MAM2000W Module 2LA: Linear Algebra

Chapter 1 Some answers to the exercises 2023

Section 1.1

1. 20 tons of each type of fuel should be manufactured.

2. The equations are:

jk+1 = 0.33ak
sk+1 = 0.18jk
ak+1 = 0.71jk + 0.94ak .

Section 1.2

Note: Questions 1,and 4 must be answered for matrices of arbitrary sizes;

it is not in order to assume that they are all 2 × 2.

1. In each case, show that the entry in the i-th row and j-th column on
the left hand side is equal to the entry in the i-th row and j-th column
on the right hand side.
 
−5 2 3
2. (a) A =  −2 0 2 
−4 2 2
 
−2 − λ 2 3
(b) A =  −2 3 − λ 2 
−4 2 5−λ
3. Check your answers with OCTAVE or Wolfram Alpha.
(e) BA is not defined.

4. Let A be an m × n matrix, and B be a n × p matrix, and C = AB.

(a) Let row ` in matrix A have only zeros. For each integer j such
that 1 ≤ j ≤ p, we have
n
X
c`j = a`k bkj = 0,
k=1

because a`k = 0 for all k. So row ` in the matrix AB also has zeroes
only.
(b) Use a similar argument to (a) above.

5. (a) True.
1 1
6 0, then A =
If kA = O and k = (kA) = O = O.
k k

1
 [There are other ways of writing this out; this is certainly one of the
fastest. If the logic isn’t clear to you, we are using the fact that, for
any propositions P, Q, R, the statement P ⇒ Q ∨ R is logically equiv-
alent to P ∧ ¬Q ⇒ R.]
(b) False.    
1 0 0 0
As a counter-example you could take A = and B = .
0 0 0 1
   
1 −1 1 0
6. As a counter-example, let A = and B = .
−1 1 1 0
Then    
2 4 −3 2 2 3 −2
(A + B) = , but A + 2AB + B = . A
0 1 −1 2
correct expansion is:

(A + B)2 = (A + B)(A + B)
= A(A + B) + B(A + B)
= A2 + AB + BA + B 2 .

Here we use the left and right distributive laws. Because matrix mul-
tiplication is not commutative, we cannot assume that AB = BA.

7. Let A = (aij ), B = (bij ) and C = (cij ). Then

n
X
The (i, j)-th entry of A(B + C) = [aik (bkj + ckj )]
k=1
Xn
= [(aik bkj ) + (aik ckj )]
k=1
Xn n
X
= aik bkj + aik ckj
k=1 k=1
= the (i, j)-th entry of AB + AC.

Notice that we are using the fact that the addition and multiplica-
tion of real numbers satisfies the distributive law (where?) and the
commutative law (where?).

8. Use a similar strategy to the one used in Question 7.

9. Use (A + B)T = AT + BT .

10. True. We have 0 = A2 = AAT . Now use the fact that each diagonal
element of AAT must be 0.

11. Check, using the definitions of symmetric and skew-symmetric.

2
 12. (b) B + C = 2A.

13. We want to show that, if A is an n × n matrix, then A can be written

uniquely in the form A = S + K, where S is symmetric and K is
skew-symmetric.
Let S = 12 (A + AT ) and K = 21 (A − AT ). It is clear that S + K =
1 T 1 T 1 1 T 1 1 T
2 (A + A ) + 2 (A − A ) = 2 A + 2 A + 2 A − 2 A = A. Question
11 shows that that S is symmetric and K is skew-symmetric. So we
know that we can express A in the required way; what remains is
to show that this is the only possible way. For this, suppose that
A = S1 + K1 = S2 + K2 , where S1 , S2 are both symmetric, and K1 , K2
are both skew-symmetric. Then S1 − S2 = K2 − K1 and S1 − S2 is
symmetric and K2 − K1 is skew-symmetric. Is it possible for a matrix
to be symmetric and skew-symmetric? Let’s see: If B is both, then
B T = B = −B, so B = O, a zero matrix. So S1 − S2 = O and
K2 − K1 = O, so S1 = S2 and K1 = K2 , as required.

Section 1.3
 
7 3
1. (a) ,− ,0
8 2
 
1 3
(b) − , , 1, 2
6 2
(c) Inconsistent.

