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Linear Vector Spaces: Examples and Problems

Examples Problems

Example 1

Which of the following sets are orthonormal basis sets in the Euclidean vector space $\mathbb{R}^3$ ?

$B_1=\{e_1,e_2,e_3\}$ where $e_1=\{1,0,0\}$ , $e_2=\left\{0,\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}},\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\right\}$ , and $e_3=\left\{0,\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}},\frac{-1}{\sqrt{2}}\right\}$ .
$B_2=\{e'_1,e_2,e_3\}$ where $e'_1=\{1,0,0\}$ , $e'_2=\left\{0,\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}},\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\right\}$ , and $e'_3=\left\{0,\frac{-1}{\sqrt{2}},\frac{-1}{\sqrt{2}}\right\}$ .

Solution

For the set $B_1$ we have:

$e_1\cdot e_1=1\qquad e_2\cdot e_2=\sqrt{\left(\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\right)^2+\left(\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\right)^2}=1 \qquad e_3\cdot e_3=\sqrt{\left(\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\right)^2+\left(\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\right)^2}=1$

Therefore, $e_1$ , $e_2$ , and $e_3$ are unit vectors. In addition, we have:

$e_1\cdot e_2=0\qquad e_1\cdot e_3=0 \qquad e_2\cdot e_3=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}+\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\frac{-1}{\sqrt{2}}=0$

Therefore, the three vectors $e_1$ , $e_2$ , and $e_3$ are orthogonal to each other. Therefore, $B_1$ is an orthonormal basis set.
For the set $B_2$ we have:

$e'_2\cdot e'_3=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\frac{-1}{\sqrt{2}}+\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\frac{-1}{\sqrt{2}}=-1$

Therefore, $e'_2$ and $e'_3$ are not orthogonal to each other. Therefore, $B_2$ is not an orthonormal basis set. In fact, we have $e'_3=-e'_2$ which means that $B_2$ is linearly dependent, therefore, it is not even a basis set for $\mathbb{R}^3$ . Notice that the symbol “.” is used in Mathematica for the dot product as shown below.
View Mathematica Code:

e1 = {1, 0, 0};
e2 = {0, 1/Sqrt[2], 1/Sqrt[2]};
e3 = {0, 1/Sqrt[2], -1/Sqrt[2]};
e1.e1  
e1.e2  
e1.e3  
e2.e2  
e2.e3  
e3.e3  
ep1 = {1, 0, 0};
ep2 = {0, 1/Sqrt[2], 1/Sqrt[2]};
ep3 = {0, -1/Sqrt[2], -1/Sqrt[2]};
ep1.ep1  
ep1.ep2  
ep1.ep3  
ep2.ep2  
ep2.ep3  
ep3.ep3

Example 2

Find the angle between the two vectors $x=\{1,1,1\}$ , and $y=\{-1,2,-1\}$ . Also use the cross product operation to find the vector $z=x\times y$ .

Solution

To find the geometric angle $\theta_{xy}$ between the two vectors $x$ and $y$ , we will use the dot product operation:

$\theta_{xy}=\arccos{\left(\frac{x\cdot y}{\|x\| \|y\|}\right)}$

We have $x\cdot y=-1+2-1=0$ , $\|x\|=\sqrt{3}$ and $\|y\|=\sqrt{6}$ . Therefore, $x$ and $y$ are orthogonal and $\theta_{xy}=\frac{\pi}{2}$ .
The cross product between $x$ and $y$ gives the vector $z$ as follows:

$z=\{-1-2,-1+1,2+1\}=\{-3,0,3\}$

View Mathematica Code:

x = {1, 1, 1};
y = {-1, 2, -1};
z = Cross[x, y]  
Norm[x]  
Norm[y]  
thetaxy = ArcCos[x.y/Norm[x]/Norm[y]]
(*You can also find the angle between the two vectors using the command VectorAngle*) 
VectorAngle[x,y]

