Paper 1, Section I, 1E1 \mathrm{E}

Linear Algebra | Part IB, 2021

Let VV be a vector space over R,dim⁡V=n\mathbb{R}, \operatorname{dim} V=n, and let ⟨,\langle,,ranglebeanon−degenerateanti−rangle be a non-degenerate anti- symmetric bilinear form on VV.

Let v∈V,v≠0v \in V, v \neq 0. Show that v⊥v^{\perp} is of dimension n−1n-1 and v∈v⊥v \in v^{\perp}. Show that if W⊆v⊥W \subseteq v^{\perp} is a subspace with W⊕Rv=v⊥W \oplus \mathbb{R} v=v^{\perp}, then the restriction of ⟨,\langle,,rangletoWrangle to W is nondegenerate.

Conclude that the dimension of VV is even.

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