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I have a practice problem where I'm asked to determine the values in the third matrix here that would make this set of vectors linearly independent.

$$5\begin{bmatrix} 1 & -3 \\ -4 & 0 \end{bmatrix} + 3\begin{bmatrix} -3 & 7 \\ 6 & -2 \end{bmatrix}-2\begin{bmatrix} w & x \\ y & z \\ \end{bmatrix} = 0$$

How can I do this? I'm using Axler's Linear Algebra Done Right, so am looking to not use determinants. I know I need to find the values such that any linear combination of the vectors only equals $0$ if the coefficients are $0$, but not sure how to go about this particular example. Thanks for any help

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    What does "this set of vectors" refer to?2017-01-27

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Set of vectors (elements - matrices to be precise - in your case) $\{A_1, A_2, \dots, A_n\}$ is said to be linearly independent iff $$\sum_{i=1}^nc_iA_i = 0 \iff c_1, c_2, \dots, c_n = 0$$

$$ 5\begin{bmatrix}1 & -3 \\ -4 & 0 \end{bmatrix} + 3\begin{bmatrix} -3 & 7 \\ 6 & -2 \end{bmatrix} - 2\begin{bmatrix} w & x \\ y & z \\ \end{bmatrix} \neq 0$$

Multiplying each matrix by scalar we get $$ \begin{bmatrix}5 & -15 \\ -20 & 0 \end{bmatrix} + \begin{bmatrix} -9 & 21 \\ 18 & -6 \end{bmatrix} + \begin{bmatrix} -2w & -2x \\ -2y & -2z \\ \end{bmatrix} \neq 0$$

Performing matrix addition element-wise we obtain

$$ \begin{bmatrix}5 - 9 - 2w & -15 + 21 - 2x \\ -20 + 18 - 2y & -6 - 2z \end{bmatrix} = 0$$

This yields,

$5 - 9 - 2w \neq 0 \Longrightarrow w \neq -2$

$-15 + 21 - 2x \neq 0 \Longrightarrow x\neq 3$

$-20 + 18 - 2y \neq 0 \Longrightarrow y \neq -1$

$-6 - 2z \neq 0 \Longrightarrow z \neq -3$

Therefore if set $$S = \left\{\begin{bmatrix}1 & -3 \\ -4 & 0 \end{bmatrix}, \begin{bmatrix} -3 & 7 \\ 6 & -2 \end{bmatrix}, \begin{bmatrix} w & x \\ y & z \\ \end{bmatrix}\right\}$$ is lineary independent then at leat one of following is satisfied

$$x\neq 3, \qquad y \neq -1, \qquad w \neq -2, \qquad z \neq -3$$

Note that it is necessary condition but not sufficient.

In short, lineary independence of set $S$ implies that $$x\neq 3, \qquad y \neq -1, \qquad w \neq -2, \qquad z \neq -3$$ however, it does not hold the other way round, in general.

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    Your argument is not valid. Firstly, note that $$\left\{\begin{bmatrix}1 & -3 \\ -4 & 0 \end{bmatrix}, \begin{bmatrix} -3 & 7 \\ 6 & -2 \end{bmatrix}, \begin{bmatrix} w & x \\ y & z \\ \end{bmatrix}\right\}$$ is a **set** (which must not contain duplicates) therefore if you decide that first matrix is equal to the last one we obtain a set with only two elements $$\left\{\begin{bmatrix}1 & -3 \\ -4 & 0 \end{bmatrix}, \begin{bmatrix} -3 & 7 \\ 6 & -2 \end{bmatrix}\right\}$$ which is indeed linearly independent.2017-01-27