Section 11.3.

Homework #5 Masaya Sato

2. Let V the vector space of polynomials with coefficients in Q in the variable x of degree at
most 5 with 1, x, x2 , . . . , x5 as basis. Prove that the following are elements of the dual space
of V and express them as linear combinations of the dual basis:

(a) E : V → Q defined by E(p(x)) = p(3).

R1
(b) ϕ : V → Q defined by ϕ(p(x)) = 0 p(t)dt.
R1
(c) ϕ : V → Q defined by ϕ(p(x)) = 0 t2 p(t)dt.

(d) ϕ : V → Q defined by ϕ(p(x)) = p0 (5) where p0 (x) denoted the usual derivative of the
polynomial p(x) with respect to x.

Solution: Let V ∗ denote the dual space of V .

(a) For all p(x) and q(x) in V and r ∈ Q

E(p(x) + r.q(x)) = E((p + r.q)(x)) = (p + r.q)(3) = p(3) + rq(3) = E(p(x)) + r.E(q(x)).

So E is a linear functional, i.e. an element of V ∗ . Now observe that {E0 , E1 , E2 , E3 , E4 , E5 },

where Ei : V → Q is defined by
(
1 if i = j
Ei (xj ) =
0 otherwise

for i = 0, 1, . . . , 5, is a basis for V ∗ . Then

E = E(1)E0 + E(x)E1 + · · · + E(x5 )E5 = E0 + 3E1 + · · · + 35 E5

is a linear combination of the basis given above.

(b) For all p(x) and q(x) in V and r ∈ Q
Z 1 Z 1
ϕ(p(x) + r.q(x)) = ϕ(p + r.q)(x) = (p + r.q)(t)dt = (p(t) + r.q(t))dt
0 0
Z 1 Z 1
= p(t)dt + r.q(t)dt
0 0
Z 1 Z 1
= p(t)dt + r q(t)dt
0 0
= ϕ(p(t)) + r.ϕ(q(t))

and thus ϕ ∈ V ∗ . Now consider {ϕ0 , ϕ1 , ϕ2 , ϕ3 , ϕ4 , ϕ5 }, where each ϕi is defined by

(
1 if i = j
ϕi =
0 otherwise

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Section 11.3. Homework #5 Masaya Sato

for i = 0, 1, . . . , 5. Then the set of linear functionals given above is a basis for the dual space.
Therefore
1 1
ϕ = ϕ(1)ϕ0 + ϕ(x)ϕ1 + · · · + ϕ(x5 )ϕ5 = ϕ0 + ϕ1 + · · · + ϕ5
2 6
is a linear combination of the dual basis.
(c) For all p(x) and q(x) in V and r ∈ Q
Z 1 Z 1
ϕ(p(x) + r.q(x)) = ϕ(p + r.q)(x) = (p + r.q)(t)dt = t2 (p(t) + r.q(t))dt
0
Z0 1 Z 1
2
= t p(t)dt + t2 (r.q(t))dt
Z0 1 Z0 1
= t2 p(t)dt + rt2 q(t)dt
Z0 1 0
Z 1
2
= t p(t)dt + r t2 q(t)dt
0 0
= ϕ(p(t)) + r.ϕ(q(t)).
Now let {ϕ0 , ϕ1 , ϕ2 , ϕ3 , ϕ4 , ϕ5 } be a dual basis given by
(
1 if i = j
ϕi =
0 otherwise

for each i = 0, 1, . . . , 5. Then

1 1 1
ϕ = ϕ(1)ϕ0 + ϕ(x)ϕ1 + · · · + ϕ(x5 )ϕ5 = ϕ0 + ϕ1 + · · · + ϕ5
3 4 8
is a linear combination of the dual basis given above.
(d) For all p(x) and q(x) in V and r ∈ Q
d
ϕ(p(x) + r.q(x)) = ϕ(p + r.q)(x) = (p + r.q)0 (t) = (p + r.q)(x)
dx
d
= (p(x) + r.q(x))
dx
d d
= p(x) + r.q(x)
dx dx
d d
= p(x) + r. q(x)
dx dx
= p0 (x) + r.q 0 (x)
= ϕ(p(x)) + r.ϕ(q(x)),
so ϕ is a linear functional in V ∗ . Then for a dual basis {ϕ0 , ϕ1 , ϕ2 , ϕ3 , ϕ4 , ϕ5 }, where
(
1 if i = j
ϕi =
0 otherwise

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Section 11.3. Homework #5 Masaya Sato

for each i = 0, 1, . . . , 5. Then

ϕ = ϕ(1)ϕ0 + ϕ(x)ϕ1 + · · · + ϕ(x5 )ϕ5 = ϕ1 + 10ϕ2 + · · · + 625ϕ5

is expressed as a linear combination of the dual basis.

3. Let S be any subset V ∗ for some finite dimensional space V . Define Ann(S) = {v ∈
V |f (v) = 0 ∀f ∈ S}.
(a) Prove that Ann(S) is a subspace of V .

