All Questions
5,884 questions
11
votes
2
answers
5k
views
Quadratic forms over finite fields
I'm reading some very old papers (by Birch et al) on quadratic forms and I don't get the following point:
If $f$ is a quadratic form in $X_1,X_2,\cdots,X_n$ over a
finite field, then one can ...
- 5,163
56
votes
21
answers
14k
views
Linear algebra proofs in combinatorics?
Simple linear algebra methods are a surprisingly powerful tool to prove combinatorial results. Some examples of combinatorial theorems with linear algebra proofs are the (weak) perfect graph theorem, ...
62
votes
25
answers
70k
views
Linear Algebra Texts?
Can anyone suggest a relatively gentle linear algebra text that integrates vector spaces and matrix algebra right from the start? I've found in the past that students react in very negative ways to ...
81
votes
10
answers
9k
views
Existence of a zero-sum subset
Some time ago I heard this question and tried playing around with it. I've never succeeded to making actual progress. Here it goes:
Given a finite (nonempty) set of real numbers, $S=\{a_1,a_2,\dots, ...
- 85.6k
22
votes
2
answers
4k
views
Fast Fourier transform for graph Laplacian?
In the case of a regularly-sampled scalar-valued signal $f$ on the real line, we can construct a discrete linear operator $A$ such that $A(f)$ approximates $\partial^2 f / \partial x^2$. One way to ...
- 3,059
3
votes
1
answer
538
views
Non-negative matrices with prescribed Perron-Frobenius eigenvectors
In my research I came across the following question.
Let $A$ be an integer non-negative matrix (every entry of $A$ is non-negative) and $x = (x_1,...,x_n)^T$ the probability Perron-Frobenius ...
- 351
5
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Proof that domains of positivity of symmetric nondegenerate bilinear forms are self-dual cones?
Max Koecher (for example, in The Minnesota Notes on Jordan Algebras and Their Applications; new edition: Springer Lecture Notes in Mathematics, number 1710, 1999), defined a domain of positivity for a ...
47
votes
4
answers
7k
views
Using linear algebra to classify vector bundles over ℙ¹
There is a theorem of Grothendieck stating that a vector bundle of rank $r$ over the projective line $\mathbb{P}^1$ can be decomposed into $r$ line bundles uniquely up to isomorphism. If we let $\...
- 533
14
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Semi-linear operators
If $V_1$ and $V_2$ are finite-dimensional vector spaces over a field $E$, each equipped with an $E$-linear operator $\phi$, we can tell if $V_1$ and $V_2$ are isomorphic as $\phi$-modules by comparing ...
- 1,680
5
votes
2
answers
752
views
Is there a name for this algebraic structure?
I found myself "naturally" dealing with an object of this form:
X is a complex vector space, with a "product" (a,b) → {aba} which is quadratic in the first variable, linear in the second, and ...
- 971
4
votes
3
answers
763
views
Non-affine, projective vector field on $\mathbb{R}^n$
I wanted recently to discuss with a fairly elementary mathematics class the kinds of self-maps of Euclidean space that carry triangles to triangles. Obviously linear maps do this, and it seemed just ...
1
vote
2
answers
540
views
Using Wavelet Transforms to Approximate Matrices
It's a long time since I worked on this kind of problem, so please bear with me.
I have an approximate inverse matrix that I'm using as a preconditioner to solve the conjugate gradient method. ...
- 221
9
votes
2
answers
984
views
Spheres over rational numbers and other fields
Let K be an ordered field. Define the n-sphere:
$$S^n(K) := \{ (x_1,x_2,\dots,x_n+1) \in K^{n+1} \mid \sum_{i=1}^{n+1} x_i^2 = 1 \}$$
A set of vectors $v_1, v_2, \dots, v_r \in S^n(K)$ is ...
- 7,320
6
votes
2
answers
364
views
Algebraic characterization of transitive spaces of matrices
Fix an integer $d \ge 2$ and let $M_d$ be the space of real $d \times d$ matrices. Let $E$ be a vector subspace of $M_d$. We say that $E$ is transitive if $E \cdot \mathbb{R}^d_* = \mathbb{R}^d$, ...
- 2,479
42
votes
6
answers
12k
views
A slick proof of the Bruhat Decomposition for GL_n(k)?
On one of my exams last year, we were given a problem (we chose five or six out of eight problems) on an exam, the goal of which was to prove the Bruhat decomposition for $GL_n(k)$. I was one of the ...
- 19.6k
10
votes
3
answers
2k
views
Is $Sym^n (V^*) \cong Sym^n (V)^\ast$ naturally in positive characteristic?
Background/motivation
It is a classical fact that we have a natural isomorphism $Sym^n (V^*) \cong Sym^n (V) ^\ast$ for vector spaces $V$ over a field $k$ of characteristic 0. One way to see this is ...
- 14.7k
0
votes
3
answers
817
views
How do we construct (in a vector space) a chain of countable dimensional subspaces that can only be bounded by an subspace of uncountable dimension?
