Notes on Algebra I, II & III

Jonathan Richard Lombardy

jonathanrl3951@gmail.com
September 23, 2019

Contents

I Linear Algebra 1
1 Vector Spaces 1
1.1 Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Span & Linear Independence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Part I
Linear Algebra
1 Vector Spaces
1.1 Basics
Denition 1 (Vector Space & related denitions). A vector set V over a eld F is a set with two
operations - addition and scalar multiplication such that:
• (V, +) is a group with identity 0
• 1 ∈ F is multiplicative identity i.e. 1 · v = v
• Scalar multiplication is distributive i.e a · (u + v) = a · u + a · v
A subspace of a vector space is a subset which is a vector space under the same laws.
Denition 2 (Subspace Sum & Direct Sum). Sum of subspaces U1 , · · · , Un is dened as
U1 + · · · + Un = {u1 + · · · + un |ui ∈ Ui }

V is said to be a direct sum of U1 , · · · , Un if each v ∈ V can be written uniquely as u1 + · · · + un for

ui ∈ Ui , and we write V = U1 ⊕ U2 ⊕ · · · ⊕ Un .

Proposition 3. V = U1 ⊕ U2 ⊕ · · · ⊕ Un if and only if: V = U1 + · · · + Un and 0 can only be written as

0 + · · · + 0.
Proof. Assuming its a direct sum, then other part is just denition. For converse, let v = u1 + · · · + un =
w1 + · · · wn (assuming m ≥ n take some of the wi = 0), then (ui − wi ) = 0 ⇒ ui = wi
P


Proposition 4. V = U ⊕ W if and only if V = U + W and U ∩ W = {0}.

Proof. If v ∈ U ∩ W then 0 = v + (−v) by uniqueness of representation v = 0. Conversely, suppose
v + w = 0 then v = −w ∈ W thus v = w = 0 and so using previous result we conclude. 

1
1.2 Span & Linear Independence
Denition 5 (Span & Linear Independence). Set of all linear combinations of v1 , · · · , vm is called span
of {v1 , · · · , vm } denoted by span(v1 , · · · , vm ). These vectors are said to span the vector space V if their
span is V . In this case, where the vector space is spanned by nitely many elements of it, we call
P a nite dimensional vector space. The list of vectors v1 , · · · , vm are called linearly independent if
V
ai · vi = 0 ⇒ ai = 0, otherwise they are called linearly dependent.

Proposition 6 (Removing elements from Span). Suppose x1 6= 0, · · · , xm are linearly dependent then
the following are true:
• There exists j ≥ 2 such that xj ∈ span(x1 , · · · , xj−1 )
• Removing this xj won't change the span.

Proof. From linear dependence we get xj (largest index with non-zero coecient). Take an element in
span and substitute the value of xj in terms of others. 
Theorem 7 (Linearly independent sets are smaller than spanning sets). Let X be a nite dimensional
vector space, and L be a linearly independent set and S be a spanning set. Then |L| ≤ |S|.
Proof. Let L = {l1 , · · · , lm } and S = {s1 , · · · , sn }. Then {l1 } ∪ S still is linearly dependent. By previous
lemma there is a si such that removing it will keep the span same. Repeat this till we have added all
the li , if we can't have sj to remove at nay step we will have a contradiction to linear independence.