Row Space, Column Space and Null space

Dr. Juhi Kesarwani Dr. Ashish Kumar Kesarwany

Mathematics Division, School of Advanced Sciences and Languages

VIT Bhopal University, Bhopal-Indore Highway, Kothrikalan, Sehore, Madhya Pradesh, 466114, India

July 12, 2024

Dr. Juhi Kesarwani & Dr. Ashish Kesarwany (VITB) Row Space, Column Space and Null space July 12, 2024 1 / 31
 Table of Contents

1 Row Space and Column Space

2 Nullspace

3 Rank-Nullity theorem

Dr. Juhi Kesarwani & Dr. Ashish Kesarwany (VITB) Row Space, Column Space and Null space July 12, 2024 2 / 31
 Given an m × n matrix
 
a11 a12 ··· a1n
 a21 a22 ··· a2n 
A= .
 
.. .. .. 
 .. . . . 
am1 am2 ··· amn
Consider the following m vectors of Rn
     
a11 a21 am1
a12  a22  am2 
r1 =  .  , r2 =  .  , . . . , rm =  . 
     
 ..   ..   .. 
a1n a2n amn
and the following n vectors of Rm
     
a11 a12 a1n
 a21   a22   a2n 
c1 =  .  , c2 =  .  , . . . , rn =  . 
     
 ..   ..   .. 
am1 am2 amn
Then r1 , r2 , . . . rm are called the row vectors of A and c1 , c2 , . . . , cn are called the
column vectors of A.
Dr. Juhi Kesarwani & Dr. Ashish Kesarwany (VITB) Row Space, Column Space and Null space July 12, 2024 3 / 31
 Row Space and Column Space

Definition(Row Space and Column Space)

Given an m × n matrix A = [aij ].
The row space of A is the subspace of Rn spanned by the row vectors of A
and is denoted by R(A). That is

R(A) = span{r1 , r2 , . . . , rm }

The column space of A is the subspace of Rm spanned by the column vectors

of A and is denoted by R(A). That is

C(A) = span{c1 , c2 , . . . , cn }

Dr. Juhi Kesarwani & Dr. Ashish Kesarwany (VITB) Row Space, Column Space and Null space July 12, 2024 4 / 31
 Example
 
1 24 3
Let A = , then
5 68 7
         

 1 5 
 
 1 5 

2 6 2 6
       
R(A) = span   ,   = α1   + α2   : α1 , α2 ∈ R


 3 7 

  3 7 
  
4 8 4 8
  

and
       
1 2 3 4
C(A) = span , , ,
5 6 7 8

        
1 2 3 4
= α1 + α2 + α3 + α4 : α1 , α2 , α3 , α4 ∈ R
5 6 7 8

Dr. Juhi Kesarwani & Dr. Ashish Kesarwany (VITB) Row Space, Column Space and Null space July 12, 2024 5 / 31
 Definition(Row Equivalent)
Two matrices are row equivalent if one can be obtained from other by a sequence
of elementary row operations.

Dr. Juhi Kesarwani & Dr. Ashish Kesarwany (VITB) Row Space, Column Space and Null space July 12, 2024 6 / 31
 Definition(Row Equivalent)
Two matrices are row equivalent if one can be obtained from other by a sequence
of elementary row operations.

Example
   
1 2 2 4
The matrices A = and B = are row equivalent because
3 4 5 8
     
1 2 2 4 2 4
A= R1 → 2R1 R 2 → R2 + R1 =B
3 4 3 4 5 8

Dr. Juhi Kesarwani & Dr. Ashish Kesarwany (VITB) Row Space, Column Space and Null space July 12, 2024 6 / 31
 Theorem
If a m × n matrix A is row equivalent to a m × n matrix B, then the row space of
A is equal to the row space of B.

Dr. Juhi Kesarwani & Dr. Ashish Kesarwany (VITB) Row Space, Column Space and Null space July 12, 2024 7 / 31
 Theorem
If a m × n matrix A is row equivalent to a m × n matrix B, then the row space of
A is equal to the row space of B.

