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Coordinate Vector (Linear Algebra)

Let B={b1⃗,b2⃗,…,bn⃗}B = \{\vec{b_1}, \vec{b_2}, \ldots, \vec{b_n}\} be a basis for the vector space V=RnV = \mathbb{R}^n.

Then, every vector x⃗∈V\vec{x} \in V can be written uniquely as a linear combination:

x=c1b1⃗+c2b2⃗+…+cnbn⃗x = c_1 \vec{b_1} + c_2 \vec{b_2} + \ldots + c_n \vec{b_n}

The vector

[x⃗]B=(c1c2⋮cn) [\vec{x}]_B = \begin{pmatrix}c_1 \\ c_2 \\ \vdots \\ c_n \end{pmatrix}

is then called the coordinate vector[📖LLM21, 256] of x⃗\vec{x} relative to B.


References

  1. [LLM21]: Lay, David and Lay, Steven and McDonald, Judi: Linear Algebra and Its Applications Global Edition (2021), Pearson Deutschland [BibTeX]