Linear Mappings: Examining Bijectivity

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the properties of linear mappings, specifically whether a linear mapping is necessarily bijective. Participants explore examples of linear mappings that are not bijective and delve into related concepts such as injectivity, surjectivity, and dimensionality in vector spaces.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Homework-related

Main Points Raised

  • One participant questions whether all linear mappings are bijective, suggesting that the existence of bijective linear mappings implies not all linear mappings can be bijective.
  • Another participant provides examples of linear mappings that are not bijective, such as L(x,y)=(x,0) and L(x,y)=(0,0).
  • A participant reflects on their thought process, indicating a tendency to visualize linear mappings in terms of geometric lines, which may lead to overlooking non-bijective examples.
  • Discussion includes a theorem stating that for finite-dimensional vector spaces, the properties of being injective, surjective, bijective, and invertible are equivalent.
  • Clarification is provided regarding the term "invertible" in the context of vector spaces, specifying it means having a linear inverse.
  • A participant raises a question about the dimensionality of a specific space, expressing confusion over the relationship between coordinates and dimension.
  • Another participant explains that the dimension is determined by the number of basis vectors needed to span the space, providing examples of basis vectors for the space in question.
  • A participant acknowledges the importance of using basis vectors to determine dimension, showing engagement with the discussion.
  • Technical assistance is offered regarding LaTeX formatting for mathematical symbols and image tags.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing views on the bijectivity of linear mappings, with some providing examples that support the idea that not all linear mappings are bijective. The discussion on dimensionality remains somewhat unresolved, with participants offering insights but not reaching a consensus on all aspects.

Contextual Notes

Participants discuss the equivalence of various properties of linear mappings in finite-dimensional spaces, but the implications of these properties in different contexts are not fully explored. The dimensionality question raises issues about the treatment of coordinates and basis vectors that remain open for further clarification.

Who May Find This Useful

This discussion may be useful for students and practitioners in mathematics and related fields who are exploring the properties of linear mappings, dimensionality in vector spaces, and the application of LaTeX in mathematical communication.

Anonymous217
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Does a linear mapping imply that it is also bijective? I would assume this is not true because there wouldn't be a subcategory of linear mappings called bijective linear mappings then (isomorphisms, etc.).
Can someone give me an example of a linear mapping that is not bijective? I keep thinking in terms of R squared and how a line obviously shows it's one-to-one and onto, and I can't think of an example where a linear mapping isn't bijective. I'm probably missing something obvious.
 
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The function L(x,y)=(x,0). Or even just L(x,y)=(0,0)
 
Thanks! That really was inherently obvious, especially that last example. I guess I keep thinking of linear mappings in relation to geometric lines.
 
It's also useful to know that if V is a finite-dimensional vector space, and T:V→V is linear, all of these claims are equivalent:

T is injective
T is surjective
T is bijective
T is invertible

This is theorem 3.21 in Axler.
 
Fredrik said:
(...)these claims are equivalent:
(...)
T is bijective
T is invertible
To prevent possible confusion, "invertible" here means "invertible in the category of vector spaces", i.e. there exists a linear inverse.
 
I had a quick question but I didn't want to make another topic about it because I feel like that would be a waste of space so I'll just cram it here.
What's the dimension of [PLAIN]http://data.artofproblemsolving.com/aops20/latex/texer/893a2ae84b20d51f3beecf662ec7aab02ee073b1.png [\img]? (Sorry, I can't get tags to work here and I don&#039;t know how to do the Reals symbol in latex. I also seem to have problems displaying images with tags.)<br /> It&#039;s just the xy-plane and I know it should be 2-dimensional, but then again it has 3 coordinates. Also, I know R^3/E_1 is isomorphic to E_12. Therefore, dim(R^3) - dim(E_1) = dim(E_{12}) and so it should be 2=2. So in general, my question is probably this: is the dimension only based on nonzero coordinates (since you could expand E_{12} to have more 0 coordinates I guess)?
 
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The dimension is the number of basis vectors you need to span the whole space. You can get anywhere in E_12, with multiples of basis vectors: a=(1,0) and b=(0,1). You cannot do it with less than two basis vectors, you can choose others for example (1,1) and (1,-1), but you need at least two. So, the dimension of E_12 is 2.

If you think of E_12 as being embedded in some higher dimensional space you might write the two basis vectors that span E_12 as a=(1,0,0,0,0,0) and b=(0,1,0,0,0,0), any linear combination of a and b will be of the form (x,y,0,0,0,0). Showing that linear combinations of a and b can never get out of E_12.
 
I completely forgot about doing it by basis vectors. Thanks!
 
The LaTeX code for \mathbb R is \mathbb R. And img tags end with /img, not \img.
 

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