Problems

Show that the following sets are subspaces of . What is the graphical representation of each subspace? Find two different basis sets for each subspace.
- $Y=\left\{\alpha x\bigg| x=\left(\begin{array}{c}1\\0\end{array}\right), \alpha\in\mathbb{R}\right\}=\mbox{span}\{x\}$ .
- $Z=\left\{\alpha z\bigg| z=\left(\begin{array}{c}1\\1\end{array}\right), \alpha\in\mathbb{R}\right\}=\mbox{span}\{z\}$ .
Show that the following sets are subspaces of . What is the graphical representation of each subspace? Find two different basis sets for each subspace.
- $Y=\left\{\alpha x\bigg| x=\left(\begin{array}{c}1\\0\\0\end{array}\right), \alpha\in\mathbb{R}\right\}=\mbox{span}\{x\}$ .
- $Z=\left\{\alpha x+\beta y\bigg| x=\left(\begin{array}{c}1\\0\\0\end{array}\right), y=\left(\begin{array}{c}0\\1\\0\end{array}\right),\alpha,\beta\in\mathbb{R}\right\}=\mbox{span}\{x,y\}$ .
Find three vectors that are orthogonal to $x=\{1,1\}$ .
Find three vectors that are orthogonal to $x=\{1,1,1\}$ .
Choose a value for $y_2$ such that $x=\{1,1\}$ , and $y=\{1,y_2\}$ are linearly independent.
Choose two different sets of values for $x_2$ and $y_2$ such that $x=\{1,x_2\}$ , and $y=\{3,y_2\}$ are linearly dependent.
Verify that $x=\{1,0\}$ , and $y=\{1,2\}$ are linearly independent and then find the unique expansion of $v=\{5,3\}$ in the basis set $B=\{x,y\}$ .
Verify that $x=\{1,-1\}$ , and $y=\{-3,-4\}$ are linearly independent and then find the unique expansion of $v=\{7,4\}$ in the basis set $B=\{x,y\}$ .
Find two different orthonormal basis sets and two different non-orthonormal basis sets for $\mathbb{R}^2$ .
Find two different orthonormal basis sets and two different non-orthonormal basis sets for $\mathbb{R}^3$ .
Find two different orthonormal basis sets and two different non-orthonormal basis sets for $\mathbb{R}^3$ . The basis sets should include vector $\{1, 0, 0\}$ . Hint: An orthonormal basis set is a basis set whose vectors satisfy two conditions. The first condition is that the vectors in the basis set are orthogonal to each other and the second condition is that each vector has a unit norm.
Show that the following vectors are linearly dependent $x=\{1,1,1\}$ , $y=\{1,2,1\}$ , and $z=\{0,-1,0\}$ .
Show that the following vectors are linearly dependent $x=\{1,2,3\}$ , $y=\{1,-1,2\}$ , and $z=\{-1,-5,-4\}$ .
Verify that the following vectors are linearly independent $x=\{1,0,1\}$ , $y=\{1,2,1\}$ , and $z=\{0,-1,1\}$ . Then, find the unique expansion of $v=\{5,3,2\}$ in the basis set $B=\{x,y,z\}$ .
Verify that the following vectors are linearly independent $x=\{1,-1,1\}$ , $y=\{3,2,1\}$ , and $z=\{2,2,2\}$ . Then, find the unique expansion of $v=\{7,2,5\}$ in the basis set $B=\{x,y,z\}$ .
Use the cross product to find a vector orthogonal to both $x=\{1,1,1\}$ and $y=\{1,2,0\}$ . Also, find the area of the parallelogram formed by the two vectors $x$ and $y$ .
Use the cross product to find a vector orthogonal to both $x=\{1,2,1\}$ and $y=\{1,0,0\}$ . Also, find the area of the parallelogram formed by the two vectors $x$ and $y$ .
For the shown cuboid, , , , and .
- Use the cross product operation to find two unit vectors orthogonal to the plane $ABCD$ . What is the relationship between those two vectors?
- Use the cross product to find the area of the parallelogram $ABCD$ .
- Find the angle between the vectors representing $AC$ and $BC$ .
Notice that the line geometric object starting at point $A$ and ending at point $B$ can be represented by a vector $AB=B-A$ .
Determine if the following vectors $a, b, c,$ and $d$ are linearly independent where $a=e_1+e_2, b=e_2+e_3, c=e_3+e_4,$ and $d=e_1+e_2+e_3+e_4$ while $B=\{e_1,e_2,e_3,e_4\}$ is a set of linearly independent vectors in $\mathbb{R}^4$ .
Which of the following functions defined below satisfy the properties of a norm function (explain your answer). :
- $f_1(x)=\max_{i\leq n}|x_i|$ .
- $f_2(x)=|x_2|$ .
- $f_3(x)=\sum_{i=1}^n|x_i|$ .
- $f_4(x)=\sum_{i=1}^n x_i$ .
Let $u\in\mathbb{R}^n$ . Assume that $\forall v\in\mathbb{R}^n:u\cdot v=0$ . Show that $u$ is the zero vector. (Hint: Show that the components of $u$ in an orthonormal basis set are all equal to zero)

Open Educational Resources

Linear Vector Spaces: Examples and Problems

Examples Problems

Example 1

Solution

Example 2

Solution

Problems

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