Section 1.4

1. (a) Yes (b) No (c) Yes (d) No (e) No (f) Yes

1
2. (a) (x, y, z) = (−5, 0, −2) + t( , 1, 0) for t ∈ R.
2
18 5 3
(b) (x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 ) = ( , 0, −2, 0) + t( , 0, −1, 1) + s(− , 1, 0, 0),
4 4 4
where s, t ∈ R.    
10 5 2 3 1
(c) (x, y, z, w) = − , − , 1, 0 + t ,− ,− ,1 ,
3 2 3 4 2
where t ∈ R.  
1
(d) (x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 ) = t − 8, t, −2, 3 , where t ∈ R.
2
s
(e) (x, y, z, u, v) = (t, − 2, s, 3, 0), where t, s ∈ R.
4
     
3 3 1
3. (c) (u, v, w, x, y) = , 0, 2, 5, 0 +t , 1, 0, 0, 0 +s − , 0, −3, −3, 1 ,
2 2 2
where s, t ∈ R.  
53 32 9 1
(d) (x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 ) = + s, + 8s, (4 + 20s), s , where s ∈
45 9 5 15
R.

3
 4. Use the Linear Algebra Toolkit to check your answer.
 
0
5. (a)  1 .
1
 
1
(b)  1 .
1

6. (a) F (b) F (c) T (d) T

Section 1.5

1. (a) Let I be the n × n identity matrix. In order to have AB = I,

we would need A to be n × p and B to be p × n, for some natural
number p. On the other hand, to have BA = I, we would need A to
be q × n and B to be n × q, for some natural number q. So to have
AB = I = BA, we need n = p = q, which makes A and B both n × n.
(b) False. For example, let A be any n × n matrix such
 that A 6=
1 2
In , and B = In . (For instance you could take A = and
3 4
 
1 0
B= .) Then A and B are both square, and AB = BA, but
0 1
A 6= B −1 .

2. Show that if ad − bc = 0, then the matrix is singular.

3. First we show that, for any invertible matrix B, (B T )−1 = (B −1 )T :

This means that we must show that the inverse of B T is (B −1 )T ; so
we multiply together B T .(B −1 )T = (B −1 B)T = I T = I (see Theorem
1.4.18). Similarly, (B −1 )T .B T = I. This gives (B T )−1 = (B −1 )T .
Now suppose that A is symmetric and invertible (i.e. is non-singular);
so A = AT . Then (A−1 )T = (AT )−1 = A−1 , (make sure you under-
stand each of these steps) so A−1 is indeed symmetric.

Section 1.6

1. (a) e−1 = e in this case.

(b) Add 2 times the first row to the third row.
(c) Multiply the third row by 23 .
(d) Add −7 times the fourth row to the second row.

2. None of the given matrices is elementary.

3. You should get e(B) = EB, e(C) = EC.

4
    
1 0 1 0
4. (a) E1 = , E2 =
−2 1 0 13
(b) E2 E1 = A−1   
1 0 1 0
(c) A = E1−1 E2−1 =
2 1 0 3
5. Use OCTAVE to check your answers. (Once you have entered A, the
command “inv(A)” will give the inverse of A if it exists.) Alterna-
tivelybuse Wolfram Alpha to check your answers.
6. Use AB = I to show that B is non-singular, hence invertible. Then
AB = I implies B −1 = A.
7. See Question 5 (b),(c) of Tutorial 3.
8. Hint: If x = y is any solution of Ax = b, show that y − c is a solution
of Ax = 0.
9. (a) Let b = (b1 , b2 , b3 )T .
(i) b2 + b3 = 0 (ii) b2 + b3 6= 0 (iii) Not possible.
(b) Singular.
10. (a) True. Hint for proof: See Question 3 of Tutorial 4.
(b) False. See tutorial 4, Question 4.
11. There are several possible answers for this question, depending on the
elementary row operations you use to reduce A to the identity matrix.
See Question 4 of Tutorial 3 for a solution of a similar question.
12. B is not necessarily invertible. It will only be invertible if all the
diagonal elements in U are non-zero.
Section 1.7

1. (a) 0 (b) 52 (c) 0 (d) −123

2. (a) −5 (b) −1 (c) 1 (d) 0
3. −120
4. −216
1 8 1
5. (a) −189 (b) − (c) − (d) − (e) 7
7 7 56
6. The eigenvalues are 1 and 0.
7. In Tutorial 3, Question 5(c) we proved that if A and B are square
of the same size and AB is invertible, then A and B are invertible.
Consider the contrapositive.