Basis/Unique representation/Coordinates/Remark

From Wikiversity
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Let a basis of a vector space be given. Due to fact, this means that for every vector there exists a uniquely determined representation

The elementa (scalars) are called the coordinates of with respect to the given basis. Thus, for a fixed basis, we have a (bijective) correspondence between the vectors from and the coordinate tuples . We express this by saying that a basis determines a linear coordinate system.[1]

  1. Linear coordinates give a bijective relation between points and number tuples. Due to linearity, such a bijection respects the addition and the scalar multiplication. In many different contexts, also nonlinear (curvilinear) coordinates are important. Also these put points of space and number tuples into a bijective relation. Examples are polar coordinates, cylindrical coordinates and spherical coordinates. By choosing suitable coordinate, mathematical problems like the computation of volumes can be simplified.