MA23C03 LINEAR ALGEBRA AND NUMERICAL METHODS
UNIT I - Problem Set
1. Is R2 a vector space over R with the following vector addition and scalar multiplication?
(i) (a1 , a2 ) + (b1 , b2 ) = (a1 + b1 , a2 − b2 ) and c(a1 , a2 ) = (ca1 , ca2 ).
(ii) (a1 , a2 ) + (b1 , b2 ) = (a1 + b1 , a2 + b2 ) and c(a1 , a2 ) = (a1 , 0).
(iii) (a1 , a2 ) + (b1 , b2 ) = (a1 + 2b1 , a2 + 3b2 ) and c(a1 , a2 ) = (ca1 , ca2 ).
2. Prove that P (F ), the set of all polynomials in x with coefficients in the field F is a vector space
over F .
3. Prove that M3×3 (R), the set of all 3 × 3 matrices with entries from the field of real numbers R is
a vector space over R.
4. Determine whether the following sets are subspaces of R3 under the operations of addition and
scalar multiplication defined in R3 . Justify your answer.
(i) W = {(a1 , a2 , a3 ) ∈ R3 |a1 = 3a2 and a3 = −a2 }
(ii) W = {(a1 , a2 , a3 ) ∈ R3 |a1 = a2 + 2}
(iii) W = {(a1 , a2 , a3 ) ∈ R3 |a1 = 3a2 and a1 − 2a2 = 1}
5. Which of the following sets are subspaces of Rn under the operations of addition and scalar
multiplication defined in Rn ?
W1 = {(a1 , a2 , . . . , an ) ∈ Rn |a1 + · · · + an = 0}, W2 = {(a1 , a2 , . . . , an ) ∈ Rn |a1 + · · · + an = 1}
W3 = {(a1 , . . . , an )|ai ≥ 0 for all i}
6. Is the set W = {f (x) ∈ P (F )|f (x) = 0 or degree of f (x) is n}, n ≥ 1, a subspace of P (F )?
7. Is W = {A = (aij ) ∈ Mm×n |aij = 0 for i ≥ j}, a subspace of Mm×n ?
8. Let V = F(R, R) be the vector space of all functions from R to R. Let W1 = {f (x) ∈
F(R, R)|f (−x) = f (x)}, the set of all even functions. Let W2 = {f (x) ∈ F(R, R)|f (−x) =
−f (x)}, the set of all odd functions. Prove that W1 and W2 are subspaces of V .
9. Let W1 = {A ∈ Mn×n (R)|A = At }, the set of all symmetric matrices and W2 = {A ∈
Mn×n (R)|A = −At }, the set of all skew-symmetric matrices. Prove that W1 , W2 are subspaces of
Mn×n (R) and Mn×n (R) = W1 ⊕ W2 .
10. In each part determine whether the given vector is in the span of S.
(i) (3, 4, 1), S = {(1, −2, 1), (−2, −1, 1)},
(ii) 2x3 − x2 + x + 3, S = {x3 + x2 + x + 1, x2 + x + 1, x + 1}
(iii) 6x3 − 3x2 + x + 2, S = {x3 − x2 + 2x + 3, 2x3 − 3x + 1}
11. Show that the vectors (1, 1, 0), (1, 0, 1), (0, 1, 1) generate F 3 .
12. Determine whether the following sets are linearly independent or linearly dependent:
( ! ! ! !)
1 0 0 −1 −1 2 2 1
(i) , , , in M2×2 (R),
−2 1 1 1 1 0 2 −2
(ii) {x3 + 2x2 , −x2 + 3x + 1, x3 − x2 + 2x − 1} in P3 (R),
(iii) {(1, −1, 2), (2, 0, 1), (−1, 2, −1)} in R3 .
13. (i) Prove that {1, x, . . . , xn } is a basis for Pn (F ).
(ii) Let pk (x) = xk + · · · + xn , 0 ≤ k ≤ n. Prove that {p0 (x), . . . , pn (x)} is a linearly independent
set in Pn (F ) and hence a basis for Pn (F ).
(ii) Check whether {x2 + 3x − 2, 2x2 + 5x − 3, −x2 − 4x + 4} is a basis for P2 (R).
14. Prove that {e1 , . . . , en } where ej is the vector in F n with 1 in the jth place and zero in other
places, is a basis for F n .
15. Find a basis for Mm×n (F ).
16. Find a basis and hence the dimension of the following subspaces of F 5 .
(i) W1 = {(a1 , a2 , a3 , a4 , a5 ) ∈ F 5 |a1 + a3 + a5 = 0, a2 = a4 },
(ii) W2 = {(a1 , a2 , a3 , a4 , a5 ) ∈ F 5 |a1 − a3 − a4 = 0},
(iii) W3 = {(a1 , a2 , a3 , a4 , a5 ) ∈ F 5 |a2 = a3 = a4 , a3 + a5 = 0}.
17. Write down two different basis for M2×2 (R). Write down 2 different basis for R3 .
18. Can the set {x3 − 3x2 + 1, x + 5, x2 − 4x6 } be a basis for P3 (R)? Justify your answer.
