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Math 333 - Practice Exam With Some Solutions: 1 Definitions

This document provides practice exam questions and solutions for a Math 333 course. It tests concepts related to vector spaces, subspaces, linear independence, generating sets, and bases. The questions range from definitions to proofs to determining if a set of vectors forms a basis. Solutions are provided for some questions.

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62 views4 pages

Math 333 - Practice Exam With Some Solutions: 1 Definitions

This document provides practice exam questions and solutions for a Math 333 course. It tests concepts related to vector spaces, subspaces, linear independence, generating sets, and bases. The questions range from definitions to proofs to determining if a set of vectors forms a basis. Solutions are provided for some questions.

Uploaded by

A
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Math 333 - Practice Exam with Some Solutions

(Note that the exam will NOT be this long.)

1 Definitions
1. (0 points) Let U be a subset of a vector space V . Let S = {v1 , v2 , . . . , vn } be
another subset of V .
(a) Define “U is a subspace of V ”.

(b) Define “S is linearly independent”.

(c) Define “S generates V ”.

2 Vector Spaces and Subspaces


2. (0 points)
(a) Give three examples of 4-dimensional vector spaces.

(b) Give one example of an infinite dimensional vector space.

(c) Give an example of a zero-dimensional vector space.

3. (0 points) Let S1 and S2 be subspaces of a vector space V . Prove that the union
S1 ∪ S2 is a subspace of V if and only if one is contained in the other (that is, either
S1 ⊆ S2 or S2 ⊆ S1 .)

Solution: (⇐=) S1 and S2 are subspaces. If S1 ⊆ S2 , then S1 ∪ S2 = S2 is a subspace.


If S2 ⊆ S1 , then S1 ∪ S2 = S1 is a subspace. We’ve proved one direction.

(=⇒) S1 and S2 are subspaces, and suppose S1 ∪ S2 is a subspace. If S1 ⊆ S2 , then we


are done. If S1 * S2 , then we need to show S2 ⊆ S1 .
Choose x ∈ S2 . Since S1 * S2 there must be some vector in S1 that is not in S2 , call it
y. So y ∈ S1 , but y ∈
/ S2 . Since S1 ∪ S2 is a subspace, it is closed under addition and

1
x + y must be in S1 ∪ S2 since x ∈ S2 ⊆ S1 ∪ S2 and y ∈ S1 ⊆ S1 ∪ S2 . Thus we must
have either x + y ∈ S1 or x + y ∈ S2 .
If x + y ∈ S2 , then since x ∈ S2 and S2 is a subspace (i.e. closed under the operations)
we have y = (x + y) − x ∈ S2 , which contradicts the fact that y ∈
/ S2 . Thus x + y ∈ S1 .
However, since y ∈ S1 and S1 is a subspace (i.e. closed under the operations) we have
x = (x + y) − y ∈ S1 . Therefore, S2 ⊆ S1 .

3 Linear Independence, Generating Sets, and Bases


4. (0 points) Let S = {x2 + 3x, x − 2} be a subset of P2 (R).
(a) Explain why S is not a basis of P2 (R).

(b) Is 31 x2 + 2 in span(S)? Explain.

(c) Is 2x2 + 5x + 4 in span(S)? Explain.

5. (0 points) Consider the 3 vectors in R3 given by v1 = (1, 1, −1), v2 = (1, 1, 1), and
v3 = (3, 5, 7). Decide whether these 3 vectors provide a basis for R3 . Justify your answer.

6. (0 points) Let W be the subspace of R3 given by

W = {(x, y, z) | x + y + z = 0 and x − y − z = 0}.

Find a basis for W and the dimension of W .

7. (0 points) Let S = {v1 , v2 , . . . , vn } be a set of n vectors in a vector space V . Show


that if S is linearly independent and the dimension of V is n, then S is a basis of V .

Solution: This is Corollary 2 (b) at the top of page 48 of the textbook. The proof is
found there.

2
8. (0 points) Consider the subset S = {x3 − 2x2 + 1, 4x2 − x + 3, 3x − 2} of P3 (R).
(a) Explain how you know that S does not generate P3 (R).

Solution: Since S has 3 vectors and the dimension of P3 (R) is 4, S cannot generate
P3 (R).

(b) Can you add a vector v to S so that S ∪ {v} is a basis of P3 (R)? Justify and find
such a vector if possible.

Solution: As long as S is linearly independent we know that S can be extended to


a basis. To see S is linearly independent suppose that

a(x3 − 2x2 + 1) + b(4x2 − x + 3) + c(3x − 2) = 0.

This clearly implies that a = 0 since only one term has an x3 . So now

b(4x2 − x + 3) + c(3x − 2) = 0,

and again we see that b = 0. Clearly c must also be 0. Furthermore, we can add
v = 1 as the last vector using a similar argument to show this new set is linearly
independent. Then since the dimension of P3 (R) is 4, we know this new set is a basis.

9. (0 points) Let V be a vector space over R, and let x, y, z ∈ V . Prove that {x, y, z}
is linearly independent if and only if {x + y, y + z, z + x} is linearly independent.

Solution: (=⇒) Assume that {x, y, z} is linearly independent. Suppose there are a, b, c ∈
R such that
a(x + y) + b(y + z) + c(z + x) = 0.

So 0 = a(x + y) + b(y + z) + c(z + x) = (a + c)x + (a + b)y + (b + c)z, and this means


that a + c = a + b = b + c = 0 since {x, y, z} is linearly independent. Clearly from
those equalities we have a = b = c = 0. Therefore, {x + y, y + z, z + x} is also linearly
independent.
(⇐=) Assume that {x + y, y + z, z + x} is linearly independent. Suppose there are
a, b, c ∈ R such that
ax + by + cz = 0.

3
So 0 = ax + by + cz = ( a+b−c
2
)(x + y) + ( b+c−a
2
)(y + z) + ( c+a−b
2
)(z + x), and this means
that a + b − c = b + c − a = c + a − b = 0 since {x + y, y + z, z + x} is linearly independent.
Clearly from those equalities we have a = b = c = 0. Therefore, {x, y, z} is also linearly
independent.

10. (0 points) Let S1 and S2 be subsets of a vector space V over a field F . Prove that

span(S1 ∩ S2 ) ⊆ span(S1 ) ∩ span(S2 ).

Solution: Let x ∈ span(S1 ∩ S2 ). Then there exist vectors v1 , v2 , . . . , vn ∈ S1 ∩ S2


and coefficients a1 , a2 , . . . , an ∈ F such that x = a1 v1 + a2 v2 + · · · + an vn . But since
v1 , v2 , . . . , vn ∈ S1 , we see that x ∈ span(S1 ). Similarly, since v1 , v2 , . . . , vn ∈ S2 , we see
that x ∈ span(S2 ). Thus we have x ∈ span(S1 ) ∩ span(S2 ).

11. (0 points) Consider the vector space V = P1 (R).


(a) Explain why you know that the set β = {1 + x, 1 − 2x} is a basis of V .

Solution: Since neither vector is a multiple of the other, β is linearly independent.


Since the dimension of V is 2 and β has 2 elements, it must be a basis.

(b) Express p(x) = 2x − 3 as a linear combination of β.

Solution: p(x) = 2x − 3 = (−4/3)(1 + x) + (−5/3)(1 − 2x)

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