- #1
quasar_4
- 290
- 0
Hello all,
I have two questions that are fairly general, but slightly hazy to me still.
1) Can we consider the inner product to be a bilinear function, or not? I would like to think of it as a mapping from an ordered pair of vectors of some vector space V (i.e. VxV) to the field (F), and I know by definition the inner product is conjugate linear as a function of it's first entry (or second, depending on which text you use). But isn't the inner product also linear as a function of either entry whenever the other is held fixed, making it bilinear?
2) Can every mapping from a finite dimensional vector space V to it's field be considered an inner product of something? What about the infinite dimensional case?
I have two questions that are fairly general, but slightly hazy to me still.
1) Can we consider the inner product to be a bilinear function, or not? I would like to think of it as a mapping from an ordered pair of vectors of some vector space V (i.e. VxV) to the field (F), and I know by definition the inner product is conjugate linear as a function of it's first entry (or second, depending on which text you use). But isn't the inner product also linear as a function of either entry whenever the other is held fixed, making it bilinear?
2) Can every mapping from a finite dimensional vector space V to it's field be considered an inner product of something? What about the infinite dimensional case?