Chapter 1 (Linear Equations in Linear Algebra): Introduction to linear transformations (线性变换)

本文为《Linear algebra and its applications》的读书笔记

Transformations

• The difference between a matrix equation $A\mathbf{x}=\mathbf{b}$ and the associated vector equation $x_1{\mathbf{a}}_2+...+x_n{\mathbf{a}}_n=\mathbf{b}$ is merely a matter of notation.
• However, a matrix equation $A\mathbf{x}=\mathbf{b}$ can arise in a way that is not directly connected with linear combinations of vectors. This happens when we think of the matrix $A$ as an object that “acts” on a vector $\mathbf{x}$ by multiplication to produce a new vector called $A\mathbf{x}$.
  • For instance, the equations
    say that multiplication by $A$ transforms $\mathbf{x}$ into $\mathbf{b}$ and transforms $\mathbf{u}$ into the zero vector. See Figure 1.
    
• From this new point of view, solving the equation $A\mathbf{x}=\mathbf{b}$ amounts to finding all vectors $\mathbf{x}$ in ${\mathbb{R}}^4$ that are transformed into the vector $\mathbf{b}$ in ${\mathbb{R}}^2$ under the “action” of multiplication by $A$
• The correspondence from $\mathbf{x}$ to $A\mathbf{x}$ is a $function$ from one set of vectors to another.

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• A transformation (变换) (or function (函数) or mapping (映射)) $T$ from ${\mathbb{R}}^n$ to ${\mathbb{R}}^m$ is a rule that assigns to each vector $\mathbf{x}$ in ${\mathbb{R}}^n$ a vector $T(\mathbf{x})$ in ${\mathbb{R}}^m$. The set ${\mathbb{R}}^n$ is called the domain (定义域) of $T$ , and ${\mathbb{R}}^m$ is called the codomain (余定义域 / 取值空间) of $T$ . For $\mathbf{x}$ in ${\mathbb{R}}^n$, the vector $T(\mathbf{x})$ in ${\mathbb{R}}^m$ is called the image (像) of $\mathbf{x}$ (under the action of $T$ ). The set of all images $T(\mathbf{x})$ is called the range (值域) of $T$ . See Figure 2.
  

Note that the range of $T$ is the set of all linear combinations of the columns of $A$

Matrix Transformations

矩阵变换

EXAMPLE 2 (投影变换)

• If $A=\left[\begin{array}{ccc}1& 0& 0\\ 0& 1& 0\\ 0& 0& 0\end{array}\right]$, then the transformation $\mathbf{x}\mapsto A\mathbf{x}$ projects points in ${\mathbb{R}}^3$ onto the $x_1{x}_2$-plane because
  

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EXAMPLE 3

• Let $A=\left[\begin{array}{cc}1& 3\\ 0& 1\end{array}\right]$. The transformation $T:{\mathbb{R}}^2\mapsto {\mathbb{R}}^2$ is called a shear transformation (剪切变换). $T$ deforms the square as if the top of the square were pushed to the right while the base is held fixed.

Linear Transformations

• Theorem 5 in Section 1.4 shows that if $A$ is $m\times n$, then the transformation $\mathbf{x}\to A\mathbf{x}$ has the properties
  These properties identify the most important class of transformations in linear algebra.

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DEFINITION

• Every matrix transformation is a linear transformation. Important examples of linear transformations that are not matrix transformations will be discussed in Chapters 4 and 5.

线性相关与线性变换的联系：如果 {${\mathbf{v}}_1,{\mathbf{v}}_2,{\mathbf{v}}_3$} 线性相关，$T$ 为一线性变换，则 {$T({\mathbf{v}}_1),T({\mathbf{v}}_2),T({\mathbf{v}}_3)$} 线性相关

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• Property (i) says that the result $T(\mathbf{u}+\mathbf{v})$ of first adding $\mathbf{u}$ and $\mathbf{v}$ in ${\mathbb{R}}^n$ and then applying $T$ is the same as first applying $T$ to $\mathbf{u}$ and to $\mathbf{v}$ and then adding $T(\mathbf{u})$ and $T(\mathbf{v})$ in ${\mathbb{R}}^m$. These two properties lead easily to the following useful facts:

如果从群论角度来看，由性质 (i) 可知，$T$ 实际上可以看作群 $<{\mathbb{R}}^n,+>$ 到群 $<{\mathbb{R}}^m,+>$ 的一个群同态映射，群同态映射保持幺元，从而得到了上面的性质 (3)

• Observe that if a transformation satisfies (4) for all $\mathbf{u}$, $\mathbf{v}$ and $c,d$, it must be linear. (Set $c=d=1$ for preservation of addition, and set $d=0$ for preservation of scalar multiplication.)
• Repeated application of (4) produces a useful generalization:
  
  • In engineering and physics, (5) is referred to as a $superpositionprinciple$ (叠加原理). Think of ${\mathbf{v}}_1,...,{\mathbf{v}}_p$ as signals that go into a system and $T({\mathbf{v}}_1),...,T({\mathbf{v}}_p)$ as the responses of that system to the signals. The system satisfies the superposition principle if whenever an input is expressed as a linear combination of such signals, the system’s response is the same linear combination of the responses to the individual signals.

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Affine transformation (仿射变换)

• An affine transformation $T:{\mathbb{R}}^n\to {\mathbb{R}}^m$ has the form $T(\mathbf{x})=A\mathbf{x}+\mathbf{b}$, with $A$ an $m\times n$ matrix and $\mathbf{b}$ in ${\mathbb{R}}^m$. $T$ is not a linear transformation when $\mathbf{b}\ne 0$.

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EXAMPLE 4

• A company manufactures two products, $B$ and $C$. We construct a “unit cost” matrix, whose columns describe the “costs per dollar of output” for the products:
  
• Let $\mathbf{x}=(x_1,x_2)$ be a “production” vector, corresponding to $x_1$ dollars of product B and $x_2$ dollars of product C, and define $T:{\mathbb{R}}^2\to {\mathbb{R}}^3$ by
  
• The mapping $T$ transforms a list of production quantities (measured in dollars) into a list of total costs. The linearity of this mapping is reflected in two ways:
  • If production is increased by a factor of, say, 4, from $x$ to $4x$, then the costs will increase by the same factor, from $T(\mathbf{x})$ to $4T(\mathbf{x})$.
  • If $\mathbf{x}$ and $\mathbf{y}$ are production vectors, then the total cost vector associated with the combined production $\mathbf{x}+\mathbf{y}$ is precisely the sum of the cost vectors $T(\mathbf{x})$ and $T(\mathbf{y})$.