Chapter 4 (Vector Spaces): Null spaces, column spaces, and linear transformations (零空间、列空间)

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

• In applications of linear algebra, subspaces of ${\mathbb{R}}^n$ usually arise in one of two ways:
  • (1) as the set of all solutions to a system of homogeneous linear equations
  • (2) as the set of all linear combinations of certain specified vectors.

The Null Space of a Matrix

零空间

• A more dynamic description of $Nul$ $A$ is the set of all $\mathbf{x}$ in ${\mathbb{R}}^n$ that are mapped into the zero vector of ${\mathbb{R}}^m$ via the linear transformation $\mathbf{x}\mapsto A\mathbf{x}$. See Figure 1.
  

零空间是 ${\mathbb{R}}^n$ 的子空间

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EXAMPLE 2

Let $H$ be the set of all vectors in ${\mathbb{R}}^4$ whose coordinates $a$, $b$, $c$, $d$ satisfy the equations $a-2b+5c=d$ and $c-a=b$. Show that $H$ is a subspace of ${\mathbb{R}}^4$.

SOLUTION

• $H$ is the set of all solutions of the following system of homogeneous linear equations:
  By Theorem 2, $H$ is a subspace of ${\mathbb{R}}^4$.

An Explicit Description of $Nul$ $A$

其实就是找到 $Nul$ $A$ 的基 (basis)

EXAMPLE 3

Find a spanning set for the null space of the matrix

SOLUTION

• The first step is to find the general solution of $A\mathbf{x}=0$ in terms of free variables. Row reduce the augmented matrix to reduced echelon form in order to write the basic variables in terms of the free variables:
  
• Every linear combination of $\mathbf{u}$, $\mathbf{v}$, and $\mathbf{w}$ is an element of $Nul$ $A$ and vice versa. Thus { u , v , w } \{\boldsymbol u,\boldsymbol v,\boldsymbol w\} {u,v,w} (the explicit description) is a spanning set for $NulA$.

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Two points should be made about the solution of Example 3 that apply to all problems of this type where $NulA$ contains nonzero vectors. We will use these facts later.

• (1) The spanning set produced by the method in Example 3 is automatically linearly independent because the free variables are the weights on the spanning vectors.
  • For instance, look at the 2nd, 4th, and 5th entries in the solution vector in (3) and note that $x_2\mathbf{u}+x_4\mathbf{v}+x_5\mathbf{w}$ can be $0$ only if the weights $x_2,x_4$, and $x_5$ are all zero.
• (2) When $NulA$ contains nonzero vectors, the number of vectors in the spanning set for $NulA$ equals the number of free variables in the equation $A\mathbf{x}=0$.

The Column Space of a Matrix

• Note that a typical vector in $ColA$ can be written as $A\mathbf{x}$ for some $\mathbf{x}$ because the notation $A\mathbf{x}$ stands for a linear combination of the columns of $A$. That is,
  The notation $A\mathbf{x}$ for vectors in $ColA$ also shows that $ColA$ is the range of the linear transformation $x\mapsto A\mathbf{x}$.

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• Recall that the columns of $A$ span ${\mathbb{R}}^m$ if and only if the equation $A\mathbf{x}=\mathbf{b}$ has a solution for each $\mathbf{b}$. We can restate this fact as follows:

The Contrast Between $NulA$ and $ColA$

EXAMPLE 5

• Let
  
  a. $ColA$ is a subspace of ${\mathbb{R}}^3$.
  b. $NulA$ is a subspace of ${\mathbb{R}}^4$.
• When a matrix is not square, as in Example 5, the vectors in $NulA$ and $ColA$ live in entirely different “universes.” When $A$ is square, $NulA$ and $ColA$ do have the zero vector in common, and in special cases it is possible that some nonzero vectors belong to both $NulA$ and $ColA$.
• A surprising connection between the null space and column space will emerge in Section 4.6, after more theory is available.

Kernel and Range of a Linear Transformation

线性变换的核与值域

• Subspaces of vector spaces other than ${\mathbb{R}}^n$ are often described in terms of a linear transformation instead of a matrix. To make this precise, we generalize the definition given in Section 1.8.

