Final answer:
A set of two vectors in R^3 can become a spanning set by adding a third independent vector. A linearly dependent set cannot become independent by adding more vectors. Vector addition is sensitive to magnitude and direction, but not to the order in which vectors are added.
Step-by-step explanation:
Vector Properties in Mathematics
For situation (a), an example of a set of vectors that does not span R^3 could be two vectors, such as (1,0,0) and (0,1,0). Since these vectors only cover the x- and y-axes, a third dimension is missing, and they do not fill the entire space of R^3. By adding another vector that is not in the span of the previous two, such as (0,0,1), the set now spans R^3.
For situation (b), it is not possible to have a set of vectors that are linearly dependent and become linearly independent by adding another vector. A new vector added to a linearly dependent set cannot remove existing dependencies; it can only potentially introduce more dependencies.
No, vectors with different magnitudes can never add to zero. Two vectors can add up to zero when they have the same magnitude but opposite directions. For three or more vectors, they can add up to zero if they form a closed polygon when placed tip-to-tail in sequence.
It is not possible to add a scalar to a vector because they are different mathematical objects; a scalar only has magnitude, while a vector has both magnitude and direction.
The order of addition of three vectors does not affect their sum due to the commutative and associative properties of vector addition. For any three vectors A, B, and C, the sum A + B + C will be the same as C + B + A or any other permutation of these vectors.