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18 Linear Independence

The document defines linear independence and dependence of functions and introduces the Wronskian determinant as a tool to determine if functions are linearly independent over an interval. It then provides examples of determining if various function groups are linearly independent or dependent by calculating their Wronskians and seeing if they equal zero at any point in the interval.

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75 views3 pages

18 Linear Independence

The document defines linear independence and dependence of functions and introduces the Wronskian determinant as a tool to determine if functions are linearly independent over an interval. It then provides examples of determining if various function groups are linearly independent or dependent by calculating their Wronskians and seeing if they equal zero at any point in the interval.

Uploaded by

RL Estona
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Linear Independence

Given the functions f1 , f2 , · · · , fn and if the constants c1 , c2 , · · · , cn not all zero exist
such that
c1 f1 (x) + c2 f2 (x) + · · · + cn fn (x) = 0 (1)
for all x in some interval a ≤ x ≤ b, then the functions f1 , f2 , · · · , fn are said to be linearly
dependent on that interval. If no such relations exists, the function are said to be linearly
independent. That is, the functions f1 , f2 , · · · , fn are linearly independent on an interval
when (1) implies that c1 = c2 = · · · = cn = 0 It should be clear that if a function of a set
is linearly dependent, at least one of them is a linear combination of the others; if they are
linearly independent, then none of them is a linear combination of the others.

The Wronskian

With the definition of linear independence, we shall now obtain a sufficient condition
that n functions be linearly independent on an interval a ≤ x ≤ b. Let us assume that each
of the functions f1 , f2 , · · · , fn is differentiable at least (n−1) times in the interval a ≤ x ≤ b.
Then from the equation

c1 f1 (x) + c2 f2 (x) + · · · + cn fn (x) = 0

it follows by successive differentiation that

c1 f10 (x) + c2 f20 (x) + · · · + cn fn0 (x) = 0

c1 f100 (x) + c2 f200 (x) + · · · + cn fn00 (x) = 0


..
.
(n−1) (n−1)
c1 f 1 (x) + c2 f2 (x) + · · · + cn fn(n−1) (x) = 0

For any fixed value of x in the interval a ≤ x ≤ b, the nature of the solution of these
n linear equations in c1 , c2 , · · · , cn , will be determined by the value of the determinant

f1 (x) f2 (x) ··· fn (x)


f10 (x) f20 (x) ··· fn0 (x)
W (x) = .. .. ... ..
. . .
(n−1) (n−1) (n−1)
f1 (x) f2 (x) · · · fn (x)
If W (x) 6= 0 for some x0 on the interval a ≤ x ≤ b, then it follows that c1 , c2 , · · · , cn ,
and hence the functions f1 , f2 , · · · , fn are linearly independent on a ≤ x ≤ b.

The function W (x) is called the Wronskian determinant, or simply Wronskian, of the
n functions f1 , f2 , · · · , fn . We have shown that if at one point on the interval the Wronskian
is not zero, then the functions are linearly independent on that interval.

Theorem 3

If, on the interval a ≤ x ≤ b, b0 6= 0, b0 , b1 , · · · , bn are continuous and y1 , y2 , · · · , yn


are solutions of the equation
b0 (x)y (n) + b1 (x)y (n−1) + · · · + bn−1 (x)y 0 + bn (x)y = 0
then a necessary and sufficient condition that y1 , y2 , · · · , yn be linearly independent is that
the Wronskian of y1 , y2 , · · · , yn differ from zero at least one point on the interval a ≤ x ≤ b.

Example 1.
Show that ex , e2x , e3x are linearly independent.

Solution:
ex e2x e3x
W (x) = ex 2e2x 3e3x
ex 4e2x 9e3x
W (x) = 18e6x + 3e6x + 4e6x − 2e6x − 12e6x − 9e6x
W (x) = 2e6x
Since W (x) = 2e2x 6= 0, then ex , e2x , e3x are linearly independent.

Example 2.
Show that ex , cos x, sin x are linearly independent.

Solution:
ex cos x sin x
x
W (x) = e − sin x cos x
ex − cos x − sin x
W (x) = ex sin2 x + ex cos x − ex sin x cos x + ex sin2 x + ex cos2 x + ex sin x cos x
W (x) = 2ex sin2 x + 2ex cos2 x
W (x) = 2ex (sin2 x + cos2 x)
W (x) = 2e6x
Since W (x) = 2e2x 6= 0, then ex , cos x, sin x are linearly independent.
Example 3.

Show that cos (ωt − β), cos ωt, sin ωt are linearly dependent functions of t.

Solution:
cos (ωt − β) cos ωt sin ωt
W (t) = −ω sin (ωt − β) −ω sin ωt ω cos ωt
−ω 2 cos (ωt − β) −ω 2 cos ωt −ω 2 sin ωt
W (t) = 0

Since W (t) = 0, then cos (ωt − β), cos ωt, sin ωt are linearly dependent.

Example 4.

Show that 1, sin2 x, cos2 x are linearly dependent.

Solution:
1 sin2 x cos2 x
W (x) = 0 sin 2x − sin 2x
0 2 cos 2x −2 cos 2x
W (x) = −2 sin 2x cos 2x + 0 + 0 − 0 + 2 sin 2x cos 2x − 0
W (x) = 0

Since W (x) = 0, then 1, sin2 x, cos2 x are linearly dependent.

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