Give an example of two linear maps T1T_1 and T2T_2 from R5\mathbf R^5 to R2\mathbf R^2 that have the same null space but are such that T1T_1 is not a scalar multiple of T2T_2.


Let T1(x1,,x5)=x1+x2T_1(x_1,\dots,x_5) = x_1+x_2 and T2(x1,,x5)=x1x2T_2(x_1,\dots,x_5) = x_1-x_2. Clearly

null T1={(0,0,x3,x4,x5)R5:x3,x4,x5R}=null T2\text{null }T_1 = \{(0,0,x_3,x_4,x_5) \in \mathbf{R}^5 : x_3,x_4,x_5 \in \mathbf{R}\} = \text{null }T_2

But T1λT2T_1 \ne \lambda T_2 for any λR\lambda \in \mathbf R since x1+x2x_1+x_2 cannot be made to equal λ(x1x2)\lambda(x_1-x_2) at every x1,x2x_1,x_2.