MATH 461 – Summer I 2006 – Exam 1 SOLUTIONS

JUSTIFY ALL ANSWERS and SHOW ALL WORK

CALCULATORS ARE NOT ALLOWED

Put a BOX around your final answer to each part. No calculators allowed. You must be careful on arithmetic
– check. No proof is needed for TRUE-FALSE questions; just write clearly. A statement is TRUE if it is
true without exception. You may assume given matrix equations are well defined (i.e. the matrix sizes are
compatible). x

1. (10 pts) Find all solutions for the following system of equations:
11x1 + 22x2 + 27x3 − 16x4 = 17
−3x1 − 6x2 − 6x3 + 9x4 = 12
2x1 + 4x2 + 5x3 − 3x4 = 3
SOLUTION.
Apply successive row and column operations to the augmented matrix
 
11 22 27 16 17
−3 −6 −6 9 12
 
2 4 5 −3 3
to produce its reduced row echelon form, which is the following matrix:
 
1 2 0 0 1
0 0 1 0 2 .
 
0 0 0 1 3
Now write the general solution x = (x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 ) in the following form, parametrized
by the free variable x2 :
−2
     
x1 1
x  0  1 
x =  2  =   + x2   .
     
x3  2  0 
x4 3 0
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REMARK ON PROBLEM 1.  
1
0
To check your work, you can substitute back into the equation to verify that   is a
 
2
3
−2
 
 1 
particular solution and that   is a solution of the associated homogeneous system:
 
 0 
0
−2
   
 1 
   
 
11 22 27 16   17 11 22 27 16   0
 0  1 

−3 −6 −6 9    = 12
 
and

−3 −6 −6 9  = 0 .
 
2  0 
  
2 4 5 −3 3 2 4 5 −3 0
3 0
 It is a good idea to check like this if you have time, especially when it is easy, as it is
for the second equation above.
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2. (24 pts) For each of the following, answer TRUE or FALSE.

(a) FALSE. For two n × n matrices A and B, (AB)T = AT B T .
(b) TRUE. If U and A are n × n matrices, then the equations U Ax = 0 and Ax = 0
have the same solution set.
(c) TRUE. If E is an elementary matrix and b is a vector, then the equations EAx = b
and Ax = E −1 b have the same solution set.
(d) FALSE. If A is a square matrix and A2 = 0, then A must be the zero matrix.
(e) TRUE. The following are equivalent conditions on a matrix A:
(i) For every vector b, the equation Ax = b has at most one solution.
(ii) Every column of A has a pivot position.
(f) TRUE. The following are equivalent conditions on a matrix A:
(i) For every vector b, the equation Ax = b has at least one solution.
(ii) Every row of A has a pivot position.
(g) TRUE. The determinant of a matrix is nonzero if and only if the matrix is invertible.
(h) TRUE. The determinant of a square matrix equals the determinant of its transpose.
3. (9 pts) Determine whether the vectors (1, 2, 3), (1, 10, 9), (0, −12, −9) are linearly inde-
pendent. Show work.
SOLUTION.
Define the matrix A whose columns are the given three vectors:
 
1 1 0
A = 2 10 −12
 .

3 9 −9
Those three vectors are linearly dependent if and only if the matrix equation Ax = 0
has a nontrivial solution. We can determine this by applying elementary row operations
to A to put it into row echelon form:
     
1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0

 2 10 −12→
 
0 8 −12 → 0 8 −12 .
  
3 9 −9 0 6 −9 0 0 0

(In the last step, we added (-4/3)row 2 to row 3.)