• The kernel (or null space) of such a $T$ is the set of all $\mathbf{u}$ in $V$ such that $T(\mathbf{u})=0$ (the zero vector in $W$).
  • 如果把线性变换看作两个向量空间之间的同态映射，那么线性变换的核就是同态映射的同态核
• The range of $T$ is the set of all vectors in $W$ of the form $T(\mathbf{x})$ for some $\mathbf{x}$ in $V$ .
• If $T$ happens to arise as a matrix transformation—say, $T(\mathbf{x})=A\mathbf{x}$ for some matrix $A$—then the kernel and the range of $T$ are just the null space and the column space of $A$.

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• It is not difficult to show that the kernel of $T$ is a subspace of $V$. Also, the range of $T$ is a subspace of $W$.
  

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• In applications, a subspace usually arises as either the kernel or the range of an appropriate linear transformation.
  • For instance, the set of all solutions of a homogeneous linear differential equation (微分方程) turns out to be the kernel of a linear transformation. Typically, such a linear transformation is described in terms of one or more derivatives of a function. To explain this in any detail would take us too far afield at this point. So we consider only two examples. The first explains why the operation of differentiation is a linear transformation.

EXAMPLE 8

• Let $V$ be the vector space of all real-valued functions $f$ defined on an interval $[a,b]$ with the property that they are differentiable (可导) and their derivatives are continuous functions on $[a,b]$. Let $W$ be the vector space $C[a,b]$ of all continuous functions on $[a,b]$, and let $D:V\to W$ be the transformation that changes $f$ in $V$ into its derivative $f^{\prime }$.
• In calculus, two simple differentiation rules (微分法则) are
  That is, $D$ is a linear transformation.
  • It can be shown that the kernel of $D$ is the set of constant functions on $[a,b]$ and the range of $D$ is the set $W$ of all continuous functions on $[a,b]$.

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EXAMPLE 9

Define $T:{\mathbb{P}}^2\to R^2$ by $T(\mathbf{p})=\left[\begin{array}{c}{\mathbf{p}}_0\\ {\mathbf{p}}_1\end{array}\right]$. For instance, if $\mathbf{p}(t)=3+5t+7t^2$, then $T(\mathbf{p})=\left[\begin{array}{c}3\\ 15\end{array}\right]$. Find a polynomial $\mathbf{p}$ in ${\mathbb{P}}^2$ that spans the kernel of $T$ , and describe the range of $T$ .

SOLUTION

• If $T(\mathbf{p})$ is the zero vector, then $\mathbf{p}(0)=0$ and $\mathbf{p}(1)=0$. One such polynomial is $\mathbf{p}(t)=t(t–1)$. Any other quadratic polynomial that vanishes at 0 and 1 must be a multiple of $\mathbf{p}$, so $\mathbf{p}$ spans the kernel of $T$.
• For the range of $T$, observe that the image of the constant 1 function is $\left[\begin{array}{c}1\\ 1\end{array}\right]$, and the image of the polynomial $t$ is $\left[\begin{array}{c}0\\ 1\end{array}\right]$. Denote these two images by $\mathbf{u}$ and $\mathbf{v}$, respectively. Since the range of $T$ is a subspace of ${\mathbb{R}}^2$ that contains $\mathbf{u}$ and $\mathbf{v}$, the range must contain all linear combinations of $\mathbf{u}$ and $\mathbf{v}$. By inspection, $\mathbf{u}$ and $\mathbf{v}$ are linearly independent, so they span ${\mathbb{R}}^2$. Thus the range of $T$ must contain all of ${\mathbb{R}}^2$.

EXAMPLE 10

Let H = S p a n { v 1 , v 2 } H = Span\{ \boldsymbol v_1,\boldsymbol v_2\} H=Span{v1​,v2​} and K = S p a n { v 3 , v 4 } K = Span\{ \boldsymbol v_3,\boldsymbol v_4\} K=Span{v3​,v4​}, where

$H$ and $K$ are planes in ${\mathbb{R}}^3$ through the origin, and they intersect in a line through $0$. Find a nonzero vector $\mathbf{w}$ that generates that line.

SOLUTION

• [Hint: $\mathbf{w}$ can be written as $c_1{\mathbf{v}}_1+c_2{\mathbf{v}}_2$ and also as $c_3{\mathbf{v}}_3+c_4{\mathbf{v}}_4$. To build $\mathbf{w}$, solve the equation $c_1{\mathbf{v}}_1+c_2{\mathbf{v}}_2=c_3{\mathbf{v}}_3+c_4{\mathbf{v}}_4$ for the unknown $c_j’s$.]