MATH235 Semester 1 2011

Assignment 1 solutions

1. Prove explicitly that

(a) any function with a left inverse is injective;

(b) any function with a right inverse is surjective;
(c) any non-injective function with a right inverse has another different right inverse.
(d) Give an example of a function which has (at least) two distinct left inverses.

Solution:

(a) Suppose f : X → A has a left inverse g : A → X. Then g(f (x)) = x for all x ∈ X. If f (x1 ) = f (x2 )
then x1 = g(f (x1 )) = g(f (x2 )) = x2 ; so f is injective.
(b) Suppose f : X → A has a right inverse h : A → X. Then f (h(a)) = a for all a ∈ A. So, for each
a ∈ A, the element x = h(a) ∈ X satisfies f (x) = f (h(a)) = a. So f is surjective.
(c) Suppose f : X → A is non-injective and has a right inverse h : A → X. Then there exist x1 6= x2
in X with f (x1 ) = f (x2 ). We can assume that h(f (x1 )) = x1 , since h(f (x1 ) = x implies that
f (x) = (f ◦ h ◦ f )(x1 ) = f (x1 ) , and so x and x1 have the same value under f . Define k : A → X by
(
h(a) , a 6= f (x1 ) ;
k(a) =
x2 , a = f (x1 ) .

Then (
f (h(a)) = a , a 6= f (x1 ) ;
f (k(a)) =
f (x2 ) = a a = f (x1 ) .
So k is a right inverse for f and k 6= h.
(d) Of course, there are many examples. In fact, any injective (by the first part) non-surjective function
f will do, because we can then use elements which are not in the image of f to construct distinct left
inverses. For instance, the function f : R≥0 → R for which f (x) = x2 has the two distinct left inverses
(√
x , if x ≥ 0 ;
g1 : R → R≥0 :: x 7→
1, if x < 0 ;

and (√
x , if x ≥ 0 ;
g2 : R → R≥0 :: x 7→
2, if x < 0 ;
among many others, as the reader can easily verify.

2. Draw each of the following sets in R2 , and determine if they are open or closed or not open and not closed:

(a) A = (x, y) ∈ R2 | 1 ≤ x2 + y 2 < 4 ;

(b) B = (r cos θ, r sin θ) ∈ R2 | 0 < r < 1, 0 < θ < 3π .
Solution:

1
 (a) The first set consists of the annulus with outer radius 2 and inner radius 1; the points on the outer
circle are not in A, and the points on the inner circle are in A. If (a, b) is a point on the inner circle,
then a2 + b2 = 1 . Any disk in the plane centred at such point (a, b) contains points in A and points
that are not in A. Therefore the set A is not open. Similarly, Ac is not open, because points on the
outer radius are in Ac , but disks centred at such points will always intersect A, and so Ac is not open
from which the last assertion follows.
(b) The set B consists of all points in the punctured disk with outer radius 1 which has the origin removed.
The points with radius 1 are not in the set. For any point (a, b) ∈ B, we have 0 < a2 +b2 < 1, and so we
can find a small open ball centred at (a, b) and consisting of points that also satisfy this requirement,
for instance invoking continuity of the function (x, y) 7→ x2 + y 2 .

3. Use the definition of continuity to show that the function f : R → R given by f (x) = 2x2 + 1 is continuous.
Solution: Pick an arbitrary point a ∈ R. We have to show that f is continuous at a. Given any radius
 > 0, one has to show that
f (x) − f (a) = 2x2 − 2a2  = 2 x − a x + a < 
      

 
whenever x − a < δ, for some radius δ that we have yet to determine. More than one possibility exists,
so the following argument is not the only one which may work. We always have
       
x + a = x − a + 2a ≤ x − a + 2a
   
The right hand side is smaller than 1 + 2a if we choose δ ≤ 1 ; observe that 1 + 2a > 0 . If in addition
 
we choose δ ≤   , then
2(1+2 a )

  
x − a x + a   

<   1 + 2a =
2(1 + 2 a )
  2
 
whenever x − a < δ, so it is sufficient to let
n  o
δ = min 1 ,   .
2(1 + 2a)

Notice that this δ depends on both  and the point a. Since the point a was arbitrary, the given function
is continuous at all of its points.


