Dual Spaces

Paul Skoufranis
February 23, 2012
The purpose of this document is develop the theory of the dual space of a vector space. It will be
demonstrated that several properties of a vector space can be examined through the use of the dual space
in addition to several abstract results which are important beyond this course.
It has already been discussed in class that if V and W are two vector spaces over a eld F, then the set of
all linear maps from V to W, denoted L(V, W), is a vector space over F. We will be examining the specic
case where W = F.
Denition) Let V be a vector space over a eld F. The dual space of V , denoted V

, is the set of all
linear maps from V to F; that is
V

= L(V, F) = {T : V F | T is linear}.
The elements of V

are called linear functionals on V .
Note) We recall that L(V, F) is a vector space over F and thus V

is a vector space over F with point-
wise addition and scalar multiplication. Moreover, if V is nite dimensional with dim(V ) = n, then
dim(V

) = dim(L(V, F)) = n as well.
Example) Fix x [0, 1]. Dene
x
: C([0, 1]) R by
x
(f) = f(x) for all f C([0, 1]). Then

x
(C([0, 1]))

.
Example) Dene T : C([0, 1]) R by T(f) =

1
0
f(x) dx for all f C([0, 1]). Then T (C([0, 1]))

.
Example) Dene tr : M
n
(R) R by tr([a
i,j
]) =

n
i=1
a
i,i
for all [a
i,j
] M
n
(R). Then tr M
n
(R)

.
Example) Dene : M
n
(R) R by ([a
i,j
]) =

n
i,j=1
a
i,j
for all [a
i,j
] M
n
(R). Then M
n
(R)

.
Through the above examples we have see that there are a plethora of interesting linear functionals on a
given vector space. In general V

can be poorly behaved (look at the linear functionals given on C([0, 1])).
However V

is very well-behaved in the nite dimensional setting.
Theorem 1) Let V be a nite dimensional vector space and suppose = {v
1
, . . . , v
n
} is a basis for V .
For each j {1, . . . , n} we dene f
j
V

by
f
j
(a
1
v
1
+ + a
n
v
n
) = a
j
(that is, f
j
is the unique linear map from V to F (guaranteed to exist by Theorem 2.6 of the text) such that
f
j
(v
j
) = 1 and f
j
(v
i
) = 0 if i = j). Then

= {f
1
, f
2
, . . . , f
n
} is a basis for V

and is called the dual basis
of . Moreover, if f V

then f =

n
i=1
f(v
i
)f
i
.
Proof: Since we have already noted that dim(V ) = dim(V

), to prove that

= {f
1
, f
2
, . . . , f
n
} is a basis
for V

, it suces to show that span(

) = V

. Along the way we will verify the statement that if f V

then f =

n
i=1
f(v
i
)f
i
.
Let f V

be arbitrary. To see that f =

n
i=1
f(v
i
)f
i
it suces to show that f(v) =

n
i=1
f(v
i
)f
i
(v)
for all v V . To begin, let v V be arbitrary. Since is a basis for V , there exists scalars a
1
, a
2
, . . . , a
n
F
such that v =

n
j=1
a
j
v
j
. Hence

n
i=1
f(v
i
)f
i
(v) =

n
i=1
f(v
i
)f
i

n
j=1
a
j
v
j

n
i=1
f(v
i
)a
i
=

n
i=1
a
i
f(v
i
)
= f

n
j=1
a
j
v
j

= f(v).
Therefore, as v V was arbitrary, f =

n
i=1
f(v
i
)f
i
. Therefore, as f V

was arbitrary, V

= span(

)
and thus

is a basis for V

.
Example) Let = {e
1
, . . . , e
n
} be the standard ordered basis for F
n
. Then the dual basis {f
1
, f
2
, . . . , f
n
}
of are the linear functionals with the property
f
j
(a
1
, . . . , a
n
) = f
j
(a
1
e
1
+ + a
n
e
n
) = a
j
for all a
1
, . . . , a
n
F and for all j {1, . . . , n}.
One important use of the dual basis of a vector space is that it can be used to gain information about the
vector space through a few easy computations. It is like in quantum mechanics where a few measurements
can be made of subatomic particles to determine which subatomic particles are present.
Theorem 2) Let V be a nite dimensional vector space, let = {v
1
, . . . , v
n
} be a basis for V , and let

= {f
1
, f
2
, . . . , f
n
} be the dual basis of . If v V then v =

n
i=1
f
i
(v)v
i
. Hence, if v V is such that
f(v) = 0 for all f V

, then v =

0
V
.
Proof: Let v V be arbitrary. Since is a basis for V , there exists scalars a
1
, a
2
, . . . , a
n
F such
that
v = a
1
v
1
+ + a
n
v
n
.
Hence
f
j
(v) = f
j
(a
1
v
1
+ + a
n
v
n
) = a
j
for all j {1, . . . , n}. Hence
n

i=1
f
i
(v)v
i
= a
1
v
1
+ + a
n
v
n
= v
as desired.
Suppose v V is such that f(v) = 0 for all f V

