Accumulated QR factorization identity

LetThenThus ${\overline{Q}}_k{\overline{R}}_k$ is a QR decomposition of the matrix power $A^{k+1}$. In particular, the first $r$ columns of ${\overline{Q}}_k$ span the same subspace as the first $r$ columns of $A^{k+1}$ whenever those columns are independent.