Department of Mathematics, University of Toronto

MAT223H1F - Linear Algebra I

Suggestions for Review: Final Exam
The following is more of a review sheet for the material after Midterm II than it is one for the final exam. I
would suggest using the review sheets for the two midterm exams along with this one, as review sheets for
the final exam.
This may not cover every idea you need to master (not that Im intentionally omitting something) but is
intended to identify and solidify the main points and connections between various concepts.
I suggest before you go through this document that you read through all your class notes and/or the textbook and, as youre reading, solve questions as you encounter a new topic. You should at least attempt to
solve all the computational style questions from the textbook, then some of the Find an Example questions
and some of the True or False questions. Once youve systematically worked through all the material from
the beginning, only then read this document. Organizing and carrying out your own review is a critical
step to understanding and mastering new material. It is much more valuable than going through someone
elses review. You should be able to state definitions precisely and make connections between various ideas.
You should be able to solve particular examples explaining you reasoning at every step. If you are doing
a proof and you are using a theorem to help complete the proof, you should state the theorem precisely.
Writing something like By Theorem in the textbook, yadda, yadda, yadda... is not acceptable. You may
find working in small groups may worthwhile.
I hope this helps. Good Luck!

Chapter 8: Orthogonality
Keywords: Dot product, norm (length) of a vector, orthogonal, orthogonal vectors, orthogonal complement,
orthogonal set, orthogonal basis, orthogonal projection onto a vector, orthogonal projection onto a subspace,
Gram-Schmidt process, orthonormal set, orthonormal basis, normalizing.
Define what it means for the set {v1 , . . . , vk } of vectors in Rn to be orthogonal. Define what it means
for the set to be an orthogonal basis for a subspace W of Rn . What is the difference between an
orthogonal basis and an orthonormal basis?
Does every subspace of Rn have an orthonormal basis? What about the zero subspace? Given a basis
for a subspace W of Rn , how do you find an orthonormal basis? Describe the Gram-Schmidt procedure.
What are the essential properties of a projection onto a subspace W of Rn . How do you calculate
projW (x) for any x Rn ? What is projW (x) if x W ? What is projW (x) if x W ?
Practice Problems


x1
1
2
n x1
o
1(a) Consider the subspace W = x2 | x2 0 = 0 of R3 . Express the vector x = 1 as the
x3
x3
1
3
sum of a vector in W and a vector in W .
(b) Let W be a subspace of Rn and let x Rn . Prove that x = projW (x) + projW (x).
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(
2. Let =

2
1
1
1 )
1 3 1 2
, , , .
1 3 0 3
1
4
1
1

(a) Show that is an orthogonal basis for R4 .

(b) Normalize the vectors in to produce an orthonormal basis for R4 .

1
2

(c) Let x =
1. Find [x] - the coordinate vector of x with respect to - and show that ||x|| = ||[x] ||.
3
n
(d) Prove a more general version fo part (c): Let {v
p1 , . . . , vk } be an orthonormal set of vectors in R and
2
2
let x = x1 v1 + + xk vk . Prove that ||x|| = x1 + . . . xk .

1
1
1
1
2
1
4

3(a) Let x1 =
1, x2 = 1 , and x3 = 1 . Show that {x1 , x2 , x3 } is an orthogonal subset of R and
3
0
1
4
find a fourth vector x4 such
that
{x
,
x
1
2 , x3 , x4 } is an orthogonal basis for R . To what extent is x4

x
y

unique? (Hint: Let x4 =

z and solve the system of equations defined by xi x4 = 0 for 1 i 3.)
w
3(b) Prove a general version of 3(a): Let {x1 , x2 , x3 } be an orthogonal subset of R4 . Prove that you can
always find a fourth vector x4 such that {x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 } is an orthogonal basis for R4 . To what extent
is x4 unique? Prove your answer. (Hint: What is the rank of the coefficient matrix for the system of
linear equations defined by xi x4 = 0 for 1 i 3?)