Now the last column does not have a pivot, so Ax = 0 has a nontrivial solution.
Therefore the given three vectors are linearly dependent.
4. (12 pts) Suppose T : R2 → R2 is defined by the rule
! !
x1 3x1 + 4x2
T = .
x2 2x1 + 5x2
 (a) Find the standard matrix for T (this is the matrix A such that T (x) = Ax for all
x).
(b) Find the inverse of this standard matrix A.
!
21
(c) Use the inverse matrix to solve T (x) = .
7
SOLUTION. !
3 4
(a) The standard matrix for T is A = .
2 5
! !
5 −4 5/7 −4/7
(b) A−1 = (1/7) =
−2 3 −2/7 3/7
! !
21 21
(c) The solution x to T (x) = is the solution to Ax = , which is
7 7
! ! ! ! ! !
−1 21 5 −4 21 5 −4 3 11
x=A = (1/7) = = .
7 −2 3 7 −2 3 1 −3
5. (4 pts) Suppose A, B and C are 5 × 5 invertible matrices. Write an expression for the
inverse of AB T C −1 .
SOLUTION.
(AB T C −1 )−1 = C(B T )−1 A−1 . Also correct is (AB T C −1 )−1 = C(B −1 )T A−1 .
6. (4 pts) If column 2 of A is the zero column, what if anything can you conclude about
the columns of AB or BA?
Column two of BA is the zero column. The columns of BA are linearly dependent.
Nothing can be said about the columns ! of AB without more information. (Consider
!
  1   0 1
for example A = 0 1 and B = , giving AB = 1 and BA = .) If for
1 0 1
example A and B were square, then we could deduce that the columns of AB are also
linearly dependent.
7. (15 pts) For each of the following maps Ti : either prove Ti is not a linear transformation,
or find a matrix A such that Ti (x) = Ax for all x.
(a) T1 is the map which takes a vector x in R2 and rotates it counterclockwise around
the origin through
! an angle π/2.
0 −1
A= .
1 0
2 2
(b) T2 is the map! from R to R which reflects a vector through the horizontal axis.
1 0
A= .
0 −1
(c) T3 is defined!by T3 (x) != T2 (T1 (x)). !
1 0 0 −1 0 −1
A= = .
0 −1 1 0 −1 0
from R3 to R3 such that T4 (x) = 5x.
(d) T4 is the map 
5 0 0
A = 0 5 0 .
 
0 0 5
 (e) T5 is the map from R to R such that T5 (x) = 3x + 2.
T5 is not a linear transformation. For a linear transformation T , we must have
T (x + y) = T (x) + T (y) for all x, y. But for T = T5 , we have T (0 + 0) = T (0) = 2,
whereas T (0) + T (0) = 2 + 2 = 4.
8. (6 pts) Suppose A is a 6 × 10 matrix with 3 pivot positions, and the matrix equation
Ax = 0 corresponds to a system of equations in the variables x1 , x2 , . . . which are the
entries of x.
(a) How many free variables are there for the system?
SOLUTION.
There are seven free variables. (7 = number of columns - number of pivots.)
(b) Is the system corresponding to Ax = 0 necessarily consistent?
SOLUTION.
Yes, since a solution exists (Ax = 0 if x = 0), the system is consistent.
9. (4 pts) Write a matrix which is in row echelon from but is not in reduced row echelon
form.
SOLUTION. !
2 3
There are many examples, e.g. .
0 1
10. (10 pts) Compute the matrix A−1 , where
 
2 5 4
A = 2 1 1
 
1 1 1
SOLUTION.
The algorithm is to apply elementary row and column operations to the 3 × 6 matrix
(A I) to produce a matrix in the form (I B). The matrix B will be A−1 . In our problem
this looks like
   
2 5 4 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 −1

2 1 1 0 1 0 → ··· → 
 
0 1 0 1 2 −6

1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 −1 −3 8
Therefore  
0 1 −1
A−1  1
= 2 −6

−1 −3 8
(If you have time, check! Multiply A by the matrix you think is A−1 . The product
should be I.)
11. (10 pts) Suppose A and B are 4 × 4 matrices such that det(A) = 2 and det(B) = 5.
Compute the following.
(a) det(2A)
SOLUTION.
det(2A) = 24 det(A) = 24 (2) = 32 .
(b) det(−A)
SOLUTION.
det(−A) = (−1)4 det(A) = det(A) = 2 .
(c) det(A−1 )
SOLUTION.
det(A−1 ) = 1/(det(A)) = 1/2 .
(d) det(AB)
SOLUTION.
det(AB) = det(A) det(B) = (2)(5) = 10 .
(e) The area of the paralellogram P which is the set of all vectors
! Ax such that x is a
x
vector in the square S, and S consists of the vectors x = 1 for which 0 ≤ x1 ≤ 1
x2
and 0 ≤ x2 ≤ 1.
SOLUTION.
area(AS) = | det(A)|area(S) = |2|(1) = 2 .