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I have trouble understanding the following exercise so I would really appreciate any help you could give me:

Let $k$ be a non zero vector in $\mathbb R^n$, written in standard basis. Let $H$ be defined as $H:=I-2\dfrac{\mathbf{n}\mathbf{n}^T}{\|\mathbf{n}\|^2}$, where $I$ is the identity matrix:

a) Prove, that $V = \{ u\in \mathbb{R}^n : k^Tu = 0\}$ is a vector subspace in $\mathbb{R}^n$ . What is its dimension?

b) Prove, that the transformation matrix $H$ mirrors over the subspace of $V$ in $\mathbb{R}^n$ (you have to prove, that $Hk=-k$ and $Hv = v$ for every $v\in V$).

c) Prove, by an example, that $H^2 = I$, so $H^{-1}=H$.

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Let's talk about (a). You've got to prove that V is a sub space of $\mathbb{R}^n$, that's the idea: you can assume that the vector $k$ is $e_1=\left( \begin{array}{c} 1\\ 0\\ .\\ .\\ .\\ 0\\ \end{array} \right)$ $\space$ (why?!) and prove that $V=$Span$\{e_i, $ with $i$ from $2$ to $n$$\}$. As you can imagine its dimension is $n-1$. I suggest you to call it $k$ orthogonal or simply $k^{\perp}=V$

(b)&(c) looks a bit disconnected by (a), my interpretation it that you've got to show a matrix $H$, $n \times n$, such that $H^2=Id$ and $Hk=-k$. Consider $\begin{pmatrix}-1 & 0 \\ 0 & Id_{n-1}\end{pmatrix}$ and try to prove it, ask for any more hints.

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    1) Ye, that's right, I was just following an other way (and showing the moral behind the exercise). If you want to follow the way of direct verify you won't find any difficulty and it's exactly what you said. 2) It's just a notation. It's a square $n$ matrix which has an $Id_{n-1}$ inside.2012-11-25