Span

Linear Combinations Revisited

Recall that a vector is said to be a linear combination of vectors if for some scalars .

In part item:spanintro1 of Example ex:spanintro we expressed as a linear combination of and , and concluded that lies in the plane determined by and . We say that is in the span of and . In fact, every vector in the plane determined by and is in the span of and . We say that and span the plane.

In contrast, vector of part item:spanintro2 of Example ex:spanintro is not a linear combination of and . We say that is not in the span of and .

The following video takes another look at Example ex:spanintro using our new vocabulary.

Definition of Span

Practice Problems

Choose the best description for each set below.
Which of the following pairs of sets are equal?
Let . Give an example of at least one vector such that , do NOT span a plane in . Describe .
Prove or disprove. The zero vector of is contained in the span of any collection of vectors of .