Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
MA 110: Linear Algebra and Differential Equations
Spring 2025
Code A SRG/SB
Mid-semester Examination
Day: Sunday Date : 23.02.2025
Time : 8.30 AM – 10.30 AM Max Marks : 30
NOTE: 1. Attempt all the questions. Answers to the questions should be written in the
answerbook provided separately. Begin the answer to a question on a new page. Answers
to all subparts of a question should appear together.
2. Please make sure that your roll number and division and tutorial batch is written on
the answerbook as well as every supplement you may take. Failure to do so may result in
a penalty of 2 marks.
3. In the following, m, n denote positive integers, R the set of all real numbers, C the set
of all complex numbers, and K can be R or C. Also In denotes the n × n identity matrix
Q. 1 (i) Let A and B be n × n matrices with entries in R such that AB = A2 + A + In .
Show that A and B commute, that is, show that AB = BA. [2 marks]
(ii) Consider an m × n matrix A and an n × m matrix B with entries in R. Show
that the nullity of (AB − Im ) is the same as the nullity of (BA − In ) Deduce that
(AB − Im ) is invertible if and only (BA − In ) is invertible. [3 marks]
Q. 2 Let V be a vector space over K and S be a subset of V . (i) Define when S is said
to be linearly dependent. Also define what is meant by the span of S. [2 marks]
(ii) Prove the following crucial result: If S contains s elements and S ⊂ span(R) for
some set R with r elements and if s > r, then S is linearly dependent. [3 marks]
Q. 3 (i) Give an example of a square matrix A such that A2 + I = 0, where I denotes
the identity matrix and 0 the zero matrix (of the same size as A). [1 mark]
(ii) Show that if n is odd, then there does not exist any n × n matrix A with entries
in R such that A2 + I = 0. [4 marks]
1
Q. 4 Let A be an n × n matrix with entries in C.
(i) Define what is meant by the adjoint A∗ of A. Show that rank(A∗ ) = rank(A∗ A).
[2 marks]
(ii) Assume that all the entries of A are in R and A∗ = A. If all the eigenvalues of
A are positive real numbers, then show that xT Ax > 0 for every nonzero column
vector x ∈ Rn×1 . [3 marks]
Q. 5 (i) Let V = R2×2 be the space of all 2 × 2 matrices with entries in R and consider
the ordered basis E = {E11 , E12 , E21 , E22 } of V , where Ejk denotes the 2 × 2 matrix
whose (j, k)th entry is 1 and all other entries are 0. Let T : V → V be the linear
map defined by T (A) = AT , the transpose of A. Find the matrix ME E (T ) of T with
respect to E. [2 marks]
(ii) Consider the quadric surface in R3 given by
7x2 + 7y 2 − 2z 2 + 20yz − 20zx − 2xy − 36 = 0,
and let Q(x, y, z) be the ternary quadratic form associated to this surface. Find an
orthogonal set of coordinates u, v, w such that Q(x, y, z) becomes a diagonal form
in u, v, w. Write explicitly the expressions for u, v, w in terms of x, y, z. [3 marks]
Q. 6 (i) Find the best approximation for a solution of the following system of linear
equations:
1 0 1
1 0 X = 0 [2 marks]
0 1 0
(ii) Let C[−3, 3] be the vector space of all continuous real-valued functions defined
on the interval [−3, 3]. Consider the usual inner product on C[−3, 3] defined by
Z 3
hf, gi = f (t)g(t)dt
−3
Let W be the subspace of C[−3, 3] spanned by the polynomial functions 1 and t.
Find the orthogonal projection of the function t2 + t onto W . [3 marks]
