3. Vector Spaces

3.3. ubspaces, Linear Combinations, and Span

This subsection introduces the structure within vector spaces.

Subspaces:
A subspace

WVW \subseteq V

is a subset that is itself a vector space under the same operations.

Linear Combination:
Any expression of the form

a1v1+a2v2++anvna_1v_1 + a_2v_2 + \dots + a_nv_n

, where

aiFa_i \in F

and

viVv_i \in V

Span:
The set of all linear combinations of a set of vectors. Denoted

span{v1,...,vn}\text{span}\{v_1, ..., v_n\}

span{v1,...,vn}

Subspaces and spans form the gateway to understanding bases and dimension, key ideas in both linear algebra and analysis.