[Math] Linear Transformation between Isomorphic Vector Spaces

linear algebralinear-transformations

Suppose $f:V\to W$ is a linear transformation, and that there exists a
basis $\{v_1,\ldots,v_n\}$ for $V$ such that
$\{f(v_1),\ldots,f(v_n)\}$ is a basis for $W$. Prove that $f$ is an
isomorphism.

Intuitively, this makes perfect sense. Since basis is an exhaustive representation of every unique vector in a vector space, if a linear transformation maps one basis to another it should be an isomorphism because it indicates some sort of equality between the two vector spaces. But I'm having difficulty putting this into a formal proof.

Best Answer

We are given that $f$ is linear; we just need to prove that it is both injective and surjective.

Injectivity: we need to show that if $f(x) = f(y)$, then $x = y$. That is, if $$ f(a_1 v_1 + \cdots + a_n v_n) = f(b_1 v_1 + \cdots + b_n v_n) $$ then $$ a_1 v_1 + \cdots + a_n v_n = b_1 v_1 + \cdots + b_n v_n $$

Surjectivity: If $y \in W$, then we can write $$ y = a_1 f(v_1) + \cdots + a_n f(v_n) $$ find an $x \in V$ such that $f(x) = y$.