MTH 102: Linear Algebra

Department of Mathematics and Statistics

Indian Institute of Technology - Kanpur

Problem Set 1
Problems marked (T) are for discussions in Tutorial sessions.
1. (T) If A is an m n matrix, B is an n p matrix and D is a p s matrix, then show
that A(BD) = (AB)D.
2. If A is an m n matrix, B and C are n p matrices and D is a p s matrix, then show
that
(a) A(B+C) = AB + AC.
(b) (B+C)D = BD + CD.
 
 
x
x
3. (T) Let A, B be 2 2 real matrices such that A
=B
for all (x, y) R2 . Prove
y
y
that A = B.
4. (T) The parabola y = a + bx + cx2 goes through the points (x, y) = (1, 4) and (2, 8) and
(3, 14). Find and solve a matrix equation for the unknowns (a, b, c).
5. Apply Gauss elimination to solve the following system
2x + y + 2z = 3
3x y + 4z = 7
4x + 3y + 6z = 5
6. Let A and B be two n n invertible matrices. Show that (AB)1 = B 1 A1 .
7. (T) Using Gauss Jordan method, find the inverse of

1 2 2
2 1 2
2 2 1 .
8. For two matrices A and B show that
(a) (A + B)T = AT + B T if A + B is defined.
(b) (AB)T = B T AT if AB is defined.
9. (T) Let A and B be two n n matrices.
(a) If AB = BA then show that (A + B)m =

Pm

m
i=0 i

Ami B i .

2
(b) Show by an example that if AB 6= BA then (a) need not hold.
(c) If
Tr (A) =

n
X

[A]ii ,

i=1

then show that Tr (AB) = Tr (BA). Hence show that if A is invertible then Tr (ABA1 ) =
Tr (B).
10. Give examples of 3 3 nonzero matrices A and B such that
(a) An = 0, for some n > 1.
(b) B 3 = B.



1 1
11. (T) For a matrix A =
, find A2 , A3 , A4 . Find a general formula for An for any
0 1
positive integer n.
12. Let A be a nilpotent matrix. Show that I + A is invertible.
13. If an n n real matrix A satisfies the relation AAT = 0 then show that A = 0. Is the same
true if A is a complex matrix? Show that if A is a n n complex matrix and AAT = 0
then A = 0.
14. (T) Find the numbers a and b such that
1
4 1 1 1
a
1

b
4
1
1

=
1 1
b
4 1
1 1 1
4
b

b
a
b
b

b
b
a
b

b
b

b
a

MTH 102: Linear Algebra

Department of Mathematics and Statistics
Indian Institute of Technology - Kanpur

Problem Set 2
Problems marked (T) are for discussions in Tutorial sessions.
1. Find two 2 2 invertible matrices A and B such that A 6= cB, for any scalar c and A + B
is not invertible.
2. (T) Let

0 0 6
A = 1 2 3
0 4 5
Write down the permutation matrix P such that P A is upper triangular. Which permutation matrices P1 and P2 make P1 AP2 lower triangular?
3. If A and B are symmetric matrices, which of these matrices are necessarily symmetric?
(a) A2 B 2
(b) (A + B)(A B)
(c) ABA
(d) ABAB
4. (T) Let Pn (R) be the set of vectors of polynomials with real coefficients and degree less
than or equal to n. Show that Pn (R) is a vector space over R with respect to the usual
addition and scalar multiplication.
5. Show that the space of all real m n matrices is a vector space over R with respect to
the usual addition and scalar multiplication.
6. Let S be the set of all n n symmetric matrices. Check whether S is a real vector space
under usual addition and scalar multiplication of matrices.
7. In R, consider the addition x y = x + y 1 and a.x = a(x 1) + 1. Show that R is a
real vector space with respect to these operations with additive identity 1.
8. (T) Which of the following are subspaces of R3 :
(a) {(x, y, z) | x 0}, (b) {(x, y, z) | x + y = z}, (c) {(x, y, z) | x = y 2 }.
9. Find the condition on real numbers a, b, c, d so that the set {(x, y, z) | ax + by + cz = d}
is a subspace of R3 .

2
10. (T) Let W1 and W2 be subspaces of a vector space V such that W1 W2 is also a subspace.
Prove that one of the spaces Wi , i = 1, 2 is contained in the other.
11. Suppose S and T are two subspaces of a vector space V . Define the sum
S + T = {s + t : s S, t T }.
Show that S + T satisfies the requirements for a vector space.
12. Let v1 , v2 , . . . , vn be n vectors from a vector space V over R. Define span of this set of
vectors as
span({v1 , v2 , . . . , vn }) = {c1 v1 + c2 v2 + cn vn : c1 , c2 , . . . , cn R},
that is, the set of all linear combinations of vectors v1 , v2 , . . . , vn . Show that
span({v1 , v2 , . . . , vn }) is a subspace of V .
13. (T) Show that {(x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 ) : x4 x3 = x2 x1 } = span({(1, 0, 0, 1), (0, 1, 0, 1), (0, 0, 1, 1)}
and hence is a subspace of R4 .
14. (T) The column space of an m n matrix

a11 a12 a1n

a21 a22 a2n

A = ..
..
.. ,
.
.
.
.
.
.
am1 am2 amn
defined as

a1n
a12
a11

a2n

a21 a22

C(A) = span .. , .. , . . . , ..
.

