Unit 1

F18CF Linear Algebra

Lecture 2
Euclidean Space II: 3 and n
Suzan J. Obaiys

F18CF

1. The vector space R2 , 2. The vector spaces R3 and Rn & 3. Matrices

Unit 1

The Vector Spaces, 3 and n

Most of the notions introduced on 2 straightforwardly extend to
3.

The big difference is that the meaning of linear dependence

becomes slightly more involved.
Linear combinations in 3
A point p in three dimensions encodes a vector v 3, i.e. an
arrow from the origin 0 to the point p.
We describe the vector v by a triple of numbers
v = (v1, v2, v3)T .

The vector spaces R3 and Rn

1. The vector space R2 , 2. The vector spaces R3 and Rn & 3. Matrices

Unit 1

Linear Combinations in 3
We can add and stretch vectors as before:
1
1
1 + 1
1
+ = 2 + 2 = 2 + 2 and = 2
3
3
3 + 3
3

Linear combinations of vectors in 3 are again

expressions of the form:
u + v + w or 1u1 + 2u2 + 3u3 + + nun

where , , , i , u, v , w 3 and n .
Linear Combinations in 3

1. The vector space R2 , 2. The vector spaces R3 and Rn & 3. Matrices

Unit 1

TheExample
Vector Space, R2
(5, 3, 2)T 3 is not a linear combination of (1, 0,
0)T and (0, 1, 0)T.
It is, however, a linear combination of (1, 0, 0)T, (0,
1, 0)T and (0, 0, 1)T :
1
0
0
5
3 =5 0 +3 1 2 0 .
0
0
1
2
Example

1. The vector space R2 , 2. The vector spaces R3 and Rn & 3. Matrices

Unit 1

Parallel and Non-Parallel Vectors

If two vectors u, v 3 are parallel to each other, i.e. one is
a multiple of the other, the set of their linear combinations
or their span is just:
0
if u = v = 0,
and
a line through the origin otherwise.

If they are not parallel, their linear combinations form a

plane containing the null-vector 0.
A third vector w is an element of this plane, if it can be
written as a linear combination of the other two:
w = u + v..
Parallel and Non-Parallel Vectors

1. The vector space R2 , 2. The vector spaces R3 and Rn & 3. Matrices

Unit 1

2. Linear Dependence in

Alternatively, we can extend our notion of linear

dependence:
We call three vectors u, v, w linearly dependent, if there
is a non-trivial linear combination (i.e. at least one of
the constants , , is not zero) such that:
u + v + w = 0.

Otherwise, we call them linearly independent.

.
Linear Dependence in 3

1. The vector space R2 , 2. The vector spaces R3 and Rn & 3. Matrices

Unit 1

3 Examples
a) The vectors v1 = (1, 0, 0)T, v2 = (0, 1, 0)T, v3 = (1, 1, 0)T are
linearly dependent, since
1 1 + 1 2 1 3 = 0
(and also 2 1 + 2 2 2 3 = 0 etc.).
b) Similarly, the vectors v1 = (3, 2, 1)T and v2 = (0, 0, 0)T are
linearly dependent, because
0 1 + 1 2 = 0
(and also 0 1 + 2 2 = 0).
c) The unit vectors e1 = (1, 0, 0)T, e2 = (0, 1, 0)T and e3 = (0, 0,
1)T are linearly independent, because
1 1 + 2 2 3 3 = 0 implies a1 = a2 = a3 = 0.
Examples

1. The vector space R2 , 2. The vector spaces R3 and Rn & 3. Matrices

Unit 1

4. Subspaces of
Consider a set of three vectors u, v, w. Then we can have the
following four cases:
i. {u, v, w} are linearly independent:
Their span is 3.
ii. {u, v, w} are not linearly independent, but two of them are:
Their span is a plane containing 0 in 3.
iii. All vectors in {u, v, w} are parallel, but not all of them are
null-vectors:
Their span is a line containing 0 3.
iv. u = v = w = 0:
Their span is the set {0}.
Subspaces of 3

1. The vector space R2 , 2. The vector spaces R3 and Rn & 3. Matrices

Unit 1

5. Examples
a) The vectors (1, 2, 3)T, (1, 1, 1)T, (2, 3, 4)T span a plane
in 3, as the vectors are not linearly independent:
(1, 2, 3)T + (1, 1, 1)T (2, 3, 4)T = 0.

b) The vectors (1, 1, 1)T, (0, 0, 0)T span a line in 3.

