Numerical Methods for Civil Engineers

Lecture Notes
CE 311K
Daene C. McKinney
Introduction to Computer Methods
Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
The University of Texas at Austin

Matrices

Introduction

An important tool in many areas of scientific and engineering analysis and computation is matrix
theory or linear algebra. A wide variety of problems lead ultimately to the need to solve a linear
system of equations . There are two general approaches to the solution of linear systems.
Direct methods, such as the Gauss elimination method, or iterative methods, such as the Gauss
Siedel method. In this section, we will discuss some of the basic notation and results of linear
algebra and then explore their use in the solution of linear systems of equations by Gauss
elimination.

Matrix Notation

A matrix is defined to be a rectangular array of numbers arranged into rows and columns. A
matrix with m rows and n columns can be written as follows:

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This array is an (m x n) matrix. A matrix has no numerical value, it is just a way of representing
arrays (or tables) of numbers. The horizontal elements of the matrix are the rows and the vertical
elements are the columns. Since this matrix is a two-dimensional array of numbers a double
subscript is used to locate any element in the matrix. The first subscript of an element designates
the row, and the second subscript designates the column. Any matrix which has the same
number of rows as columns is called a square matrix.

Examples. The following are matrices:

But the following are not, since they are not rectangular arrays arranged into rows and
columns:

Matrices are usually denoted by uppercase bold letters, e.g., A, B, …, and elements of matrices
by lowercase italic letters, e.g., aij, bij, …

A row matrix (or row vector) is a matrix with one row, i.e., the dimension m = 1. For example

A column vector is a matrix with only one column, e.g.,

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When the row and column dimensions of a matrix are equal (m = n) then the matrix is called
square

The transpose of the (m x n) matrix A is the (n x m) matrix formed by interchanging the rows
and columns such that row i becomes column i of the transposed matrix

Examples:

A symmetric matrix is one where .

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 Example:

Matrix Arithmetic
Two (m x n) matrices A and B are equal if and only if each of their elements are equal. That is

if and only if for i = 1,...,m and j = 1,...,n

The addition of vectors and matrices is allowed whenever the dimensions are the same. The sum
of two (m x 1) column vectors a and b is

Examples:

Let and . Then

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The sum of two (m x n) matrices A and B is

Examples:

1.

2. The following matrix addition is not defined:

3.

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Multiplication of a matrix A by a scalar
is defined as

Examples:

The product of two matrices A and B is defined only if the number of columns of A is equal to
the number of rows of B. If A is (m x p) and B is (p x n), the product is an (m x n) matrix C

The ij element of the matrix C is given by

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That is the cij element is obtained by adding the products of the individual elements of the ith row
of the first matrix by the jth column of the second matrix (i.e., “row-by-column”). The following
figure shows an easy way to check if two matrices are compatible for multiplication and what the
dimensions of the resulting matrix will be:

Examples:

1. Let and , then

2. Let and , then

3. Let

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 4. Let

5. Let

A diagonal matrix is a square matrix where elements off the main diagonal are all zero

The number one in the real number system has the property that for any other number a,
1a=a1=a; also 1(1) = 1. A matrix with these properties is called the identity matrix. An identity
matrix is a square matrix where all the elements on the main diagonal are ones and every other
element is zero

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Matrix division is not a defined operation. The identity matrix has the property that if A is a
square matrix, then

If A is an (n x n) square matrix and there is a matrix X with the property that

where I is the identity matrix, then the matrix X is defined to be the inverse of A and is denoted
A-1. That is

and

The inverse of a (2 x 2) matrix A can be represented simply as

Example:

If , then

An upper triangular matrix is one where all the elements below the main diagonal are zero

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A lower triangular matrix is one where all the elements above the main diagonal are zero

Exercises
1. When addition is defined, add the matrices A and B in the following cases:

a.

b.

c.

d.

e.

f.

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2. Find the products AB and BA when they are defined:

a.

b.

c.

d.

e.

f.

3. Given the diagonal matrices A and B, compute AB and BA. What is true of AB and BA?

4. Given the matrices

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 X= Y= Z=

a. Perform all the multiplications: X*Y, X*Z, Y*Z, Z*Y, Y*X, Z*X

b. Show that Y*Z is not equal to Z*Y

5. A number of matrices are defined as

a. State the dimensions of each matrix.

b. State if each matrix is Square, Rectangular, Column, or Row
c. What are the values of A12; B23; D32; E22; F12; G12?
d. Perform the following operations, if defined:

(1) A + B (2) B – A (3) A + F (4)

(5) A*B (6) B*A (7) A*C (8) CT
(9) DT (10) I*B

6. Is the identity matrix a matrix all of whose elements are equal to one? Yes __X__, No _____

7. If and , then denotes the

a) __X__ product of A and B; b) _____ sum of A and B; c) _____ difference of A and B

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Arrays
8. The following examples each involve references to arrays. Describe the array that is referred
to in each situation.

a. Dim Cost(100) As Single, Items(100,3) As Integer

b. P(i) = P(i) + Q(i,j)

c. Dim Sum As Double

…
Sum = 0
For k = 0 To 3
For j = 0 To 2
Sum = Sum + Z(k,j)
Next j
Next k

9. Shown below are several statements or groups of statements involving arrays or array
elements. Describe the purpose of each statement or group of statements.

a. Dim Values(12) As Single

…
Call Sub1(Values(3))

b. Dim Values(12) As Single

…
Call Sub1(Values()) (Compare with the previous question)

10. Write one or more Visual Basic statements for each of the following situations. Assume that
each subscript ranges from 1 to its maximum value (rather than from 0 to its maximum value).

a. Sum the first n elements of the one-dimensional array Costs( )

b. Sum all elements in column 3 of the two-dimensional array Values(60,20).

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 c. Sum all elements in the first m rows of the two-dimensional array
Values(60,20) described in Part b.

d. Calculate the square root of the sum of the squares of the first 100 odd elements
of the one-dimensional array X(200); i.e., calculate

e. A two-dimensional array W(k,k) has k rows and k columns. Calculate the

product of the elements on the main diagonal of W( , ).

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