LINEAR COMBINATION AND LINEAR SPAN

SOWJANYA ASHWATH

December 2022

SOWJANYA ASHWATH LINEAR COMBINATION AND LINEAR SPAN

LINEAR COMBINATION OF VECTORS

Definition: Let V be a vector space over a field F and let

v1 , v2 , v3 , ....vn be n vectors of V. Then a vector of the form,
v = c1 v1 + c2 v2 + c3 v3 + ....cn vn , where c1 , c2 , c3 , ....cn ∈ F is
called a linear combination of the vectors v1 , v2 , v3 , ...., vn ,

SOWJANYA ASHWATH LINEAR COMBINATION AND LINEAR SPAN

Example
Consider the vectors,
v1 = (−1, 3, −1), v2 = (−1, 2, 3)andv3 = (1, 0, 1) of the vector
space R 3 .

Then the vector v = 2v1 − 3v2 − v3

v = 2 (1, 3, 1) - 3 (1, 2, 3) - (1, 0, 1)

=(-2, 6, -2) – (-3, 6, 9) – (1, 0, 1)
= (-2+3-1, 6-6-0, -2-9-1)
= (0, 0, -12)

Therefore v is a linear combination of the vectors v1 , v2 andv3 . By

choosing different set of scalars, different combinations of v1 , v2 , v3
can be formed.

SOWJANYA ASHWATH LINEAR COMBINATION AND LINEAR SPAN

LINEAR SPAN OF A SET

Definition: Let S = v1 , v2 , v3 , ....vn be a subset of a vector space V

over a field F.The set of all linear combinations of finite number of
elements of S is called the linear span or span of S and it is
denoted by L[S].
That is, L[S] = c1 v1 + c2 v2 + c3 v3 + ..... + cn vn /ci ∈ F , vi ∈ S
i =1,2,...n and n is any positive integer.

SOWJANYA ASHWATH LINEAR COMBINATION AND LINEAR SPAN

Theorem
Let S be a non empty subset of a vector space V [F].
Then
(i) L[S] is a subspace of V
(ii) S ⊆ L[S]
(iii) L[S] is the smallest subspace of V containing S.

SOWJANYA ASHWATH LINEAR COMBINATION AND LINEAR SPAN

Proof.
(i) S being a non empty set, there exists v ∈ S.
Further
v = v ∈ L[S].ThusL[S] ̸= ϕ. Let S = v1 , v2 , v3 , ...., vn and let
u, v ∈ L[S].
Then,
u = c1 v1 + c2 v2 + ... + cn vn ; ci ∈ F
v = d1 v1 + d2 v2 + ... + dn vn ; di ∈ F
Therefore
u + v = c1 v1 + c2 v2 + .... + cn vn + d1 v1 + d2 v2 + .... + dn vn
u + v = e1 v1 + e2 v2 + .... + en vn ; ei = ci + d1 ∈ F (since F is a
field) u + v is a linear combination of vectors =⇒ u + v ∈ L[S],
Hence vector addition is satisfied.
If α ∈ F , u ∈ L[S] then
αu = a1 v! + a2 v2 + .... + an vn ; ai = αci ∈ F
u is a linear combination of vectors of S
L[S] is closed under scalar multiplication .
Hence L[S] is a subspace of V.
SOWJANYA ASHWATH LINEAR COMBINATION AND LINEAR SPAN