Tutorial 2

IC-M

1. Let A ∈ Rm×n and N(A) = {X ∈ Rn | AX = 0}. Prove that N(A) is a subspace of Rn .

2. Prove that the set S = {1, 1 + t, . . . , (1 + t)n } is a basis for the vector space Pn (R). Here Pn (R) denotes
the vector space of polynomials with real coefficients and of degree at most n.

3. Examine whether the set {ex , xex , . . . , xn ex } is linearly independent.

4. Examine whether the following sets of vectors constitute a vector space. If so, write the dimension and a
basis of that vector space.

(a) The set of all real functions of the form acosx + bsinx + c; where a, b, c vary over all real numbers.
(b) The set of all n × n real symmetric matrices.
(c) The set of all complex polynomials of degree ≤ 5 with p(0) = p(1) together with the zero
polynomial.
(d) The set of all (x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 ) ∈ R4 such that
i. x4 = 0.
ii. x1 = x2 = x3 = x4 .
iii. x21 − x22 = 0.
iv. x1 ≤ x2 .
v. x1 x2 = 0.

5. Given a set of n linearly independent vectors {v1 , v2 , . . . , vn } in a vector space V , show that for any
scalar α, the set {v1 , v2 , . . . , vi−1 , vi + αvj , vi+1 , . . . , vn } with i 6= j is linearly independent.