Solution SS.C41 Robert Beezer
Rephrasing the question, we want to know if there are scalars $\alpha_1$ and $\alpha_2$ such that \begin{equation*} \alpha_1\colvector{2\\-1\\3\\4}+\alpha_2\colvector{3\\2\\-2\\1}=\colvector{5\\1\\3\\5} \end{equation*} Theorem SLSLC allows us to rephrase the question again as a quest for solutions to the system of four equations in two unknowns with an augmented matrix given by \begin{equation*} \begin{bmatrix} 2 & 3 & 5\\ -1 & 2 & 1\\ 3 & -2 & 3\\ 4 & 1 & 5 \end{bmatrix} \end{equation*} This matrix row-reduces to \begin{equation*} \begin{bmatrix} \leading{1} & 0 & 0\\ 0 & \leading{1} & 0\\ 0 & 0 & \leading{1}\\ 0 & 0 & 0 \end{bmatrix} \end{equation*} With a pivot column in the last column of this matrix (Theorem RCLS) we can see that the system of equations has no solution, so there are no values for $\alpha_1$ and $\alpha_2$ that will allow us to conclude that $\vect{y}$ is in $W$. So $\vect{y}\not\in W$.