Image (mathematics)
From Conservapedia
In mathematics, the image of a linear transformation is its range: all possible values generated by the transformation. A matrix A, which is an expression of a function, has an image denoted by im(A).
If the rows (or columns, equivalently) of a matrix A are linearly independent, then the image of that transformation is the entire space it is applied to.
Examples
Example 1
Consider all the points (vectors) in the plane, ie, (x,y) acting under the transformation
.
We can be sure that the image of this transformation is the entire plane, because for any point
in the plane, there is another vector in the plane
such that
.
Example 2
We continue to work in the plane, but now we examine the matrix
.
Now if we examine how this matrix acts on an arbitary point (a,b), we find that point is carried to
,
in other words, all points in the plane are carried to the line
.
We write
.