Endomorphisms and Automorphisms
A linear transformation f: V → V is an endomorphism of V; the set of all such endomorphisms End(V) together with addition, composition and scalar multiplication as defined above forms an associative algebra with identity element over the field K (and in particular a ring). The multiplicative identity element of this algebra is the identity map id: V → V.
An endomorphism of V that is also an isomorphism is called an automorphism of V. The composition of two automorphisms is again an automorphism, and the set of all automorphisms of V forms a group, the automorphism group of V which is denoted by Aut(V) or GL(V). Since the automorphisms are precisely those endomorphisms which possess inverses under composition, Aut(V) is the group of units in the ring End(V).
If V has finite dimension n, then End(V) is isomorphic to the associative algebra of all n × n matrices with entries in K. The automorphism group of V is isomorphic to the general linear group GL(n, K) of all n × n invertible matrices with entries in K.
Read more about this topic: Linear Map