In more rigorous language:
" V: a vector space having an uncountable base
S: The set of subspaces of V that have countable dimension.
Can we construct explicitly a chain in the poset S (ordered by ...
- 45
25
votes
8
answers
15k
views
Linear Algebra Problems?
Is there any good reference for difficult problems in linear algebra? Because I keep running into easily stated linear algebra problems that I feel I should be able to solve, but don't see any obvious ...
0
votes
2
answers
253
views
Corruption and Recovery
Suppose we want to recover an input vector $f \in \textbf{R}^n$ from some measurements $y = Af + \varepsilon$. Now $A$ is an $m \times n$ matrix and $\varepsilon$ are some unknown errors. Is this ...
- 65
0
votes
2
answers
4k
views
Convergence of iterative algorithm.
For quite a long time I'm trying to prove convergence of an iterative algorithm in case of a particular system of nonlinear equations.
Here are some characteristics of this system:
It consists of n ...
2
votes
6
answers
5k
views
Finding the Square-Root of a Non-diagonalizable Positive Matrix
What methods exist for finding the square-root of a non-diagonalizabe positive complex matrix?
- 1,776
368
votes
31
answers
80k
views
Geometric interpretation of trace
This afternoon I was speaking with some graduate students in the department and we came to the following quandary;
Is there a geometric interpretation of the trace of a matrix?
This question ...
6
votes
1
answer
886
views
Linear algebra lemma
The following Lemma is in Beauville-Donagi, and I always took it for granted. Now I've tried to find a proof, but got stuck. They say it is a really simple lemma, so I may just be overlooking ...
- 14.7k
2
votes
3
answers
657
views
Are the Gell-Mann matrices extremal when used as Kraus operators for a quantum channel?
Landau and Streater proved that a set of Kraus operators, Ai, is extremal if and only if the set
$\{A_{k}^{\dagger}A_{l}\}_{k,l \ldots N}$
are linearly independent. I have seen very convincing ...
- 121
6
votes
1
answer
347
views
Sparse approximate representation of a collection of vectors
Suppose I have a collection of $n$ vectors $C \subset \mathbb{F}_2^n$. They are of course spanned by the canonical set of $n$ basis vectors.
What I would like to find is a much smaller (~ $\log n$) ...
- 583
2
votes
1
answer
148
views
an exercise on integrality of characteristic polynomials
Suppose A is a matrix with coefficient in $Q_{\ell}$, and all the coefficients of its char. polynomial are in $Z$ (thus an integral polynomial). Prove that the char. polynomial of $A^n$ is also ...
- 1,503
127
votes
4
answers
32k
views
Slick proof?: A vector space has the same dimension as its dual if and only if it is finite dimensional
A very important theorem in linear algebra that is rarely taught is:
A vector space has the same dimension as its dual if and only if it is finite dimensional.
I have seen a total of one proof of ...
7
votes
1
answer
727
views
Reference for Tate vector spaces
... aka locally linear compact vector spaces. The one reference I know is http://www.math.harvard.edu/~gaitsgde/grad_2009/SeminarNotes/Nov3-10(CentExt).pdf. Does anyone know another good reference?
- 5,548
3
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Solving a noisy set of linear equations.
Suppose we have a square $n\times n$ real matrix $A$ of full rank such that the squares of the elements in each row sum to 1, an $n\times 1$ vector of variables $x$, and an $n\times 1$ real vector $a$,...
- 41
2
votes
2
answers
1k
views
What is it called if a vector space doesn't have an additive inverse?
so, you have, for any two members of the algebraic structure A and B and any nonnegative real values a, b:
two operations: * and +, such that
a*A + b*A = (a+b)*A is in the structure
A + B = B + A ...
- 598
9
votes
2
answers
2k
views
A generalization of Boolean matrix multiplication for order-3 tensors
The Boolean matrix product of two 0-1 $n \times n$ matrices $A$ and $B$ is the matrix $C$ defined as
$$C[i,j] = \vee_{k=1}^n (A[i,k] \wedge B[k,j]).$$ If $A = B$ and the matrix is an adjacency matrix ...
- 4,729
15
votes
5
answers
18k
views
Proving "almost all matrices over C are diagonalizable".
This is an elementary question, but a little subtle so I hope it is suitable for MO.
Let $T$ be an $n \times n$ square matrix over $\mathbb{C}$.
The characteristic polynomial $T - \lambda I$ splits ...
- 7,442
3
votes
3
answers
212
views
Rank(A) and other algorithms as a polynomial
If $A = (\alpha_{ij}) \in \mathbb{C}^{nxm}$ we have simple algorithms by which to determine $\mathrm{rank}(A)$. However, is there a polynomial $f \in \mathbb{C}[\alpha_{ij}]$ where $f \colon \mathbb{C}...
- 3,165
2
votes
2
answers
3k
views
Statement of Lagrange's theorem on determinants(elementary question).
Apologies for this elementary question; but I was unable to find a reference otherwise.
Let $A, B, C$ be square matrices of the same dimension. Then,
$$\begin{vmatrix} A & C \\\ 0 & B \end{...