Theorem
If a matrix A is row-equivalent to a matrix B in row-echelon form (or reduced row
echelon form), then the non-zero row vectors of B form a basis for the row space
of A.

Dr. Juhi Kesarwani & Dr. Ashish Kesarwany (VITB) Row Space, Column Space and Null space July 12, 2024 7 / 31
 Process to find a basis for the row space of a matrix

Let A be a square matrix of size m × n. Then to find a basis of row space of A:

Convert the matrix A into its row echelon form (or reduced row echelon form).

A basis for row space of A is the set of non-zero rows in row echelon form (or
reduced row echelon form).

Dr. Juhi Kesarwani & Dr. Ashish Kesarwany (VITB) Row Space, Column Space and Null space July 12, 2024 8 / 31
 Example
Determine a basis and the dimension of the row space of the matrix
 
2 −1 3
1 0 1
A= 
0 2 −1
1 1 4

Dr. Juhi Kesarwani & Dr. Ashish Kesarwany (VITB) Row Space, Column Space and Null space July 12, 2024 9 / 31
 Solution
To get a basis of row space of A, we must reduce A to its row echelon form
     
2 −1 3 1 0 1 1 0 1
R 2 → R 2 − 2R 1
1 0 1  2 −1 3  0 −1 1 

A= 0 2 −1 R1 ↔ R2 0
  
2 −1  0 2 −1
R4 → R 4 − R1
1 1 4 1 1 4 0 1 3

   
1 0 1 1 0 1
R3 → R3 + 2R2 
0 −1 1 0
 R → R4 − 4R3  −1 1
1 4

0 0 0 0 1
R4 → R4 + R2
0 0 4 0 0 0

which is in row echelon form and therefore a basis for the row space of A is
     
 1 0 0 
0 , −1 , 0
1 1 1
 

this contains three elements and thus dim(R(A)) = 3.

Dr. Juhi Kesarwani & Dr. Ashish Kesarwany (VITB) Row Space, Column Space and Null space July 12, 2024 10 / 31
 Example
Determine a basis and the dimension of the row space of the matrix
 
1 1 4 1 2
0 1 2 1 1
 
A= 0 0 0 1 2

1 −1 0 0 2
2 1 6 0 1

Dr. Juhi Kesarwani & Dr. Ashish Kesarwany (VITB) Row Space, Column Space and Null space July 12, 2024 11 / 31
 Solution
   
1 1 4 1 2 1 1 4 1 2
 R4 → R4 − R1 0 1  R4 → R4 + 2R2
0 1 2 1 1  2 1 1

0
A = 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 1 2
  
 
1 −1 0 0 2 R5 → R5 − 2R1 0 −2 −4 −1 0  R5 → R5 + R2
 
2 1 6 0 1 0 −1 −2 −2 −3
   
1 1 4 1 2 1 1 4 1 2
 R4 → R4 − R3 0 1 2 1 1
0 1 2 1 1  

0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 1 2
  

0 0 0 1 2 R 5 → R 5 + R 3 0 0 0 0 0
 
0 0 0 −1 −2 0 0 0 0 0

which is in row echelon form and therefore a basis for the row space of A is
     

 1 0 0 
1 1 0


     

4 , 2 , 0
     


 1 1 1 
 
2 1 2
 

this contains three elements and thus dim(R(A)) = 3.

Dr. Juhi Kesarwani & Dr. Ashish Kesarwany (VITB) Row Space, Column Space and Null space July 12, 2024 12 / 31
 Process to find a basis for the column space of a matrix

There are two ways to find a basis for the column space:

(1). Find the row-echelon form of A. The columns from the original matrix which
have leading entries when reduced to row echelon form gives a basis for the
column space of A.

