Definition and Theorems of Chapter 2

Definition. A vector space (or linear space) consists of the following:

1. a field $F$ of scalars;
2. a set $V$ of objects, called vectors;
3. a rule (or operation), called vector addition, which associates with each pair of vectors $\alpha ,\beta$ in $V$ a vector $\alpha +\beta$ in $V$, called the sum of $\alpha$ and $\beta$, in such a way that
   ( a ) addition is commutative, $\alpha +\beta =\beta +\alpha$;
   ( b ) addition is associative, $\alpha +(\beta +\gamma )=(\alpha +\beta )+\gamma$;
   ( c ) there is a unique vector 0 in $V$, called the zero vector, such that $\alpha +0=\alpha$ for all $\alpha$ in $V$;
   ( d ) for each vector $\alpha$ in $V$ there is a unique vector $-\alpha$ in $V$ such that $\alpha +(-\alpha )=0$;
4. a rule (or operation), called scalar multiplication, which associates with each scalar $c$ in $F$ and vector $\alpha$ in $V$ a vector $c\alpha$ in $V$, called the product of $c$ and $\alpha$, in such a way that
   ( a ) $1\alpha =\alpha$ for every $\alpha$ in $V$;
   ( b ) $(c_1{c}_2)\alpha =c_1(c_2\alpha )$;
   ( c ) $c(\alpha +\beta )=c\alpha +c\beta$;
   ( d ) $(c_1+c_2)\alpha =c_1\alpha +c_2\alpha$.

Definition. A vector $\beta$ in $V$ is said to be a linear combination of the vectors ${\alpha }_1,\dots ,{\alpha }_n$ in $V$ provided there exist scalars $c_1,\dots ,c_n$ in