. Then f
j
(v) = 0 for all j {1, . . . , n} so
v =
n

i=1
f
i
(v)v
i
=

0
as desired.
We have seen that knowledge of the dual space of a vector space V can be used to gain information
about the vectors in V . In addition, we can also relate the theory of linear maps and dual spaces. To begin,
suppose V and W are vector spaces over a eld F and T : V W is a linear map. If g W

, then the map

2
g T : V F is also a linear map. This shows that we can use the linear map T and elements of W

to
construct elements of V

. This leads us to the following result.
Theorem 3) Let V and W be vector spaces over a eld F and let T : V W be a linear map. De-
ne T
t
: W

V

by T
t
(g) = g T. Then T
t
is a linear map and is called the transpose of T.
Moreover, if V and W are nite dimensional vector spaces with bases and respectively, and if

and

are the corresponding dual bases, then [T

t
]

= ([T]

)
t
.
Proof: As mentioned in the previous paragraph, T
t
is a well-dened map. To see that T
t
is linear,
let F and g
1
, g
2
W

be arbitrary. Then
T
t
(g
1
+ g
2
) = (g
1
+ g
2
) T = (g
1
T) + (g
2
T) = T
t
(g
1
) + T
t
(g
2
)
(where we are using the fact that the composition of linear maps is linear in each component; Theorem 2.10
in the text). Hence T
t
is a linear map.
Let = {v
1
, . . . , v
n
} and = { w
1
, . . . , w
m
} be bases for V and W respectively and let

= {f
1
, . . . , f
n
}
and

= {g
1
, . . . , g
m
} be the corresponding dual bases. To show [T
t
]

= ([T]

)
t
, we notice that
T
t
(g
j
) = g
j
T =
n

i=1
g
j
(T(v
i
))f
i
by Theorem 1). Therefore the (i, j)
th
entry of [T
t
]

is g
j
(T(v
i
)). However, if [T]

= [a
i,j
] then
T(v
i
) =
n

k=1
a
k,i
w
k
by the denition of [T]

. Hence
g
j
(T(v
i
)) = g
j

k=1
a
k,i
w
k

= a
j,i
by the denition of g
j
. Hence the (i, j)
th
entry of [T
t
]

is a
j,i
. Thus [T
t
]

= ([T]

)
t
.
Now that we have investigated the dual space of a vector space, we note that the dual space is a vector
space so there exists a dual space of each dual space. Again this can lead to some interesting results.
Denition) Let V be a vector space over a eld F. The double dual of V (also called the second dual
space of V ), denoted V

, is the dual space of V

; that is
V

= (V

)

= {S : V

F | S is linear}
One interesting property of the double dual of V is that vectors in V can be viewed as vectors in the
double dual.
Theorem 4) Let V be a vector space over a eld F. For each vector v V , dene

v : V

F by

v(f) = f(v) for all f V

. Then

v V

for each vector v V . Moreover the map : V V

dened by
(v) =

v for all v V is linear. The map is called the canonical inclusion of V into V

.
Proof: Fix v V . Since

v : V

F, to show that

v V

we need to show that

v is linear. To
see this, let f
1
, f
2
V

and F be arbitrary. Then

v(f
1
+ f
2
) = (f
1
+ f
2
)(v) by the denition of

v
= f
1
(v) + f
2
(v) by the denition of the sum of two linear maps
=

v(f
1
) +

v(f
2
) by the denition of

v
3
Hence

v is linear so

v V

for all v V .
To show that : V V

is linear, we need to show for all v
1
, v
2
V and F that (v
1
+ v
2
) =
(v
1
) +(v
2
); that is, we need to show that

v
1
+v
2
=

v
1
+

v
2
. Since

v
1
+v
2
and

v
1
+

v
2
are functions
from V

to F, to show that

v
1
+v
2
=

v
1
+

v
2
is suces to show that

v
1
+v
2
(f) = (

v
1
+

v
2
)(f)
for all f V

. However, if f V

is arbitrary

v
1
+v
2
(f) = f(v
1
+v
2
) by the denition of

v
1
+v
2
= f(v
1
) + f(v
2
) since f is linear
=

v
1
(f) +

v
2
(f) by the denition of

v
1
and

v
2
= (

v
1
+

v
2
)(f) by the denition of the sum of linear maps
Hence, as f V

was arbitrary, is a linear map.
In the nite dimensional setting, the canonical inclusion of V into V

is an isomorphism.
Theorem 5) Let V be a vector space over a eld F. The canonical inclusion of V into V

, : V V

,
is an isomorphism.
Solution: Notice dim(V

) = dim((V

)

) = dim(V

) = dim(V ). Therefore, since is linear and
dim(V

) = dim(V ), will be an isomorphism if and only if is one-to-one.
To see that is one-to-one, suppose v ker(). We desire to show that v =

0
V
. Since v ker(),
(v) =

0
V
so

v =

0
V
. Therefore, for all f V

, f(v) =

v(f) =

0
V
(f) = 0. Hence v =

0
V
by Theorem
2). Thus is an isomorphism.
4