LECTURE 14:

EXAMPLES OF CHANGE OF
BASIS AND
MATRIX TRANSFORMATIONS.
QUADRATIC FORMS.
Prof. N. Harnew
University of Oxford
MT 2012
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 Outline: 14. EXAMPLES OF CHANGE OF BASIS
AND MATRIX TRANSFORMATIONS.
QUADRATIC FORMS.
14.1 Examples of change of basis
14.1.1 Representation of a 2D vector in a rotated coordinate
frame
14.1.2 Rotation of a coordinate system in 2D
14.2 Rotation of a vector in fixed 3D coord. system
14.2.1 Example 1
14.2.2 Example 2
14.3 MATRICES AND QUADRATIC FORMS
14.3.1 Example 1: a 2 × 2 quadratic form
14.3.2 Example 2: another 2 × 2 quadratic form
14.3.3 Example 3: a 3 × 3 quadratic form

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 14.1 Examples of change of basis
14.1.1 Representation of a 2D vector in a rotated coordinate
frame

I Transformation of vector r from Cartesian axes (x, y) into frame

(x 0 , y 0 ), rotated by angle θ

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 x 0 = r cos α y 0 = r sin α
x = r cos(θ + α) y = r sin(θ + α)
y sin α
x cos α
→ x 0 = cos(θ+α) → y 0 = sin(θ+α)
x cos α = x 0 cos θ cos α − x 0 sin θ sin α y sin α = y 0 sin θ cos α + y 0 cos θ sin α
Since x 0 sin α = y 0 cos α Since y 0 cos α = x 0 sin α

x = x 0 cos θ − y 0 sin θ y = x 0 sin θ + y 0 cos θ

I Coordinate transformation:  These equations
x0
    
x cos θ − sin θ
= (1)  relate the coordinates

y sin θ cos θ y0 

 of r measured in the
I Take the inverse:  (x, y) frame with those
x0  measured in the rotated
     
cos θ sin θ x 
= (2) 
y0 − sin θ cos θ y (x 0 , y 0 ) frame
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 14.1.2 Rotation of a coordinate system in 2D
I Start from the familiar orthonormal basis
   
1 0
|e1 i = (≡ x̂), |e2 i = (≡ ŷ) (3)
0 1
I Transform the basis via a rotation through an angle θ

   
cos θ − sin θ
New basis : |e01 i = (≡ x̂0 ), |e02 i = (≡ ŷ0 )
sin θ cos θ
(4)

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 I The transformation matrix S is determined from |e0i i = S|ei i
    
S11 S12 1 cos θ S11 = cos θ
= ⇒ (5)
S21 S22 0 sin θ S21 = sin θ
    
S11 S12 0 − sin θ S12 = − sin θ
= ⇒ (6)
S21 S22 1 cos θ S22 = cos θ
 
cos θ − sin θ
Hence S(θ) = (7)
sin θ cos θ

As expected, the basis transformation matrix |ei → |e0 i is the

inverse of the transformation (x, y ) → (x 0 , y 0 ) of the components
derived in the previous sub-section.
I The inverse transformation matrix rotates backwards
 
cos θ sin θ
S −1 (θ) = ≡ S(−θ) (8)
− sin θ cos θ
I It is easy to show via substitution that two successive rotations

S(θ)S(α) = S(α)S(θ) = S(θ + α)

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 14.2 Rotation of a vector in fixed 3D coord. system
I In 3D, we can rotate a vector r about any one of the three axes

r0 = R(θ) r

A rotation about the z axis is given by

 
cos θ − sin θ 0
Rz (θ) =  sin θ cos θ 0  (9)
0 0 1
Note that rotations of a vector in a fixed coordinate system
transform in the same way as rotations of the base vectors (see
previous section).
I For rotations about the x and y axes
   
1 0 0 cos γ 0 sin γ
Rx (α) =  0 cos α − sin α  , Ry (γ) =  0 1 0 
0 sin α cos α − sin γ 0 cos γ
(10)
I But note that now for successive rotations:
Rz (θ)Rx (α) 6= Rx (α)Rz (θ)
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 14.2.1 Example 1
 
Rotate the unit vector cos θ − sin θ 0
(1, 0, 0) by 90◦ about Rz (θ) =  sin θ cos θ 0 
the z-axis 0 0 1
    
0 −1 0 1 0
→  1 0 0  0  =  1 
0 0 1 0 0
→ Which is a unit vector along the
y -axis (as expected).

