Linear algebraLinear algebra is the branch of mathematics concerning linear equations such as: linear maps such as: and their representations in vector spaces and through matrices. Linear algebra is central to almost all areas of mathematics. For instance, linear algebra is fundamental in modern presentations of geometry, including for defining basic objects such as lines, planes and rotations. Also, functional analysis, a branch of mathematical analysis, may be viewed as the application of linear algebra to spaces of functions.
Linear combinationIn mathematics, a linear combination is an expression constructed from a set of terms by multiplying each term by a constant and adding the results (e.g. a linear combination of x and y would be any expression of the form ax + by, where a and b are constants). The concept of linear combinations is central to linear algebra and related fields of mathematics. Most of this article deals with linear combinations in the context of a vector space over a field, with some generalizations given at the end of the article.
Linear independenceIn the theory of vector spaces, a set of vectors is said to be if there exists no nontrivial linear combination of the vectors that equals the zero vector. If such a linear combination exists, then the vectors are said to be . These concepts are central to the definition of dimension. A vector space can be of finite dimension or infinite dimension depending on the maximum number of linearly independent vectors. The definition of linear dependence and the ability to determine whether a subset of vectors in a vector space is linearly dependent are central to determining the dimension of a vector space.
Linear mapIn mathematics, and more specifically in linear algebra, a linear map (also called a linear mapping, linear transformation, vector space homomorphism, or in some contexts linear function) is a mapping between two vector spaces that preserves the operations of vector addition and scalar multiplication. The same names and the same definition are also used for the more general case of modules over a ring; see Module homomorphism. If a linear map is a bijection then it is called a .
System of linear equationsIn mathematics, a system of linear equations (or linear system) is a collection of one or more linear equations involving the same variables. For example, is a system of three equations in the three variables x, y, z. A solution to a linear system is an assignment of values to the variables such that all the equations are simultaneously satisfied. A solution to the system above is given by the ordered triple since it makes all three equations valid. The word "system" indicates that the equations should be considered collectively, rather than individually.
Linear subspaceIn mathematics, and more specifically in linear algebra, a linear subspace or vector subspace is a vector space that is a subset of some larger vector space. A linear subspace is usually simply called a subspace when the context serves to distinguish it from other types of subspaces. If V is a vector space over a field K and if W is a subset of V, then W is a linear subspace of V if under the operations of V, W is a vector space over K.
Injective moduleIn mathematics, especially in the area of abstract algebra known as module theory, an injective module is a module Q that shares certain desirable properties with the Z-module Q of all rational numbers. Specifically, if Q is a submodule of some other module, then it is already a direct summand of that module; also, given a submodule of a module Y, any module homomorphism from this submodule to Q can be extended to a homomorphism from all of Y to Q. This concept is to that of projective modules.
Vector spaceIn mathematics and physics, a vector space (also called a linear space) is a set whose elements, often called vectors, may be added together and multiplied ("scaled") by numbers called scalars. Scalars are often real numbers, but can be complex numbers or, more generally, elements of any field. The operations of vector addition and scalar multiplication must satisfy certain requirements, called vector axioms. The terms real vector space and complex vector space are often used to specify the nature of the scalars: real coordinate space or complex coordinate space.
Injective objectIn mathematics, especially in the field of , the concept of injective object is a generalization of the concept of injective module. This concept is important in cohomology, in homotopy theory and in the theory of . The dual notion is that of a projective object. An in a is said to be injective if for every monomorphism and every morphism there exists a morphism extending to , i.e. such that . That is, every morphism factors through every monomorphism . The morphism in the above definition is not required to be uniquely determined by and .
Injective hullIn mathematics, particularly in algebra, the injective hull (or injective envelope) of a module is both the smallest injective module containing it and the largest essential extension of it. Injective hulls were first described in . A module E is called the injective hull of a module M, if E is an essential extension of M, and E is injective. Here, the base ring is a ring with unity, though possibly non-commutative. An injective module is its own injective hull. The injective hull of an integral domain is its field of fractions .
