) + (a2
) + ... + (an
) where a1
, ... ,an
, ... sn
s, then L is a linear combination
, ... , sn
In English, that means that if you have some vectors, which are just n-tuples (pairs of numbers, or triplets, etc.), and you take a combination of them, for example one of the first, three of the second, and none of third, then that combination is called a linear combination of those three vectors. The reason it's called "linear" is because you are just taking a multiple of them, you're not multiplying them by anyting nasty, or squaring them, or anyting like that.
This term is used a lot in linear algebra.