Linear Algebra MA2033

Matrix form of a Linear Transformation

In this section we will show that a general linear transformation from any -dimensional vector
space to any -dimensional vector space can be performed using an appropriate matrix
transformation from to .
This idea is used in computer computations since computers are well suited for performing matrix
computations.

Suppose that is an -dimensional vector space, is an -dimensional vector space, and

is a linear transformation.
Suppose further that is a basis for , that is a basis for , and that for each vector in ,
the coordinate matrices for and are and , respectively.

It will be our goal to find an matrix such that multiplication by maps the vector into the
vector for each in .

If we can do so, we will be able to execute the linear transformation by using matrix multiplication
and the following indirect procedure:

Step 1. Compute the coordinate vector .

Step 2. Multiply on the left by to produce .

Step 3. Reconstruct from its coordinate vector .

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Matrix form of a Linear Transformation
The key to executing this plan is to find an matrix with the property that

(1)

For this purpose, let be a basis for the -dimensional space and
be a basis for the -dimensional space .
Since Equation (1) must hold for all vectors in , it must hold, in particular, for the basis vectors in ;
that is,
[ ] [ ( )] [ ] [ ( )] (2)
But

[ ] [ ], [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]

so

[ ]

[ ]

Substituting these results into (2) yields

[ ] [ ( )] [ ] [ ( )] [ ]

which shows that the successive columns of are the coordinate vectors of
with respect to the basis . Thus,

*[ ( )] [ ( )] + (3)

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Matrix form of a Linear Transformation
We will call this the matrix for relative to the bases and and will denote it by the symbol .

Using this notation, Formula (3) can be written as

*[ ( )] [ ( )] + (4)

and from (1), this matrix has the property

(5)

We leave it as an exercise to show that in the special case where is multiplication by ,

and where and are the standard bases for and , respectively, then
(6)

Examples.
i. Let be the linear transformation defined by .
a. Find the matrix for with respect to the standard bases and where

Solution.
From the given formula for we obtain
( )

By inspection, the coordinate vectors for and relative to are

[ ( )] [ ],[ ( )] [ ]

Thus, the matrix for with respect to and is

*[ ( )] [ ( )] + [ ]

b. Use the three-step procedure described in the following figure to perform the computation
.

Solution.

Step 1. The coordinate matrix for relative to the basis is

* +

Step 2. Multiplying by the matrix found in Example 1 we obtain

[ ]* + [ ] [ ( )]

Step 3. Reconstructing from we obtain

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Matrix form of a Linear Transformation
ii. Let be the linear transformation defined by

Find the matrix for the transformation with respect to the bases for and
for , where

* + * + [ ] [ ] [ ]

iii. In the special case where (so that is a linear operator), it is usual to take
when constructing a matrix for .
In this case the resulting matrix is called the matrix for relative to the basis and is usually denoted
by rather than .
If , then Formulas (4) and (5) become
*[ ( )] [ ( )] [ ( )] + (7)

(8)

In the special case where is a matrix operator, say multiplication by , and is the
standard basis for , then Formula (7) simplifies to
(9)

iv. If is a basis for a finite-dimensional vector space , and if is the

identity operator on (that is, for every vector in ), then

[ ]

v.

Theorem 1 (Matrices of Compositions ).

If and are linear transformations, and if , and are bases for , and ,
respectively, then

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Matrix form of a Linear Transformation
 The “cancellation” of interior subscripts suggests the following extension of Formula (10) to
compositions of three linear transformations:

Example.

In this example, plays the role of in Theorem 1, and plays the roles of both and ; thus we
can take in (10) so that the formula simplifies to

As a check, we will calculate directly from Formula (4).

Since , it follows from Formula (4) with and that

which agrees with (15).

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Matrix form of a Linear Transformation
Exercises.
1) Let * + and * +, and let * + be the matrix for relative to the
basis .
(a) Find and .
(b) Find and .
(c) Find a formula for (* +).

(d) Use the formula obtained in (c) to compute (* +).

2) Let be the transformation that is defined as .

a) Show that is linear.
b) Write the matrix associated to with respect the bases
and .

3) Let be the linear transformation given by

.
Find the matrix for (i.e. ) relative to,
and ,
assuming that and are bases for and respectively.

4) Let be the vector space of functions with basis , and let be the
differential operator defined by ( ) . Compute the matrix representing in the
basis .

5) For each of the following linear transformations on , find the matrix that represents
(relative to the standard basis of ):
(a) is the rotation in counterclockwise by .
(b) is the reflection in about the line .

6) For each linear transformation defined below, find the matrix representation of relative
to the standard basis of .
a)
b) ∫
c)

7) For the following linear transformations , find a matrix such that for all
.

(a) , (* +) [ ].

(b) , satisfying (* +) * +, (* +) * +.

(c) , satisfying (* +) [ ], (* +) [ ].

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