Every finite-dimensional linear map can be represented by a matrix. But what about the opposite: Does every matrix correspond to a linear map?
3 Answers
Well, not every matrix, necessarily. We could take matrices of arbitrary sets, for example, which needn't have any associated operations.
However, assuming that you're taking matrices of elements of some field $\Bbb F,$ then the answer is yes. Given any such matrix, say $A,$ if $A$ is $m\times n,$ then the map $T:\Bbb F^n\to\Bbb F^m$ given by $T(\vec x)=A\vec x$ is linear.
Yes. If you have a $m\times n$ matrix $M$, then this can be seen as a map from $\mathbb{R}^n$ to $\mathbb{R}^m$ by $M(x) = Mx$.
If $A\in\mathcal M_{n,p}(\Bbb R)$ then the map $$f\colon \Bbb R^p\rightarrow \Bbb R^n,\quad x\mapsto A x$$ is a linear transformation which's represented by the matrix $A$ in the canonical basis.