I Now make a 2nd rotation of 90◦

about the x-axis:
     
1 0 0 0 −1 0 1 0
Rx (90◦ )Rz (90◦ ) = 0 0 −1   1 0 0  0  =  0 
0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1

So ... by now the procedure of matrix multiplication should be clear:

the exact form of the row/column multiplication is necessary to make
a linear transformation between two bases. It is also the required
form for rotations of vectors in their associated vector space(s).
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 14.2.2 Example 2
I Rotate the vector r = (1, 2, 3) by 30◦ about the y axis.
√
sin 30◦ = 1/2; cos 30◦ = 3/2
I The rotation matrix is
   √ 
cos γ 0 sin γ 3/2 0 1/2
Ry (γ) =  0 1 0 = 0 1 √0  (11)
− sin γ 0 cos γ −1/2 0 3/2
 0   √    √ 
x 3/2 0 1/2 1 3/2 + 3/2
 y0  =  0 1 √0
 2  =  2 √  (12)
z0 −1/2 0 3/2 3 −1/2 + 3 3/2

I As a check - rotate back → use inverse matrix

   √  √ 
x 3/2 0 −1/2 3/2 + 3/2
 y = 0 1 √0   2 √  (13)
z 1/2 0 3/2 −1/2 + 3 3/2
 √ √   
3/4 + 3 3/4 + 1/4 − 3 3/4 1
= 
√ 2√  =  2  as required. (14)
3/4 + 3/4 − 3/4 + 9/4 3

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 14.3 MATRICES AND QUADRATIC FORMS
Best illustrated by a few examples.

14.3.1 Example 1: a 2 × 2 quadratic form

I Represent equation x 2 + y 2 = 1 in matrix form X T AX = 1

I Matrix A is a transformation matrix which represents the
conic form of the equation.

    
2 2 x 1 0 x
x +y = (x, y) = (x, y) =1
y 0 1 y
(15)

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 14.3.2 Example 2: another 2 × 2 quadratic form

I Matrix representation:
  
5 2 x
(x, y) =5 (16)
2 3 y

I Write in equation form:

 
5x + 2y
= (x, y) (17)
2x + 3y

= 5x 2 + (2xy + 2xy) + 3y 2 = 5x 2 + 4xy + 3y 2

→ 5x 2 + 4xy + 3y 2 = 5

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 14.3.3 Example 3: a 3 × 3 quadratic form
I Represent x 2 + y 2 − 3z 2 + 2xy + 6xz − 6yz = 4 in the matrix
form (X T AX ).
I Write 
a b c

x
 
ax + by + cz


(x, y, z)  d e f   y  = (x, y, z)  dx + ey + fz  (18)

g h i z gx + hy + iz

= ax 2 + bxy + cxz + dxy + ey 2 + fyz + gxz + hyz + iz 2

I Comparing terms:
[x 2 ] → a = 1; [y 2 ] → e = 1; [z 2 ] → i = −3
[xy ] → b + d = 2; [xz] → c + g = 6; [yz] → f + h = −6
(underconstrained)
 
I In echelon form: 1 0 0
T
set b = c = f = 0 X  2 1 0 X = 4 (19)
6 −6 −3

I In symmetrical form: 1

1 3

set b = d, c = g, f = h X  1T
1 −3  X = 4 (20)
3 −3 −3

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