4. Is the function g : R \ 0} → R given by g(x) = 1/x3 continuous?
Solution: Yes! It is sufficient to note that the argument which establishes continuity of the function
given by x 7→ 1/x for all x > 0 given in the lecture notes can be repeated almost verbatim to show that the
function f : R \ 0} → R given by f (x) = 1/x is continuous at each of the points
 of its domain,
 hence it is
continuous. The function g is the composite of the continuous function R \ 0} → R \ 0} which maps x
to x3 , and the continuous function f above.

5. Let T : R5 → R3 be a linear transformation defined by T (x) = Ax, where

 
1 4 5 0 9
 3 −2 1 0 −1
A= −1 0 −1 0 −1 .


2 3 5 1 8

(a) Find a basis for ker(T ).

(b) Find a basis for the range of T .
(c) Write down the rank and nullity of T .
 Solution
We must first row reduce A, which gives
 
1 4 5 0 9
0 1 1 0 2
A0 = 

.
0 0 0 1 0
0 0 0 0 0
    
 −1
 −1  
−2  −1


   

(a) A basis for ker(T ) is a basis for the nullspace of A, so we solve Ax = 0. This gives basis  0  ,  1  .
   
 0


    0  


1 0
 

(b) A basis for the range of T is a basis for the column space of A, sowe
 read
  off the
 columns
  of A

 1 4 0 
      
3 −2
 ,   , 0 .

0
corresponding to the pivot columns of A . Hence range(T ) has basis 
 −1
    0  0

2 3 1
 

(c) Rank (T ) is 3, and nullity of T is 2.

 
2 0
6. Find the coordinate vector for A = , relative to the basis
−1 3
       
−1 1 1 −1 1 1 1 1
B= , , , .
1 1 1 1 −1 1 1 −1

Solution
We write A as a linear combination of the basis vectors of B, thus
         
2 0 −1 1 1 −1 1 1 1 1
=a +b +c +d
−1 3 1 1 1 1 −1 1 1 −1

giving the system

−a + b + c + d = 2
a−b+c+d=0
a + b − c + d = −1
a+b+c−d=3

 
0
 1 
Solving this system we find a = 0, b = 1, c = 23 , d = − 12 , so the coordinate vector [A]B = 
 3 .

2
− 12

7. Consider the bases B1 = {u1 , u2 , u3 } and B2 = {v1 , v2 , v3 } for R3 , where

           
2 2 1 3 1 −1
u1 = 1 , u2 = −1 , u3 = 2 , v1 =  1  , v2 =  1  , v3 =  0  .
1 1 1 −5 −3 2

(a) Find the transition matrix P from B2 to B1 .

  
−5
(b) Compute the coordinate vector [w]B2 , where w =  8 .
−5
(c) Use P to compute [w]B1 .
(d) Check your result by computing [w]B1 directly.

Solution

(a) P = ([v1 ]B1 , [v2 ]B1 , [v3 ]B1 ). To find the coordinate vectors [vi ]B1 , we must solve vi = ai u1 + bi u2 +
ci u3 for each i = 1, 2, 3. To do this efficiently, we form the augmented matrix
 
2 2 1 | 3 1 −1 | −5
1 −1 2 | 1 1 0 | 8
1 1 1 | −5 −3 2 | −5

where the last column is w, and the work we are doing here will be used for part (d). This reduces to
 
4 0 0 | 31 17 −11 | 21
0 −4 0 | 25 15 −9 | 31
0 0 −2 | 13 7 −5 | 5
     
31 17 −11
and we read off [v1 ]B1 = 41 −25, [v2 ]B1 = 1 
4
−15, [v3 ]B1 = 1 
4
9 . We can now form
−26 −14 10
 
31 17 −11
1
P = −25 −15 9 .
4
−26 −14 10

(b) We must solve w = av1 + bv2 + cv3 . In matrix form this is

   
3 1 −1 | −5 1 1 0 | 8
1 1 0 | 8 which reduces to 0 2 1 | 29
−5 −3 2 | −5 0 0 1 | 6
 
−7
and so [w]B2 = 12  23 .
12
    
31 17 −11 −7 21
(c) [w]B1 = P [w]B2 = 18 −25 −15 9   23  = 1 
4
−31.
−26 −14 10 12 −10
(d) Form the system w = au1 + bu2 + cu3 . We solved this using the reduction in part (a), and we read
21
off [w]B1 = 14 −31.
−10