Dr. Juhi Kesarwani & Dr. Ashish Kesarwany (VITB) Row Space, Column Space and Null space July 12, 2024 13 / 31
 Process to find a basis for the column space of a matrix

There are two ways to find a basis for the column space:

(1). Find the row-echelon form of A. The columns from the original matrix which
have leading entries when reduced to row echelon form gives a basis for the
column space of A.

(2). The second way to find a basis for the column space of A is to recognize that
the column space of A is equal to the row space of AT . Finding a basis for the
row space of AT is the same as finding a basis for the column space of A.

Dr. Juhi Kesarwani & Dr. Ashish Kesarwany (VITB) Row Space, Column Space and Null space July 12, 2024 13 / 31
 Example
Find a basis and dimension of the column space of the matrix
 
1 2 −1
A = 2 4 −1
3 6 −1

Dr. Juhi Kesarwani & Dr. Ashish Kesarwany (VITB) Row Space, Column Space and Null space July 12, 2024 14 / 31
 Solution
     
1 2 −1 R2 → R2 − 2R1 1 2 −1 1 2 −1
A = 2 4 −1 0 0 1  R3 → R3 − 2R2 0 0 1
3 6 −1 R3 → R3 − 3R1 0 0 2 0 0 0

Leading entries corresponds to 1st and 3rd columns and therefore a basis for the
column space of A is    
 1 −1 
2 , −1
3 −1
 

this contains three elements and hence dim(C(A)) = 2.

Dr. Juhi Kesarwani & Dr. Ashish Kesarwany (VITB) Row Space, Column Space and Null space July 12, 2024 15 / 31
 Solution (Another Solution)
Since column space of A is same as row space of At . Thus we’ll find a basis for the
row space of At and that will be a basis for the column space of At .

     
1 2 3 R2 → R2 − 2R1 1 2 3 1 2 3
At =  2 4 6 0 0 0 R2 ↔ R3 0 1 2
−1 −1 −1 R3 → R3 + R1 0 1 2 0 0 0

Thus a basis for the column space of A is

   
 1 0 
2 , 1
3 2
 

this contains three elements and hence dim(C(A)) = 2.

Dr. Juhi Kesarwani & Dr. Ashish Kesarwany (VITB) Row Space, Column Space and Null space July 12, 2024 16 / 31
 Rank of a Matrix

We have seen earlier that rank of a matrix is defined to be number of non-zero

rows in its row echelon form (or reduced row echelon form). Here we’ll see
another definition.

Definition (Rank of a Matrix)

The rank of a matrix A is defined as following

dim(R(A)) = rank(A) = dim(C(A))

Dr. Juhi Kesarwani & Dr. Ashish Kesarwany (VITB) Row Space, Column Space and Null space July 12, 2024 17 / 31
 Nullspace

Definition (Nullspace)
If A is an m × n matrix A, then the Nullspace of A is denoted by N (A) and is
defined as the set of all solutions to the homogeneous system of linear equations
Ax = 0. i.e.
N (A) = {x ∈ Rn : Ax = 0}

The nullspace of an m × n matrix is a subspace of Rn .

The dimension of nullspace(A) is referred to as the nullity of A and is denoted

by nullity(A).

Dr. Juhi Kesarwani & Dr. Ashish Kesarwany (VITB) Row Space, Column Space and Null space July 12, 2024 18 / 31
 Example
Find the Nullspace of the matrix
 
1 0 1 2
A=
1 1 0 1

and hence find a basis and dimension of the nullspace.

Dr. Juhi Kesarwani & Dr. Ashish Kesarwany (VITB) Row Space, Column Space and Null space July 12, 2024 19 / 31
 Solution
The nullspace(A) is the set of all solutions to the homogeneous system of linear
equations Ax = 0. We’ll find solution using gausian elimination method.
   
∗ 1 0 1 2 0 1 0 1 2 0
A = R 2 → R2 − R1
1 1 0 1 0 0 1 −1 −1 0

which is in row echelon form. The system corresponding to above row echelon form
is

x1 + x3 + 2x4 = 0
x2 − x3 − x4 = 0

Set x3 = s and x4 = t, then x2 = s + t and x1 = −s − 2t.

