The Identity Matrix and Diagonal Matrices - Linear Algebra

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Question

True or false, the set of all diagonal matrices forms a subspace of the vector space of all matrices.

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Answer

To see why it's true, we have to check the two axioms for a subspace.

1. Closure under vector addition: is the sum of two diagonal matrices another diagonal matrix? Yes it is, only the diagonal entries are going to change, if at all. Nonetheless, it's still a diagonal matrix since all the other entries in the matrix are .

2. Closure under scalar multiplication: is a scalar times a diagonal matrix another diagonal matrix? Yes it is. If you multiply any number to a diagonal matrix, only the diagonal entries will change. All the other entries will still be .

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