. .

a
a
a
mn
m1
m2

Clearly, C(A) is a subspace of Rm . Suppose B and D are two m n matrices and

S = C(B) and T = C(D), then S + T is a column space of what matrix M ?
15. SupposeA is an m n matrix and B in an n p matrix. Show that matrices A and
A AB (with extra columns) have the same column space. Next, find a square matrix
A with C(A2 ) ( C(A).

MTH 102: Linear Algebra

Department of Mathematics and Statistics
Indian Institute of Technology - Kanpur

Problem Set 3
Problems marked (T) are for discussions in Tutorial sessions.
1. Construct a matrix whose column space contains [
line of multiples of [ 1 1 1 1 ]T .

1 2
2 4
2. Compute the null space of A given by A =
2 6
2 8

1 1 1 ]T and whose null space is the

3
6
.
8
10

3. (T) Suppose A is an m by n matrix of rank r.

(a) If Ax = b has a solution for every right side b, what is the column space of A?
(b) In part (a), what are all equations or inequalities that must hold between the numbers
m, n and r?
(c) Give a specific example of a 3 by 2 matrix A of rank 1 with first row [ 2 5 ]. Describe
the column space C(A) and the null space N (A) completely.
(d) Suppose the right side b is same as the first column in your example (part c). Find
the complete solution to Ax = b.
4. Suppose the matrix A has reduced

1
2

a
A= 2
(row

row echelon form R :

1 b
1 2 0 3
1 8 , R = 0 0 1 2 .
3)
0 0 0 0

(a) What can you say immediately about row 3 of A?

(b) What are the numbers a and b?
(c) Describe all solutions of Rx = 0. Which among row spaces, column spaces and null
spaces are the same for A and for R.

1 2 3
5. (a) Find the number c that makes the matrix A singular (non-invertible) : A = 1 5 6
2 6 c
(b) If c = 20, what is the column space, C(A) and the null space N (A)? Describe them
in this specific case. Also describe C(A1 ) and N (A1 ) for the inverse matrix.
6. [T] Suppose Ax = b and Cx = b have same solutions for every b. Is it true that A = C?

2
7. Find matrices A and B with the given property or explain why you can not:

 
1
0

(a) The only solution to Ax = 2 is x =

.
1
3

 
1
0

(b) The only solution to Bx =

is x = 2.
1
3
8. (T)
(a) Suppose that A is a 3 3 matrix. What relation is there between the null space of
A and the null space of A2 ? How about the null space of A3 ?
(b) The set of polynomials of degree at most four (P4 (R)) in the variable x is a vector
 2 2
d
d2
?
space. What is the null space of dx2 ? What is the null space of dx
2

9. Suppose R (an m n matrix) is in reduced row echelon form

I F
0 0


, with r non-zero

rows and first r pivot columns.

(a) Describe the column space and null space of R.


R R .


R
(c) Do the same for the 2m n matrix C =
.
R


R R
(d) Finally, do the same for the 2m 2n matrix D =
.
R R
n
n
T 
T o
T 
T o
10. (T) Let W1 = span 1 1 0 , 1 1 0
and W2 = span 1 0 2 , 1 0 4
. Show
(b) Do the same for the m 2n matrix B =

that W1 + W2 = R3 . Give an example of a vector v R3 such that v can be written in

two different ways in the form v = v1 + v2 , where v1 W1 , v2 W2 .




1 0
0 0
11. Let M be the vector space of all 2 2 matrices and let A =
,B =
.
0 0
0 1
(a) Give a basis of M .
(b) Describe a subspace of M which contains A and does not contain B.
(c) True (give a reason) or False (give a counter example) : If a subspace of M contains
A and B, it must contain the identity matrix.
12. [T] Let {w1 , w2 , . . . , wn } be a basis of the finite dimensional vector space V . Let v be any
non zero vector in V . Show that there exists wi such that if we replace wi by v then we
still have a basis.