Dr. Juhi Kesarwani & Dr. Ashish Kesarwany (VITB) Row Space, Column Space and Null space July 12, 2024 20 / 31
 Solution cont. . .

We can express the solution as

     

 x1 
 
 −s − 2t 

x s + t
    
2

N (A) =   : x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 ∈ R = 
   : s, t ∈ R

 x3 
  s  
  
x4 t
  
         

 −s −2t 
 
 −1 −2 

s t 1 1
       
=  +
    : s, t ∈ R =   s +   t : s, t ∈ R

 s 0  
  1  0 
  
0 t 0 1
  

Thus a basis for N (A) is    

 −1
 −2 
  1   1 
 , 
 1
    0 

0 1
 

and this contains two elements and hence nullity(A) = dim(N (A)) = 2.

Dr. Juhi Kesarwani & Dr. Ashish Kesarwany (VITB) Row Space, Column Space and Null space July 12, 2024 21 / 31
 Example
Find a basis for the nullspace of A, where
 
1 1 4 1 2 0
 0 1 2 1 1 0 
 
A=  0 0 0 1 2 0 

 1 1 0 0 2 0 
2 1 6 0 1 0

Dr. Juhi Kesarwani & Dr. Ashish Kesarwany (VITB) Row Space, Column Space and Null space July 12, 2024 22 / 31
 We need to solve the system Ax = 0:

   
1 1 4 1 2 0 1 1 4 1 2 0
 0 1 2 1 1 0  R 4 → R4 − R1  0 1 2 1 1 0 
∗
   
A =
 0 0 0 1 2 0 


 0 0 0 1 2 0 

 1 1 0 0 2 0  R5 → R5 − 2R1  0 −2 −4 −1 0 0 
2 1 6 0 1 0 0 −1 −2 −2 −3 0
   
1 1 4 1 2 0 1 1 4 1 2 0
R4 → R4 + 2R2 
 0 1 2 1 1 0  R4 → R4 − R3 
  0 1 2 1 1 0 


 0 0 0 1 2 0 


 0 0 0 1 2 0 

R 5 → R5 + R2  0 0 0 1 2 0  R 5 → R5 + R3  0 0 0 0 0 0 
0 0 0 −1 −2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

which is in row echelon form. The system corresponding to above row echelon
form is

x1 + x2 + 4x3 + x4 + 2x5 = 0
x2 + 2x3 + x4 + x5 = 0
x4 + 2x5 = 0

Dr. Juhi Kesarwani & Dr. Ashish Kesarwany (VITB) Row Space, Column Space and Null space July 12, 2024 23 / 31
 Set x3 = s and x5 = t then x4 = −2t, x2 = −2s + t and x1 = −2s − t. The
solution set to the system is given by
     

 x1 
 
 −2s − t 



 x 2
 




−2s + t  


   
N (A) = x3  : x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 , x5 ∈ R =  s
   
 : s, t ∈ R


 x4  




 −2t  


   
x5 t
   
         

 −2s −t 
 
 −2 −1 

−2s   t  −2 1

  
   

         
=  s  +  0  : s, t ∈ R =  1  s +  0  t : s, t ∈ R
       
0  −2t   0 −2

  
   


 
 
  
0 t 0 1
  

Thus a basis for N (A) is    


 −2 −1 
−2   1 


   

 1 , 0 
   


  0  −2
 
0 1
 

and this contains two elements and hence nullity(A) = dim(N (A)) = 2.
Dr. Juhi Kesarwani & Dr. Ashish Kesarwany (VITB) Row Space, Column Space and Null space July 12, 2024 24 / 31
 Rank-Nullity theorem

Rank-Nullity theorem
Let A be an m × n matrix. Then the rank-Nullity theorem states that

rank(A) + nullity(A) = n

Dr. Juhi Kesarwani & Dr. Ashish Kesarwany (VITB) Row Space, Column Space and Null space July 12, 2024 25 / 31
 Example
Verify rank-nullity theorem for following matrix
 
