Basis Minor Theorem in Shilov’s Linear Algebra Book 1.93: why i≤r

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I have some troubles when i tried to understand some explanations in shilov's book. Here is some quote of the book.

THEOREM (Basis minor theorem). Any column of the matrix A is a linear combination of its basis columns.

Proof. To be explicit, we assume that the basis minor of the matrix is located in the first r rows and first r columns of A. Let s be any integer from 1 to m, let k be any integer from 1 to n, and consider the determinant

Picture of the Matrix

We now expand D with respect to its last row, obtaining the relation
enter image description here

where the numbers Ak1, Ak2, . . . , Akr, Aks denote the cofactors of the elements ak1, ak2, . . . ,akr, aks appearing in the last row of D. These cofactors do not depend on the number k, since they are formed by using elements aij with i ≤ r:

My Question is:

why i≤r shouldn't element with i>r also be considered when counting the determinant?

Best Answer

why $i\le r$ shouldn't element with $i>r$ also be considered when counting the determinant?

No, we don’t need any $a_{ij}$ with $i>r$ to evaluate $A_{k1},A_{k2},\ldots,A_{kr}$ and $A_{ks}$.

To illustrate, suppose $r=2$. Pick any $k>r$ and $s>r$. The $(r+1)$-rowed minor $D$ in our case becomes $$ D=\left|\begin{matrix}a_{11}&a_{12}&a_{1s}\\ a_{21}&a_{22}&a_{2s}\\ a_{k1}&a_{k2}&a_{ks}\end{matrix}\right|. $$ To evaluate its value, Shilov expanded $D$ along the last row, so that the following $r$-rowed minors are used: $$ A_{k1}=\left|\begin{matrix}a_{12}&a_{1s}\\ a_{22}&a_{2s}\end{matrix}\right|, \ A_{k2}=\left|\begin{matrix}a_{11}&a_{1s}\\ a_{21}&a_{2s}\end{matrix}\right|, \ A_{ks}=\left|\begin{matrix}a_{11}&a_{12}\\ a_{21}&a_{22}\end{matrix}\right|. $$ The “elements $a_{ij}$ with $i\le r$ refer to those elements that appear in the $2\times2$ submatrices above. As you can see, these elements are taken from the first $r$ ($=2$ in our example) rows of $A$. That’s why their row indices $i$ are $\le r$. Since the row indices of $a_{12},a_{1s},a_{22}$ and $a_{2s}$ do not involve $k$, the value of $A_{k1}$ does not really depend on $k$, and likewise for $A_{k2}$ and $A_{ks}$. In other words, for each column index $j\in\{1,2,s\}$ we have $A_{r+1,j}=A_{r+2,j}=\cdots=A_{n,j}$ and this common value is denoted by $c_j$ in the book.

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