Affine transformationIn Euclidean geometry, an affine transformation or affinity (from the Latin, affinis, "connected with") is a geometric transformation that preserves lines and parallelism, but not necessarily Euclidean distances and angles. More generally, an affine transformation is an automorphism of an affine space (Euclidean spaces are specific affine spaces), that is, a function which maps an affine space onto itself while preserving both the dimension of any affine subspaces (meaning that it sends points to points, lines to lines, planes to planes, and so on) and the ratios of the lengths of parallel line segments.
Topological vector spaceIn mathematics, a topological vector space (also called a linear topological space and commonly abbreviated TVS or t.v.s.) is one of the basic structures investigated in functional analysis. A topological vector space is a vector space that is also a topological space with the property that the vector space operations (vector addition and scalar multiplication) are also continuous functions. Such a topology is called a and every topological vector space has a uniform topological structure, allowing a notion of uniform convergence and completeness.
Normed vector spaceIn mathematics, a normed vector space or normed space is a vector space over the real or complex numbers on which a norm is defined. A norm is a generalization of the intuitive notion of "length" in the physical world. If is a vector space over , where is a field equal to or to , then a norm on is a map , typically denoted by , satisfying the following four axioms: Non-negativity: for every ,. Positive definiteness: for every , if and only if is the zero vector.
Transformation matrixIn linear algebra, linear transformations can be represented by matrices. If is a linear transformation mapping to and is a column vector with entries, then for some matrix , called the transformation matrix of . Note that has rows and columns, whereas the transformation is from to . There are alternative expressions of transformation matrices involving row vectors that are preferred by some authors. Matrices allow arbitrary linear transformations to be displayed in a consistent format, suitable for computation.
Linear equationIn mathematics, a linear equation is an equation that may be put in the form where are the variables (or unknowns), and are the coefficients, which are often real numbers. The coefficients may be considered as parameters of the equation, and may be arbitrary expressions, provided they do not contain any of the variables. To yield a meaningful equation, the coefficients are required to not all be zero. Alternatively, a linear equation can be obtained by equating to zero a linear polynomial over some field, from which the coefficients are taken.
Dimension (vector space)In mathematics, the dimension of a vector space V is the cardinality (i.e., the number of vectors) of a basis of V over its base field. It is sometimes called Hamel dimension (after Georg Hamel) or algebraic dimension to distinguish it from other types of dimension. For every vector space there exists a basis, and all bases of a vector space have equal cardinality; as a result, the dimension of a vector space is uniquely defined. We say is if the dimension of is finite, and if its dimension is infinite.
Graded vector spaceIn mathematics, a graded vector space is a vector space that has the extra structure of a grading or gradation, which is a decomposition of the vector space into a direct sum of vector subspaces, generally indexed by the integers. For "pure" vector spaces, the concept has been introduced in homological algebra, and it is widely used for graded algebras, which are graded vector spaces with additional structures. Let be the set of non-negative integers.
Basis (linear algebra)In mathematics, a set B of vectors in a vector space V is called a basis (: bases) if every element of V may be written in a unique way as a finite linear combination of elements of B. The coefficients of this linear combination are referred to as components or coordinates of the vector with respect to B. The elements of a basis are called . Equivalently, a set B is a basis if its elements are linearly independent and every element of V is a linear combination of elements of B.
Continuous linear operatorIn functional analysis and related areas of mathematics, a continuous linear operator or continuous linear mapping is a continuous linear transformation between topological vector spaces. An operator between two normed spaces is a bounded linear operator if and only if it is a continuous linear operator. Continuous function (topology) and Discontinuous linear map Bounded operator Suppose that is a linear operator between two topological vector spaces (TVSs). The following are equivalent: is continuous.
Linear spanIn mathematics, the linear span (also called the linear hull or just span) of a set S of vectors (from a vector space), denoted span(S), is defined as the set of all linear combinations of the vectors in S. For example, two linearly independent vectors span a plane. The linear span can be characterized either as the intersection of all linear subspaces that contain S, or as the smallest subspace containing S. The linear span of a set of vectors is therefore a vector space itself. Spans can be generalized to matroids and modules.
