Probably it depends on your definition of vector space (i.e.: do you consider $\emptyset$ to be a vector space?) In my opinion, $\emptyset$ is should not be considered a vector space for various reasons, e.g. the fact that $\operatorname{span}\emptyset=\{0\}$, and thus point (1) should be included in the axioms for vector subspaces.
To show a subset is a subspace, you need to show three things:
- Show it is closed under addition.
- Show it is closed under scalar multiplication.
- Show that the vector $0$ is in the subset.
To show 1, as you said, let $w_{1} = (a_{1}, b_{1}, c_{1})$ and $w_{2} = (a_{2}, b_{2}, c_{2})$. Suppose $w_{1}$ and $w_{2}$ are in our subset. Then they must satisfy $a_{1} \geq b_{1}$ and $a_{2} \geq b_{2}$. We need to check that $w_{1} + w_{2}$ is in our subset, that is, we need to check that if
$$w_{1} + w_{2} = (a_{1} + a_{2}, b_{1} + b_{2},c_{1} + c_{2})$$
then it satisfies that the first coordinate is greater than or equal to the second coordinate. Is $a_{1} + a_{2} \geq b_{1} + b_{2}$? Yes, by adding the two inequalities $a_{1} \geq b_{1}$ and $a_{2} \geq b_{2}$ together. So $w_{1} + w_{2}$ is in our subset.
For 2, we need to show that if $\alpha$ is any scalar, then if $w_{1} = (a_{1}, b_{1}, c_{1})$ is in our subset, so is $\alpha w_{1}$. But $\alpha w_{1} = (\alpha a_{1}, \alpha b_{1}, \alpha c_{1})$. We know since $w_{1}$ is in our subset that $a_{1} \geq b_{1}$. We need to check that for any $\alpha$, $\alpha a_{1} \geq \alpha b_{1}$. This inequality is definitely true if $\alpha \geq 0$, but we need it to be true for all $\alpha$, and it's not, because if $\alpha$ is negative, then multiplying the inequality $a_{1} \geq b_{1}$ on both sides by a negative number makes the inequality flip. So we would get $\alpha a_{1} \leq \alpha b_{1}$ if $\alpha < 0$, which means the inequality doesn't hold. Thus, if $\alpha < 0$, then $\alpha w_{1}$ is not in our subset because it doesn't satisfy $\alpha a_{1} \geq \alpha b_{1}$.
So our subset is not a subspace because it doesn't satisfy 2 (it is not closed under scalar multiplication, because any negative scalar would cause this problem).
Best Answer
You're right in what you think, but as how you argue that I am not sure what you mean by "getting the zero vector back"? Back...from where?
Anyway, if we take $\;(w,x,y,z)=(0,0,0,0)\;$ , this vector belongs to $\;W\;$ iff
$$0+2\cdot0-4\cdot0+2=0\iff 2=0$$
and since the last equality is false we get that $\;(0,0,0,0)\notin W\implies W\;$ is not a subspace and you were right.