Linear Algebra C-Lecture 25

Bilinear and quadratic forms

DISCLAIMER: Bilinear and quadratic forms are actually functions and Dr Fedor has no idea why they are called forms in this context.

Let be a vector space over R. Recall that an inner product is a function of two vector arguments , , R such that the following axioms hold Axiom I (respects addition): + , = , + , - 1st position , + = , + , - 2nd position Axiom II (respects scalar multiplication): , = , and , = , Axiom III (symmetric): , = , Axiom IV (positive definite): , > 0 for any nonzero vector
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DEFINITION Let be a vector space over R. A bilinear form on is a function of two vector arguments , (, ) R such that the following axioms hold for all , , and all R:
Axiom I (respects addition): + , = , + (, ) and , + = , + (, )

Axiom II (respects scalar multiplication): , = , = (, )

REMARKS 1. An inner product is a special example of a bilinear form satisfying two additional properties (symmetry and positivity). 2. The definition makes sense for a vector space over any field, but usually one works with so-called sesquilinear forms over the complex numbers. 3. One can also consider multi-linear functions of vector arguments. Example: determinant as a function of vector-rows.
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Example 1

= R2 and 1 , 2 , 1 , 2

= 1 2

Example 2

= R2 and 1 , 2 , 1 , 2

= 1 2 + 1

Example 3

= 22 (R) and , = tr()

DEFINITION Let be a vector space over R, let = dim < and consider a basis = {1 , 2 , , } of the space . Given a bilinear form (, ) on , the matrix of the form is the matrix = defined by
,=1

= ( , )

REMARKS 1. The definition of the matrix is just like the definition of the matrix of an inner product. 2. The matrix might not be symmetric or positive-definite.

Example 4

= P2 (R) and (, ) = (1)

1 0

Exercise 1
Example 4 Cont.

Verify that it is indeed a bilinear form.

Find the matrix with respect to the basis = 1, , 2 :

1

11 = 1

=1 0 1

1 = 1 1 = 1

12 = 1
13 = 1

=1
=1

1 1 = 2 2 0 1 1 1 2 = 1 = 3 3 0 = 1
1

21 =
22 =

=1 0 1
=1

1 = 1 1 = 1

23 =

=1

1 1 = 1 = 2 2 0 1 1 1 2 = 1 = 3 3 0
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Example 4 cont.

= P2 (R) and (, ) = (1)

1 0

31 = 32 =

1 =1 0 1 =1

1 = 1 1 = 1

33 = 2 Thus the matrix is

=1

1 1 = 1 = 2 2 0 1 1 1 2 = 1 = 3 3 0 1 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 3 1 3 1 3
2

= 1 1

Exercise 2

Find the matrix with respect to the basis = 1, 1, 1

Exercise 3

1 2 = R and ( 1 , 2 , [1 , 2 ]) = det 1 2 Show that this is a bilinear form and find its matrix with respect to the standard basis.
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Exercise 4

= 22 R and , = tr( ) Show that this is a bilinear form and find its matrix with respect to the standard basis.
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Exercise 5

= P2 R and , = 0 2 + 1 Show that this is a bilinear form and find its matrix with respect to the standard basis. is any inner product space, : a linear transformation. Show that 1 , = , and 2 , = , are bilinear forms. Given a finite basis of the space , assume that is the matrix of with respect to . What are matrices of 1 and 2 with respect to ?
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Exercise 6

THEOREM 1 Let be a vector space over R, let = dim < and be the matrix of a bilinear form with respect to a basis = {1 , 2 , , } of the space . Let , and let = R and = R be the coordinate vectors with respect to the basis. Then , =

Example 4 cont.
= P2 (R), (, ) = (1)
1 0

, = 1, , 2 , =

Lets verify: = 0 + 1 + 2 2 , = 0 + 1 + 1 2 , = (0 + 1 + 2 ) 0 + + 2 3 0 0 + 1 + 2 0 + 1 + 2 0 0 1 2 1 = 0 + 1 + 2 1 2 3 2 2 1 2 = (0 + 1 + 2 ) 0 + + 11 2 3

1 2 1 1 2 1 1 2 2 2

1 3 1 3 1 3

Exercise 7

Prove Theorem 1.

Exercise 8

Prove the converse of Theorem 1 any function of two vector arguments , given by the formula , = , where is an matrix and = R and = R are the coordinate vectors of and with respect to some fixed basis , is a bilinear form.

Exercise 9 (harder)

Let be a bilinear form given by the formula , = , where is an matrix and = R and = R are the coordinate vectors of and with respect to some fixed basis , is a bilinear form. Prove that rank = 1 if and only if can be expressed as , = (), where , : R are linear transformations [like in Example 4].
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DEFINITION Let be a vector space over R and let , be a bilinear form on . Then is called Symmetric if , = (, ) for all , Anti-symmetric (or skew-symmetric) if , = (, ) for all ,

Exercise 10

Thus any inner product is a symmetric bilinear form. Now look at all the examples of bilinear forms above. Which of them are skew-symmetric? Prove that a bilinear form on a finite-dimensional space is symmetric / skew-symmetric if and only if its matrix with respect to any basis is symmetric (meaning that = ) / anti-symmetric ( = ).

Exercise 11

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DEFINITION Let be a vector space over R and let , be a symmetric bilinear form on . Then the function of one vector argument = (, ) is called the corresponding quadratic form.

Example 5

= R2 and 1 , 2 , 1 , 2 = 1 2 + 2 1 Then 1 , 2 = 1 , 2 , 1 , 2 = 1 2 + 2 1 = 21 2

MAIN OBSERVATION Let be a vector space over R and let , be a symmetric bilinear form on . If we know , , then, of course, we can find = , . But the converse is also true. Suppose we know . Then , =
+ () 2

Exercise 12 Exercise 13
Exercise 14

Prove the main observation. Prove that a bilinear form is skew-symmetric if and only if it is alternating, which means that , = 0 for all .
Let (, ) be a non-symmetric bilinear form. Is = (, ) a quadratic form?

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Consider the case = R and the standard basis. Then any bilinear form can be written as

, = =

,=1

Here, is the matrix of the form .

If is a symmetric matrix, then the corresponding quadratic form is

= =
,=1

=
=1

2 + 2
<

Example 6

2 2 = R3 and 1 , 2 , 3 = 1 21 3 + 423 + 192 3 1 0 1 = 0 0 9.5 1 9.5 42

Indeed,
2 2 1 21 3 + 423 + 192 3 = 1

1 0 0 0 1 9.5

1 1 9.5 2 42 3
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We have covered the definition and basic properties of bilinear and quadratic forms and their matrices. This is not an examinable material, but logical reasoning is and this lecture contains a lot of excellent easy exercises on abstract reasoning. If you try to solve them independently (post your solutions on the discussion board to check if they are correct), itll definitely help you to improve your reasoning. Next lecture: proof of the main theorem any symmetric matrix is always diagonalizable over the real numbers (all eigenvalues are real and there are linearly independent eigenvectors). Well do it though abstract reasoning! Specifically, well prove that given any quadratic form on an inner product space, there exists an orthonormal basis such that the matrix of the quadratic form is diagonal with respect to . This theorem is very important for Calculus III because the quadratic form composed of second partial derivatives explains convexity/concavity of multi-variable functions.
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