I know that in, for example, Galerkin's method we try to approximate the solution via a sum
$$ \sum_{j=1}^{n} u_{j} a\left(e_{j}, e_{i}\right) $$
with $a\langle \cdot ,\cdot \rangle$ a bilinear form and $u_j$ are the test functions. However I have come across a sentence 'Each row of a Galerkin system matrix is associated with a locally supported test function, while each matrix column is associated with a trial function. ' and I'm not sure what the trial functions are. Can anybody help or point me to a definition?