Linear transformations

Textbooks:
o Linear Algebra with Applications, Fifth Edition, by Otto Bretscher

Miguel Moscoso

Summary

What is a linear transformation?

Image and kernel of a linear transformation, and rank-nullity theorem.
The matrix associated to a linear transformation.
Linear transformations in geometry.
The inverse of a linear transformation.
Computation of the inverse matrix.
Isomorphisms

What is a linear transformation?

Definition: A linear transformation T : R R
the following two properties:
n

T u v T u T v u, v R n

T u T u u R n

is a function that satisfies

From this definition we can interpret a linear transformation as a linear vector

function from to . In other words,

is a linear transformation from to if there is an matrix

such that

T ( x ) Ax
for all in .

What is a linear transformation?

Example: Consider a transformation T : R R that rotates a vector
counterclockwise an angle :
Draw a sketch to illustrate that is a linear transformation
2

Image and kernel

Definition: If : , the set is is called the domain and the set the
codomain of the linear transformation.

Do not mix up the domain and the image of a linear transformation!

Definition: The image of a linear transformation : consists of all the

values it takes in its codomain. That is,
= { : = , for some X}.

Fact: The image of a linear transformation

=
is the span of the columns of , i.e., = ().

Image and kernel

Definition: The kernel of a linear transformation : is the set of all
zeros of the transformation. That is
k = { : = = 0}.

Remember that for a linear transformation : ,

() is a subset of the codomain of T, and
ker() is a subset of the domain of T.

Homework: Show that for every linear transformation : :

ker() is a subspace of
() is a subspace of

The rank-nullity theorem, again

Reminder: Given a linear transformation T,
its nullity is the dimension of the kernel, that is, = dim ker ,
its rank is the dimension of the image, that is, rank = dim im .
Theorem: (rank nullity theorem)
Given a linear transformation : with associated matrix

nul T rank T n

The matrix of a linear transformation

Fact: Given any linear transformation : observe that

a1,1 a1,n 0 a1,i

n
T (ei ) Aei

c
,
e

R
i

1 i

a
a

m
,
1
m
,
n
m
,
i

The matrix of a linear transformation

Fact: Given any linear transformation : observe that

a1,1 a1,n 0 a1,i

n
T (ei ) Aei

c
,
e

R
i

1 i

a
a

m
,
1
m
,
n
m
,
i

Theorem: Let : be a linear transformation.

Then, has an associated matrix given by:

A T e1 T en

The matrix of a linear transformation

Example: Consider a transformation : 2 2 that rotates a vector
counterclockwise an angle :
Draw a sketch to illustrate that is a linear transformation
Find the matrix of .

Linear transformations in geometry

Rotations: The matrix of a counterwise rotation through an angle is

Linear transformations in geometry

Rotations: The matrix of a counterwise rotation through an angle is

Rotation-Dilation: The matrix of a counterwise rotation through an angle such

that tan = , followed by a dilation by the factor = 2 + 2 is

Linear transformations in geometry

Definition: Let be a line in generated by the unit vector .
For every vector there is a unique vector on L such
that is perpendicular to , namely, = . This
vector is called the orthogonal projection of onto :

The transformation = ( ) from to is linear.

Linear transformations in geometry

Homework: Let be a line in , show that the reflection of in
is given by the vector
= 2 = 2 ,
where is a unit vector on .

Inverse of a linear transformation

Inverse of a linear transformation

Definition: A linear transformation : is invertible if the
linear system equation = = has a unique solution
for each . The inverse is denoted by 1 .

If : is invertible, then

T 1 :Y X

y x A1 y

Properties of the inverse transformation:

1
o T T x x x X

1
o T T y y y Y
o

1 1

Inverse of a linear transformation

If the linear transformation = = is invertible, its
inverse is
= 1 = 1 .

Computation of the inverse

Example: Find the inverse of

1
3

2
.
9

1
1 + 22
Solution: We consider the linear transformation
= and
3
+
9
2
1
2
solve for and .
1

Computation of the inverse

1 1
Example: Find the inverse of 2 3
3 8

1
2.
2

1
1 + 2 + 3
Solution: We consider the linear transformation 21 + 32 + 22 = 2
3
21 + 82 + 23
and solve for 1 , 2 and 3 .

Computation of the inverse

And therefore,

Computation of the inverse

We can write the previous calculation in matrix form, as

Computation of the inverse

Then, to compute the inverse of a matrix you can:

form the 2 matrix and
compute .
If = , then is invertible and
1 = .
If is of another form (the left half fails to
be _), then is not invertible.

Surjective, injective, bijective

Definitions:

Let T : R m R n be defined by y T x Ax . Then:

T is surjective dim im T rank T m
T is injective dimker T nul T 0
T is bijective T is injective and surjective. In this case we
say that T is an isomorphism and the spaces X and Y are
isomorphic.
Note: T is invertible T is bijective.

Surjective, injective, bijective

Surjective but
not injective

Injective but
not surjective

Neither injective
nor surjective

Bijective

Isomorphisms

Isomorphisms

Isomorphisms

Bases

Coordinates and matrices of with respect to different bases

Next week!!!