Transformations
A description of vector transformations and how they're preformed
We can transform a vector to change it into another vector. In general, this vector can be in the same or in a different vector space - for example, a vector along one plane could transform into a vector along another plane (Das, R ).
Notation
Transformations are labeled with a letter wearing a little hat - like this: . To apply the transformation, we multiply the vector by the transformation.
So, the expression...
...describes , which is a result of transformed by (multiplied by the matrix represented by) .
Transformation Matrices
In general, we can use a matrix to define the actions preformed which result in a given transformation. We multiply a vector by the transformation to apply these operations in the proper order.
Examples
The Identity Matrix
If you preform the multiplication here you'll see that this transformation didn't do anything - we call this the identity transformation because it gives us the identity of the matrix we transform it by. This special matrix will come in handy later.
Rotational Matrix
This transformation rotated by .
Types of Transformations
Transformations - Generally
In general, any matrix which can be "applied" or multiplied to another matrix can be a transformation.
In the case of a column vector, we're affecting some kind of change on it, taking one thing and "making" it into another. The old vector and the new vector share a particular relationship, which is described by the transformation matrix.
Linear Transformations
A linear transformation is a transformation that affects a vector within the context of vector spaces.
For example, we take a vector along one plane and transform it to a vector along another plane. Or perhaps we take a vector and rotate it within the same plane. We're talking about transformations within the context of linear relationships (Nykam, D ).
Operators
Operators are special linear transformations that transform a vector within it's vector space.
In this case we can't change a vector in one plane into a vector in another plane, but we can rotate a vector along the same plane. This means all operators are linear transformations, but not vice versa.
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