Finding a vector given a basis vector and coordinate vector

hamel-basislinear algebramatricesvectors

I was given the following question:

Find the vector $x$ determined by the given coordinate vector $[x]_B$ and the given basis B.
$B=\left(\left[\begin{matrix}1\\1\\\end{matrix}\right],\left[\begin{matrix}2\\-1\\\end{matrix}\right]\right),[x]_B=\left[\begin{matrix}3\\2\\\end{matrix}\right]$

I am not just asking about this particular question – I want to understand how to solve questions of this type. I understand I'm trying to find the vector x. I don't understand what it means that I have a coordinate vector and the basis. I think that the basis defines the subset and the coordinate vector must give the directions to some extent. But, I don't really understand how to do this at all.

Best Answer

When you are given an (ordered) basis $$B = \{b_1,b_2,...,b_n\} $$ of some vector space $V$ then every element $x \in V$ can be written as a unique linear combinations of the basis vectors i.e. $ \exists \lambda_1,...,\lambda_n$ such that

$$ x = \lambda_1 b_1 + ... + \lambda_n b_n.$$

The numbers $\lambda_1,...,\lambda_n$ are unique and are called the coordinates of $x \in V$ with respect to $B$. These coordinates define $[x]_B$ the coordinate vector of $x$ with respect to $B$ which is defined by

$$ [x]_B = (\lambda_1,\lambda_2,...,\lambda_n)^T.$$

In your example $b_1 = (1,1)^T$ and $b_2 = (2,-1)^T$ and $[x]_B = (3,2)^T$ this means that $$ x = 3 b_1 + 2b_2 = (3,3)^T + (4,-2)^T = (7,1)^T.$$

Here's another example in $V = P_2(x) = \{ax^2 + bx + c : a,b,c \in \mathbb R\}$ which is the vector space of polynomials of degree at most $2$ (and with real coeeficients).

Consider the basis $B = \{ b_1(x),b_2(x), b_3(x)\}$ where $$b_1(x) = 5, \;b_2(x) = 2x - 1, \; b_3(x) = x^2.$$

If we are given a polynomial whose coordinate vector with respect to $B$ is

$$ (0,1,4)^T$$ then that polynomial must be

$$ 0 \cdot b_1(x) + 1 \cdot b_2(x) + 4 \cdot b_3(x) = 0 + (2x-1) + 4x^2 = 4x^2 + 2x -1.$$