3 6 6 3 9
A=
6 12 13 0 3

Dr. Juhi Kesarwani & Dr. Ashish Kesarwany (VITB) Row Space, Column Space and Null space July 12, 2024 26 / 31
 Solution
The augmented matrix of the homogeneous system of linear equations Ax = 0:

   
∗ 3 6 6 3 9 0 R1 1 2 2 1 3 0
A = R1 →
6 12 13 0 3 0 3 6 12 13 0 3 0

 
1 2 2 1 3 0
R2 → R2 − 6R1 R1 → R1 − 2R2
0 0 1 −6 −15 0

 
1 2 0 13 33 0
0 0 1 −6 −15 0

which is in reduced row echelon form and hence rank(A) = 2. The system corre-
sponding to above rref is

x1 + 2x2 + 13x4 + 33x5 = 0

x3 − 6x4 − 15x5 = 0

Dr. Juhi Kesarwani & Dr. Ashish Kesarwany (VITB) Row Space, Column Space and Null space July 12, 2024 27 / 31
 Solution cont . . .
Set x2 = r , x4 = s and x5 = t then x1 = −2r − 13s − 33t, x2 = r , x3 = 6s + 15t,
x4 = s and x5 = t. Therefore the nullspace of A is
     

 x1 
 
 −2r − 13s − 33t 

x2  r
 
 
  
  



N (A) = x3  : x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 , x5 ∈ R = 
   6s + 15t 
 : r , s, t ∈ R
x4 s
 
  
   


 
 
 

x5 t
   
      
 −2r
 −13s −33t 

r   0   0 

 
      


=  0  +  6s  +  15t  : r , s, t ∈ R
     
 0


    s   0  



0 0 t
 
      
 −2
 −13 −33 

1  0   0 

 
  

   


=  0  r +  6  s +  15  t : r , s, t ∈ R
     
 0


    1   0  



0 0 1
 

Dr. Juhi Kesarwani & Dr. Ashish Kesarwany (VITB) Row Space, Column Space and Null space July 12, 2024 28 / 31
 Solution cont . . .

Thus a basis of N (A) is

     
 −2
 −13 −33 
 1   0   0 

 
     
 0  ,  6  ,  15 
     
 0


   1   0  


0 0 1
 

which contains three elements and hence

nullity(A) = dim(N (A)) = 3

Now,
rank(A) + nullity(A) = 2 + 3 = 5 = No. of columns in A
Hence, rank-nullity theorem is verified.

Dr. Juhi Kesarwani & Dr. Ashish Kesarwany (VITB) Row Space, Column Space and Null space July 12, 2024 29 / 31
 Exercise 1:
For each of the following matrices, find a basis for the row space, a basis for the
column space, and a basis for the null space and hence verify rank-nullity theorem.
     
1 3 2 −3 1 3 4 1 3 −2 1
(a) 2 1 4 (b)  1 2 −1 −2 (c) 2 1 3 2
4 7 8 −3 8 4 2 3 4 5 6

Exercise 2:
Find bases for R(A) and N (A) of the matrix
 
1 −2 0 0 3
2 −5 −3 −2 6
 
0 5 15 10 0
2 6 18 8 6

Also find a basis for C(A) by finding a basis for R(AT ).

Dr. Juhi Kesarwani & Dr. Ashish Kesarwany (VITB) Row Space, Column Space and Null space July 12, 2024 30 / 31
 Exercise 3:
Find the nullity and the rank of each of the following matrices:
   
1 3 1 7 1 2 1 2
(a)  2 3 −1 9  (b) 1 1 2 0 
−1 −2 0 −5 2 1 5 −2

For each of the matrices, show that dim R(A) = dim C(A) directly by finding their
bases.

Dr. Juhi Kesarwani & Dr. Ashish Kesarwany (VITB) Row Space, Column Space and Null space July 12, 2024 31 / 31