- 7,442
38
votes
1
answer
10k
views
Infinite tensor products
Let $A$ be a commutative ring and $M_i, i \in I$ be a infinite family of $A$-modules. Define their tensor product $\bigotimes_{i \in I} M_i$ to be a representing object of the functor of multilinear ...
- 63.1k
13
votes
8
answers
38k
views
What is the difference between matrix theory and linear algebra? [closed]
Hi,
Currently, I'm taking matrix theory, and our textbook is Strang's Linear Algebra. Besides matrix theory, which all engineers must take, there exists linear algebra I and II for math majors. What ...
- 253
1
vote
2
answers
876
views
Matrix logarithms are not unique
In my ODE class, we proved that if $\exp(L) = \exp(L')$ then the eigenvalues are congruent mod $2 \pi i$. Here, $L$ and $L'$ are two $n \times n$ matrices. I wanted to know if something more precise ...
- 22.8k
1
vote
1
answer
419
views
Is the direction of the longest line of a polytope unique?
The question pertains to a polytope that is generated by the intersection of an affine subspace with a hypercube in $p$ dimensions.
The affine subspace is given by:
$X \mbox{ u} = y$
where
$u$ &...
- 121
1
vote
1
answer
354
views
On permutation of elements of two bases of a vector space (Greub´s book)
Let {a1,a2,...,an} and {b1,b2,...,bn} be two bases for a vector space E. Fix p, 1 ≤ p ≤n. Is there a permutation σ such that
{a1,a2,...,ap,bσ(p+1),...,bσ(n)} and {bσ(1),...
3
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Conditions that allow unique solutions for Linear Diophantine equations
(This posting became very long, so I should note that there are two alternative but nearly equivalent formulations of the same question being given. The first one asks for the optimal strategy for ...
3
votes
1
answer
456
views
Standard name for basis-independent submatrices?
Given a linear map $T:H\to H$ on an inner-product space $H$ and a subspace $K\subseteq H$, define the map $T_K = \pi_K T \pi_K^* :K \to K$, where $\pi_K:H\to K$ is the orthogonal projection.
As an ...
- 11.4k
5
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Self-similar matrices? [closed]
Does anyone know anything about self-similar (infinite) matrices, with more or less fractal(-like) structure and admitting meaningful matrix-algebra operations?
- 101
4
votes
2
answers
818
views
Number of independent distances between n points in d-dimensional Euclidean space?
There are $\binom{n}{2}$ distances between $n$ points in $\mathbb{R}^d$. Not all of them can be chosen freely if $n$ exceeds the number $n_d = d + 1$. If $n = n_d$ we obviously have $\binom{d+1}{2}$ ...
- 9,720
1
vote
0
answers
393
views
iterated characteristic polynomials
If I have $N$ $M\times M$ symmetric positive definite matrices $A_i$ and an $N\times N$ positive semi-definite symmetric matrix B, let the $N\times N$ matrix $C_{ij}(\lambda)=B_{ij}$ for $i\ne j$ and $...
- 11
3
votes
4
answers
2k
views
How many parameters are needed to specify a k-dimensional subspace of R^d?
What is the number $N^d_k$ of real-valued parameters that are needed to specify a k-dimensional subspace of $\mathbb{R}^d$? And how can these parameters be interpreted?
I know: $N^d_1 = N^d_{n-1} = d ...
- 9,720
1
vote
1
answer
210
views
Extracting integer multiplicative factors from the sum of certain sets of (finite-precision) real numbers?
Update based on Michael's answer (thanks again!) - Can the LLL or PSLQ algorithms provide a (knowably - i.e. not just incidental) unique solution for the set of integer multiplicative factors? Are ...
- 43
7
votes
2
answers
1k
views
An Expectation of Cohen-Lenstra Measure
The Cohen-Lenstra measure on the set of abelian p-groups assigns $\mathbb{P}(G) = \prod_{i \geq 1} \left( 1 - \frac{1}{p^i}\right) \cdot |\mathrm{Aut}(G)|^{-1} $. Apparently, this is equivalent to ...
- 22.8k
4
votes
0
answers
306
views
Diagonalizing matrices over cyclotomic fields with unitaries
Let $F$ be a number field with a fixed embedding $F \hookrightarrow \mathbb{C}$ such that the restriction of complex conjugation from $\mathbb{C}$ to $F$ is in Gal$(F/\mathbb{Q})$ and fix a Hermitian ...
- 1,951
9
votes
9
answers
4k
views
Help me with this proof: Drop a printed map of the land on the land and there must be some common point.
Hi, I have a minor in math and this is not a homework problem - my prof mentioned it 5 years ago and I could not even begin to tackle it until I took a good intro to linear algebra (after work). ...
- 171
1
vote
2
answers
923
views
Extremum under variations of a traceless matrix
Sorry for my precedent tentative, I was a little hasty:
Ok, I think I'd better put the original problem:
I have an action of three fields: $A$ which is the spin-connection, $B$ an skew-symmetric 2-...
- 733