6. Basis
Any vector in 3 can be written as a linear combination of
three linearly independent vectors in 3. We therefore
call such a set a basis of 3.
Basis

1. The vector space R2 , 2. The vector spaces R3 and Rn & 3. Matrices

Unit 1

7. Inner Product
Inner products and angles are defined in the obvious way.
That is, the inner product between two vectors v, w 3 is
given by
, := v1w1 + v2w2 + v3w3
The inner product of a vector with itself is again the square of
its length due to Pythagoras, and the norm of a vector v 3
is therefore defined as

Inner Product

1. The vector space R2 , 2. The vector spaces R3 and Rn & 3. Matrices

Unit 1

Angles
Note that two vectors in 3 are either parallel or
define a plane. Within this plane, we can still define an
angle between the vectors. (If the vectors are parallel,
we define the angle between the vectors to be 0.)
We can compute this angle via the formula

, = ,
which follows again from the law of cosines, however
in a slightly more involved fashion than in 3.
Two vectors are perpendicular iff (i.e. if and only if)
their scalar product vanishes.
Angles

1. The vector space R2 , 2. The vector spaces R3 and Rn & 3. Matrices

Unit 1

8. Cross Product
In 3 (and only in 3) there is a further product mapping two
vectors into another vector. Given two vectors v, w 3 , the
product vanishes if the vectors are parallel.

Otherwise, it equals the unique vector that is perpendicular

to the plane spanned by v and w (the orientation is here
important) and whose norm equals the area of the
parallelogram with sides v and w.
Explicitly, one has the following formula:
1
1
2 3 3 2
= 2 2 : = 3 1 1 3
3
3
1 2 2 1

Derive this formula from the description.

Cross Product

1. The vector space R2 , 2. The vector spaces R3 and Rn & 3. Matrices

Unit 1

Using the Cross Product Formula

This formula is very useful to analyse vectors in 3. For example,
to verify if three vectors u, v, w are linearly independent, one
computes , . The vectors are linearly dependent iff
this expression vanishes.
Why is this the case?
9. Example: Consider the vectors (1, 1, 1)T, (1, 2, 3)T and (1, -2,
0)T. The first two vectors are linearly independent. Their cross
product is (1, 1, 1)T x (1, 2, 3)T = (1, -2, 1)T.
1
1
We have
2 , 2 = 5 0
0
1
and the vectors are linearly independent.
Cross Product Formula

1. The vector space R2 , 2. The vector spaces R3 and Rn & 3. Matrices

Unit 1

10. Generalisation to
The generalisation to n should now be obvious.
We write:

n =

1
| , = 1, ,

Note that we can add two elements together and multiply them
by a real constant:
1
1
1 + 1
+ =

and

1
1
=

for and x, y V.
All the other definitions like linear combination, span, basis etc.
generalise in the obvious way, and we will come back to the details
in section III.
Generalization to n

1. The vector space R2 , 2. The vector spaces R3 and Rn & 3. Matrices

Unit 1

Summary
Here's a summary of how geometric vectors in 2D or in 3D can be linearly
independent.
Two vectors are linearly independent if they are not parallel, (parallel
vectors are linearly dependent).
Three vectors are linearly independent if they don't all lie in a plane.
The span of three vectors in 3 which are linearly dependent is a point, a line
or a plane in 3.
More than two vectors in 2D or 3Dspace must be linearly dependent.
The span of two non-parallel vectors u, v; u v is all of 2 , if u=v=0 the
span is {0} and e1 and e2 spans 2. In 3 it is a plane through the origin.
The span of a single vector is all scalar multiples of that vector. In 2 or 3
the span of a single vector is a line through the origin.
The span of three vectors in 3 that do not lie in the same plane is all of 3.
Summary

1. The vector space R2 , 2. The vector spaces R3 and Rn & 3. Matrices