(b) Let W1 and W2 be subspaces of V ∗ . Prove that Ann(W1 + W2 ) = Ann(W1 ) ∩ Ann(W2 )

and Ann(W1 ∩ W2 ) = Ann(W1 ) + Ann(W2 ).

(c) Let W1 and W2 be subspaces of V ∗ . Prove that W1 = W2 if and only if Ann(W1 ) =

Ann(W2 ).

(d) Prove that the annihilator of S is the same as the annihilator of the subspace of V ∗
spanned by S.

(e) Assume that V is finite dimensional with basis v1 , . . . , vn . Prove that if S = {v1∗ , . . . , vk∗ }
for some k ≤ n, then Ann(S) is the subspace spanned by {vk+1 , . . . , vn }.

(f) Assume V is finite dimensional. Prove that if W ∗ is any subspace of V ∗ then

dim Ann(W ∗ ) = dim V − dim W ∗ .

Proof. Let V be an n-dimensional vector space over some field F with a basis {v1 , . . . , vn }.
Let {v1∗ , . . . , vn∗ } be a basis for V ∗ dual to {v1 , . . . , vn }.
(a) For all v, w ∈ Ann(S) and r ∈ F , v + rw ∈ V and for all f ∈ S ⊆ V ∗

f (v + rw) = f (v) + f (rw) = f (v) + rf (w) = 0 + 0 = 0.

So Ann(S) is a subspace of V .
(c) (⇒) It is obvious that Ann(W1 ) = Ann(W2 ) if W1 = W2 .
(⇐) Suppose that Ann(W1 ) = Ann(W2 ), where W1 and W2 are both subspaces of V ∗ . Then
let {vi∗1 , . . . , vi∗k } denote a basis for W1 with 1 ≤ i1 ≤ · · · ≤ ik ≤ n. For every f ∈ W1

f (v) = 0.

So the subspace Ann(W1 ) has the basis {vj1 , . . . , vjl }, where every index in {j1 , . . . , jl } is
distinct from any of {i1 , . . . , ik }. Moreover Ann(W2 ) also has the basis {vj1 , . . . , vjl } by
assumption Ann(W2 ) = Ann(W1 ). Therefore a basis for W2 contains {vi∗1 , . . . , vi∗k } and thus
f ∈ W2 . Similarly if f ∈ W2 then f ∈ W1 as well. Hence W1 = W2 as desired.
(d) Let W ∗ denote the subspace generated by S. Then suppose that v ∈ Ann(S). Then
for every f ∈ S f (v) = 0. Now observe that S ⊆ Span(S) = W ∗ . So f ∈ W ∗ . Therefore
v ∈ Ann(W ∗ ). Conversely suppose that v ∈ Ann(W ∗ ). Recall that W ∗ is the subspace of

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Section 11.3. Homework #5 Masaya Sato

V ∗ generated by S. So f (v) = 0 for all f ∈ S ⊆ Span(S) = W ∗ . Therefore v ∈ Ann(S) as

desired and hence
Ann(S) = Ann(W ∗ ).

(e) Recall from part (a) that

Ann(S) = {v ∈ V |vi∗ (v) = 0 ∀i = 1, . . . , k}
is a subspace of V , where S = {v1∗ , . . . , vk∗ }. Observe that Ann(S) does not contain any of
v1 , . . . , v k
since vi∗ (vi ) = 1 for i = 1, . . . , k. Therefore the subspace Ann(S) is generated by the set
{vk+1 , . . . , vn }.

(f) Since W ∗ is a subspace of a finite dimensional (dual) vector space V ∗ with basis {v1∗ , . . . , vn∗ },
W ∗ has a basis S = {vi∗1 , . . . , vi∗k }. By results from part (d) and (e),
Ann(W ∗ ) = Ann(S)
is a subspace of V , and Ann(W ∗ ) is generated by n − k elements {v1∗ , . . . , vn∗ } − {vi∗1 , . . . , vi∗k }.
Moreover those n − k elements are linearly independent since {v1∗ , . . . , vn∗ } is a dual basis for
V ∗ . Therefore
dim Ann(W ∗ ) = n − k = dim V − dim W ∗
as desired.
4. If V is infinite dimensional with basis A, prove that A∗ = {v ∗ |v ∈ A} does not span V ∗ .
Proof. Let V be an infinite dimensional vector space over F = Z2 = {0, 1} with a basis
A = {vα }α∈Λ , where Λ is an index set and the cardinality of Λ is infinite. Since the scalars
are 0 or 1, every v ∈ V expressed as a finite linear combination is finite sum of elements of
A. So
|A| ≥ |V |.
Now consider its dual space V ∗ . For every linear functional f ∈ V ∗ is a linear combination
of some subset of the dual basis {fα }α∈Λ , where
(
1 if α = β
fα (vβ ) =
0 otherwise .
Therefore there is a one-to-one correspondence between linear functionals in V ∗ and all
subsets of A. Hence the cardinality |V ∗ | is equal to |P(A)|, the cardinality of the power set
of A. Thus
|V ∗ | = |P(A)| > |A| ≥ |V |
and then V ∗ cannot be spanned by A∗ .

Abstract Algebra by Dummit and Foote 4