3 )
0 )
1
( 1
1 13
2 1
, , and S2 = , . Note that 1 and 2 are orthogonal subsets
2 4
1 1
4
1
1
2

(
4. Let S1 =
of R4 .

(a) Show that S1 and S2 both span the same subspace W of R4 . In other words show that W = Span(S1 )
iff W = Span(S2 ).

1
1

(b) Taking W = Span(S1 ), find projW (

1).
1

1
1

(c) Taking W = Span(S2 ), find projW (

1). You should get the same answer as in part (b). Why?
1

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x1
x2

. Taking W = Span(S1 ), find projW (x) and a matrix A such that projW (x) = Ax.
(d) Let x =
x3
x4

x1
x2

(e) Let x =
x3 . Taking W = Span(S2 ), find projW (x) and a matrix A such that projW (x) = Ax. You
x4
should get the same matrix A as in part (d). Why?
(f ) Show that the matrix A from part (d) satisfies A2 = A. Explain this result geometrically.
5. Let x Rn and let p be the orthogonal projection of x onto W where W is a subspace of Rn . Prove
that for all y W ,
||x (p + y)||2 = ||x p||2 + ||y||2 .
It follows that p is the closest point in W to y. It may help to draw a picture and interpret the result
geometrically.

Chapter 7: Vector Spaces

Keywords: Vector space, additive inverse, additive identity (zero vector), subspace, trivial subspace, linear
combination, span, linear independence, linear dependence, basis, standard basis, dimension.
State the essential properties of a vector space. Why is the empty set not a vector space?
What is a basis? What are some of the important properties of a basis?
What is the dimension of a vector space V ? Explain how knowing the dimension of a vector space is
helpful when you have to find a basis for the subspace.
State the formal definition of linear independence and linear dependence. Why is linear independence
important when looking at spanning sets?
Explain how you use information about consistency of systems of equations and uniqueness of solutions
in determining if a vector belongs to a given subspace and in testing if a set is linearly independent.
Note how the concepts of span, linear independence, subspace, basis, and dimension extend from
Euclidean space (Rn ) to a general vector space V .
Practice Problems
6. Let V be the set of ordered pairs (x, y) of real numbers with the operations of vector addition and
scalar multiplication given by
(x, y) + (x0 , y 0 ) = (y + y 0 , x + x0 )
c(x, y) = (cx, cy)

V is not a vector space. List one of the properties from the definition of vector space that fails to hold
for V . Justify your answer.

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7. Let V = R22 be the vector space of all 2 2 matrices



a b
V ={
| a, b, c, d R}.
c d
For each of the subsets W of V listed below, determine if it is a subspace of V . If it is, show that all
three conditions in Denition 7.3 of the textbook are satisfied; if it is not, show by example that one of
the conditions fails to hold.


a b
(a) W = {
| a + b = 0}.
c d


a b
(b) W = {
| ab = 0}.
c d
8. Let V = P 4 be the vector space of all real valued polynomials of degree less than or equal to four. Let
W = {p(x) P 4 | p(2) = p(2)}.
(a) Show that W is a subspace of V .
(b) Find a basis for W .
9. Find all values of c such that the set S = {x3 + x + 1, x3 x2 + 1, x3 + cx2 + cx} is linearly independent
in P 3 (the vector space of all real valued polynomials of degree less than or equal to three.)
10. Let S be the subset of R22 (the vector space of all 2 2 matrices) given by

 
 

2 1
0 3
c c+2
S={
,
,
}
2 1
2 1
0
0
Find all values of c for which S linearly dependent.
 
o
n
1 1
2 1
,
.
0 1
1
1


a b
(a) Show that any matrix
with a b + c 6= 0, or 2a 3b + d 6= 0 is not in Span(S).
c d

11. Consider the set S =

(b) Find a basis for R22 (the vector space of all 2 2 matrices) that contains the set S.
12. Suppose that W is a subspace of a vector space V , and let y V be a fixed vector. Show the set
S = {x V | x = y + w for some w W } is a subspace of V if and only if y W .

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