In mathematics, the linear span (also called the linear hull or just span) of a set
S
S
S of vectors (form a vector space), denoted
s
p
a
n
(
S
)
span(S)
span(S), is the smallest linear subspace that contains the set. It can be characterized either as the intersection of all linear subspaces that contain
S
S
S, or as the set of linear combinations of elements of
S
S
S. The linear span of a set of vectors is therefore a vector space. Spans can be generalized to matroid and modules.
For expressing that a vector space
V
V
V is a span of a set
S
S
S, one commonly uses the following phrases:
S
S
S spans
V
V
V;
S
S
S generates
V
V
V;
V
V
V is spanned by
S
S
S;
V
V
V is generated by
S
S
S;
S
S
S is a spanning set of
V
V
V;
S
S
S is a generating set of
V
V
V.
Contents
1 Definition
Given a vector space V V V over a field K K K, the span of a set S S S of vectors (not necessarily infinite) is defined to be the intersection W W W of all subspaces of V V V that contain S S S. W W W is referred to as the subspace spanned by S S S, or by the vectors in S S S. Conversely, S S S is called a spanning set of W W W, and we say that S S S spans W W W.
Alternatively, the span of
S
S
S may be defined as the set of all finite linear combinations of elements (vectors) of
S
S
S, which follows from the above definition.
span
(
S
)
=
{
∑
i
=
1
k
λ
i
v
i
∣
k
∈
N
,
v
i
∈
S
,
λ
i
∈
K
}
.
{\displaystyle \operatorname {span} (S)=\left\{{\left.\sum _{i=1}^{k}\lambda _{i}v_{i}\;\right|\;k\in \mathbb {N} ,v_{i}\in S,\lambda _{i}\in K}\right\}.}
span(S)={i=1∑kλivi
k∈N,vi∈S,λi∈K}.
In the case of infinite S S S, infinite linear combinations (i.e. where a combination may involve an infinite sum, assuming that such sums are defined somehow as in, say, a Banach space are excluded by the definition; a generalization that allows these is not equivalent.
2 Examples
The real vector space R 3 R^3 R3 has { ( − 1 , 0 , 0 ) , ( 0 , 1 , ) , ( 0 , 0 , 1 ) } \{ (-1,0,0), (0,1,), (0,0,1) \} {(−1,0,0),(0,1,),(0,0,1)} as a spanning set. This particular spanning set is also a basis. If ( − 1 , 0 , 0 ) (-1, 0, 0) (−1,0,0) were replaced by ( 1 , 0 , 0 ) (1,0,0) (1,0,0), it would also form the canonical basis of R 3 R^3 R3.
Another spanning set for the same space if given by
{
(
1
,
2
,
3
)
,
(
0
,
1
,
2
)
,
(
−
1
,
1
⁄
2
,
3
)
,
(
1
,
1
,
1
)
}
\{ (1, 2, 3), (0, 1, 2), (−1, 1⁄2, 3), (1, 1, 1) \}
{(1,2,3),(0,1,2),(−1,1⁄2,3),(1,1,1)}
but this set is not a basis, because it is linearly dependent.
The set { ( 1 , 0 , 0 ) , ( 0 , 1 , 0 ) , ( 1 , 1 , 0 ) } \{ (1,0,0), (0,1,0), (1,1,0)\} {(1,0,0),(0,1,0),(1,1,0)} is not spanning set of R R R, since its span is the space of all vectors in R 3 R^3 R3 whose last component is zero. That space is also spanned by the set { ( 1 , 0 , 0 ) , ( 0 , 1 , 0 ) } \{ (1,0,0), (0,1,0) \} {(1,0,0),(0,1,0)}, as ( 1 , 1 , 0 ) (1,1,0) (1,1,0) is a linear combination of ( 1 , 0 , 0 ) , ( 0 , 1 , 0 ) (1,0,0), (0,1,0) (1,0,0),(0,1,0). It does, however, span R 2 R^2 R2. (when interpreted as a subset of R 3 R^3 R3).
The empty set is a spanning set of { ( 0 , 0 , 0 ) } \{ (0,0,0) \} {(0,0,0)}, since the empty set is a subset of all possible vector spaces in R 3 R^3 R3, and { ( 0 , 0 , 0 ) } \{ (0,0,0) \} {(0,0,0)} is the intersection of all of these vector spaces.
The set of functions x n x^n xn where n n n is a non-negative integer spans the space of polynomials.
3 Theorems
Theorem 1
The subspace spanned be a non-empty subset S S S of a vector space V V V is the set of all linear combinations of vectors in S S S.
This theorem is so well known that at times, it is referred to as the definition of span of a set.
Theorem 2
Every spanning set S S S of a vector space V V V must contain at least as many elements as any linearly independent set of vectors from V V V.
Theorem 3
Let V V V be a finite-dimensional vector space. Any set of vectors that spans V V V can be reduced to a basis for V V V, by discarding vectors if necessary (i.e., if there are linearly dependent vectors in the set). If the axiom of choice holds, this is true without the assumption that V V V has finite dimension.
This also indicates that a basis is a minimal spanning set when V V V is finite-dimensional.