aij ] = [1.aij ] = [aij ] = A. Hence V is a vector space over F .

Example 1.2.3
Let V be the set of all mappings from a set X to a field F . Then V is a vector space
over F.
Consider V ={f : f is a function from X to F} . Let f , g  V , then
( f + g )( x) = f ( x) = g ( x) implies that V is closed under addition and the associative law is
satisfied by its elements. The identity element will be the zero function. That is, o( x) = o and
f ( x) + o = o + f ( x) = f ( x) . Also, − f (x) is the additive inverse of f (x). Since scalar
multiplication is defined for the set V . For all a  F and f  V , af  V defined by
(af )( x) = a( f ( x)). Now it is easy to see that V satisfies the left and right distributive laws. That
is, for all f , g  V and a  F , a( f + g ) = a( f ) + b( g ) . Hence V is a vector space.

Example 1.2.4
If in Example 1.2.3, we let X = R = F then the vector space V is called a vector space
for real-valued functions.
Example 1.2.5
Every field is a vector space over itself. Since a field F is a commutative group under
binary operation addition and the scalar multiplication . : F  F → F is well defined, therefore
F satisfies all the axioms of a vector space.

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