Skip to main content
Mathematics LibreTexts

5: Vector Spaces

  • Page ID
    1727
  • \( \newcommand{\vecs}[1]{\overset { \scriptstyle \rightharpoonup} {\mathbf{#1}} } \) \( \newcommand{\vecd}[1]{\overset{-\!-\!\rightharpoonup}{\vphantom{a}\smash {#1}}} \)\(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\)\(\newcommand{\AA}{\unicode[.8,0]{x212B}}\)

    The two key properties of vectors are that they can be added together and multiplied by scalars, so we make the following definition.

    Definition

    A \(\textit{vector space}\) \((V,+,.\, ,\mathbb{R})\) is a set \(V\) with two operations \(+\) and \(\cdot\) satisfying the following properties for all \(u, v \in V\) and \(c, d \in \mathbb{R}\):

    1. (Additive Closure) \(u+v \in V\). \(\textit{Adding two vectors gives a vector.}\)
    2. (Additive Commutativity) \(u+v=v+u\). \(\textit{Order of addition doesn't matter.}\)
    3. (Additive Associativity) \((u+v)+w = u+(v+w)\). \(\textit{Order of adding many vectors doesn't matter.}\)
    4. (Zero) There is a special vector \(0_V \in V\) such that \(u+0_V = u\) for all \(u\) in \(V\).
    5. (Additive Inverse) For every \(u \in V\) there exists \(w \in V\) such that \(u+w=0_V\).
    6. (Multiplicative Closure) \(c\cdot v \in V\). \(\textit{Scalar times a vector is a vector.}\)
    7. (Distributivity) \((c+d) \cdot v= c\cdot v + d\cdot v\). \(\textit{Scalar multiplication distributes over addition of scalars.}\)
    8. (Distributivity) \(c\cdot (u+v)= c\cdot u + c\cdot v\). \(\textit{Scalar multiplication distributes over addition of vectors.}\)
    9. (Associativity) \((cd)\cdot v = c \cdot (d \cdot v)\).
    10. (Unity) \(1\cdot v = v\) for all \(v \in V\).

    Remark

    Rather than writing \((V,+,.\, ,\mathbb{R})\), we will often say "let \(V\) be a vector space over \(\mathbb{R}\)''. If it is obvious that the numbers used are real numbers, then "let \(V\) be a vector space'' suffices. Also, don't confuse the scalar product with the dot product. The scalar product is a function that takes as inputs a number and a vector and returns a vector as its output. This can be written:

    \[\cdot \colon \mathbb{R}\times V \rightarrow V\, .\]

    Similarly

    \[ +:V\times V \rightarrow V\, . \]

    On the other hand, the dot product takes two vectors and returns a number. Succinctly: \(\cdot \colon V\times V \rightarrow \Re\). Once the properties of a vector space have been verified, we'll just write scalar multiplication with juxtaposition \(cv=c\cdot v\), though, to avoid confusing the notation.

    • 5.1: Examples of Vector Spaces
      One can find many interesting vector spaces, such as the following:
    • 5.2: Other Fields
      Above, we defined vector spaces over the real numbers. One can actually define vector spaces over any field. This is referred to as choosing a different base field. A field is a collection of "numbers'' satisfying certain properties.
    • 5.3: Review Problems

    Contributor


    This page titled 5: Vector Spaces is shared under a not declared license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by David Cherney, Tom Denton, & Andrew Waldron.

    • Was this article helpful?