Definition:Rank

Definition

Linear Transformation

Let $\phi$ be a linear transformation from one vector space to another.

If the image of $\phi$ is finite-dimensional, its dimension is called the rank of $\phi$ and is denoted $\rho \left({\phi}\right)$.

Matrix

Let $K$ be a field.

Let $\mathbf A$ be an $m \times n$ matrix over $K$.

Then the rank of $\mathbf A$, denoted $\rho \left({\mathbf A}\right)$, is the dimension of the subspace of $K^m$ generated by the columns of $\mathbf A$.

That is, it is the dimension of the column space of $\mathbf A$.

Sources

• Seth Warner: Modern Algebra (1965): $\S 28, \ \S 29$
• For a video presentation of the contents of this page, visit the Khan Academy.