Linear Function

🅟 May 07, 2026

  🅤 Jun 20, 2026

Definition 1.

Let $V$, $W$ be vector spaces over a field $F$. A function $f : V \to W$ is linear if:

  1. (Additivity) $f(x + y) = f(x) + f(y)$ for all $x$, $y \in V$.
  2. (Homogeneity) $f(\lambda x) = \lambda f(x)$ for all $x \in V$ and $\lambda \in F$.

Note.Linear function is also known as vector space homomorphism.

Definition 2.

Let $V$, $W$ vector spaces over a field $F$ and $f : V \to W$ be a linear mapping. The kernel of $f$ is

\[\ker f = f^{-1}[\{0\}].\]

Proposition 1.

Let $V$, $W$ be vector spaces over a field $F$ and $f : V \to W$. $f$ is linear if

\[f(\lambda x + y) = \lambda f(x) + f(y)\]

for all $x$, $y \in V$ and $\lambda \in F$.

Proposition 2.

Let $V$, $W$ be vector spaces. For any linear mapping $f : V \to W$:

  1. $f(0) = 0$.
  2. $f(x - y) = f(x) - f(y)$ for all $x$, $y \in V$.

Proposition 3.

Let $V$, $W$ be vector spaces over a field $F$ and $f : V \to W$ be a linear mapping. For any linear dependent $S \subseteq V$, $f[S]$ is linear dependent.

Proposition 4.

Let $V$, $W$ be vector spaces over a field $F$ and $X \subseteq V$, $Y \subseteq W$ be subspaces. For any linear mapping $f : V \to W$, $f[X]$ and $f^{-1}[Y]$ are subspaces.

Proposition 5.

Let $V$, $W$ be vector spaces over a field $F$. For any linear mapping $f : V \to W$:

  1. $\dim \im f \leq \dim V$.
  2. If $f$ is an isomorphism, then $\dim V = \dim W$.

Proposition 6.

Let $V$, $W$ be vector spaces over a field $F$. $\hom(V, W)$ is a subspace of $\fun(V, W)$.

Proposition 7.

For any vector space $V$, $(\endo V, \circ, +)$ is a ring.


Proposition 8.

Let $V$, $W$ be vector spaces over a field $F$. For any linear mapping $f : V \to W$:

  1. $\im f$ and $\ker f$ are subspaces.
  2. $f$ is an isomorphism if and only if $\ker f = \{0\}$.
  3. If $f$ is an isomorphism, then for any linear independent $S \subseteq V$, $f[S]$ is linear independent.