[Math] How to Show that Linear transformation is invertible

linear algebra

Let $T_1,T_2$ be two linear transformations from $\mathbb{R}^n$ to $\mathbb{R}^m$. Let $\{x_1,\cdots , x_n\}$ be a basis of $\mathbb{R}^n$. Suppose that $T_1x_i \neq 0$ for every $i=1,2,\cdots, n$ and that $x_i \bot \ker T_2$ for every $i=1,2,\cdots, n$.
Which of the following is/are necessarily true?

  • $T_1$ is invertible.
  • $T_2$ is invertible.
  • both $T_1,T_2$ are invertible.
  • neither $T_1$ nor $T_2$ is invertible.

My Approch:

Given dimension of $\mathbb{R}=n$ and

$x_i\perp Ker(T_2)$

So, $\text{Ker}T_2=0$

Row space and null space are perpendicular to each other.

From Rank Nullity Theorem:

let T : V → W be a linear map. Then the rank of T is the dimension of the image of T and the nullity of T is the dimension of the kernel of T, so we have

$\text{dim}(\text{Im}(T))+ \text{dim}(\text{Ker}(T))=\text{dim}(V)$

Applying above result we get,

$\text{dim}(\text{Im}(T))+ 0=n$

Therefore, $T_2$ is one-one.

I could not solve this problem completely. what to do next?

Best Answer

Neither of the options are necessarily true.

$T_1$ and $T_2$ can both be invertible, for example if $n=m$ and $T_1$ and $T_2$ are both the identity map.

On the other hand, both $T_1$ and $T_2$ can fail to be invertible, for example if $n=1$, $m=2$ and $T_1(x)=(x,0)$ and $T_2(x)=(x,0)$.

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