Solution S.C21 Robert Beezer
In order to belong to $W$, we must be able to express $C$ as a linear combination of the elements in the spanning set of $W$. So we begin with such an expression, using the unknowns $a,\,b,\,c$ for the scalars in the linear combination. \begin{equation*} C= \begin{bmatrix} -3 & 3\\6 & -4 \end{bmatrix} = a \begin{bmatrix} 2 & 1\\3 & -1 \end{bmatrix} +b \begin{bmatrix} 4 & 0\\2 & 3 \end{bmatrix} +c \begin{bmatrix} -3 & 1\\2 & 1 \end{bmatrix} \end{equation*} Massaging the right-hand side, according to the definition of the vector space operations in $M_{22}$ (Example VSM), we find the matrix equality, \begin{equation*} \begin{bmatrix} -3 & 3\\6 & -4 \end{bmatrix} = \begin{bmatrix} 2a+4b-3c & a+c\\ 3a+2b+2c & -a+3b+c \end{bmatrix} \end{equation*} Matrix equality allows us to form a system of four equations in three variables, whose augmented matrix row-reduces as follows, \begin{equation*} \begin{bmatrix} 2 & 4 & -3 & -3 \\ 1 & 0 & 1 & 3 \\ 3 & 2 & 2 & 6 \\ -1 & 3 & 1 & -4 \end{bmatrix} \rref \begin{bmatrix} \leading{1} & 0 & 0 & 2 \\ 0 & \leading{1} & 0 & -1 \\ 0 & 0 & \leading{1} & 1 \\ 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \end{bmatrix} \end{equation*} Since this system of equations is consistent (Theorem RCLS), a solution will provide values for $a,\,b$ and $c$ that allow us to recognize $C$ as an element of $W$.