MTH 102: Linear Algebra

Department of Mathematics and Statistics
Indian Institute of Technology - Kanpur

Problem Set 4
Problems marked (T) are for discussions in Tutorial sessions.
1. Determine whether the following sets of vectors are linearly independent or not
(a) {(1, 0, 0), (1, 1, 0), (1, 1, 1)} of R3
(b) {(1, 0, 0, 0), (1, 1, 0, 0), (1, 2, 0, 0), (1, 1, 1, 1)} of R4
(c) {(1, 0, 2, 1), (1, 3, 2, 1), (4, 1, 2, 2)} in R4 .
(d) {u + v, v + w, w + u} in a vector space V given that {u, v, w} is linearly independent.
2. (T) If v1 , v2 , . . . , vd is a basis for a vector space V , then show that any set of n vectors in
V with n > d, say {w1 , w2 , . . . , wn }, is linearly dependent.
3. Suppose V is a vector space of dimension d. Let S = {w1 , w2 , . . . , wn } be a set of vectors
from V . Then show that S does not span V if n < d.
4. (T) Determine if the set T = {x2 x + 5, 4x3 x2 + 5x, 3x + 2} spans the vector space
of polynomials with degree 4 or less.
5. Let W be a subspace of V .
(a) Show that there is a subspace U of V such that W U = {0} and U + W = V .
(b) Show that there is no subspace U such that U W = {0} and dim U + dim W >
dim V.
6. (T) Describe all possible ways in which two planes (passing through origin) in R3 could
intersect.
7. Construct a matrix with the required property or explain why this is impossible:

   
1
0
1
2

(a) Column space contains 1 , 0 , row space contains

,
.
2
5
0
1


1
3
(b) Column space has basis 1, null-space has basis 1.
3
1
(c) The dimension of null-space is one more than the dimension of left null-space.
 
 
1
3
(d) Left null-space contains
, row space contains
.
3
1
(e) Row space and column space are same but null-space and left null-space is different.

2
8. Show that the system of equations Ax = b given below
x1 + 2x2 + 2x3 = 5
2x1 + 2x2 + 3x3 = 5
3x1 + 4x2 + 5x3 = 9
has no solution by finding y N (AT ) such that y T b 6= 0.

1 0 0
1
0 1 0
2

9. Suppose A =
0 0 1 and b = 3. Find a projection matrix P that projects b onto
0 0 0
4
the column space of A, that is, P b C(A) and b P b is orthogonal to C(A).
10. (T) If a subspace S is contained in a subspace T , the show that S contains T .
11. Suppose A is a 3 by 4 matrix and B is a 4 by 5 matrix with AB = 0. Show that
rank(A) + rank(B) 4.
12. (T) Let A be an m by n matrix and B be an n by p matrix with rank(A) = rank(B) = n.
Show that rank(AB) = n.

MTH 102: Linear Algebra

Department of Mathematics and Statistics
Indian Institute of Technology - Kanpur

Problem Set 5
Problems marked (T) are for discussions in Tutorial sessions.
1. (T) A permutation, denoted by , is a one-to-one and onto function from {1, 2, . . . , n} to
{1, 2, . . . , n} given in two line form as


1
2

n
.
(1) (2) (n)
Set of all permutations of {1, 2, . . . , n} is denoted by Sn .
(a) Find all elements of S3 (the set of all permutations of the set {1, 2, 3}).
(b) Let S5 be given by


1 2 3 4 5
5 4 1 2 3

What does 2 := do to (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)?

2. Find the determinant of A = [aij ] in each of the following cases:
(a) A is a diagonal matrix.
(b) A is a lower triangular matrix (i.e. aij = 0 for all j > i).
(c) A is an upper triangular matrix (i.e. aij = 0 for all j < i)
3. (T) For two n n matrices A and B, show that det(AB) = det(A)det(B).
4. For an n n matrix A = [aij ], prove that det(A) = det(AT ).
5. Suppose the 4 4 matrix M has 4 equal rows all containing a, b, c, d. We know that
det(M ) = 0. The problem is to find by any method


 1+a
b
c
d 

 a
1+b
c
d 
det(I + M ) = 
.
b
1+c
d 
 a
 a
b
c
1+d 
=
6. (T) For a complex matrix A = [aij ], let A = [ aij ] and A = AT . Show that det(A)

det(A ) = detA . Therefore if A is Hermitian (that is, A = A) then its determinant is

real.
7. Let A = [aij ] be an invertible matrix and let B = [pij aij ]. Find the inverse of B and also
find det(B).

2
8. The numbers 1375, 1287, 4191 and 5731 are all divisible by 11. Prove that the determinant
of the matrix

1 1 4 5
3 2 1 7

7 8 9 3
5 7 1 1
is also divisible by 11.
9. (T) A real square matrix A is said to be orthogonal if AT A = AAT = I. Show that if A
is orthogonal then det(A) = 1.
10. Find the determinant of

1 x1 x21
1 x2 x22
. .
.
. .
.
1 xn x2n

x1n1
x2n1
...
.
...
.
xnn1

11. Find the determinant of

1
2
3
..
n

2
2
3
..
n

3
3
3
..
n

4
4
4
..
n

...
...
...
...
...

n
n
n
n
n

12. (T) Let A be an invertible square matrix with integer entries. Show that A1 has integer
entries if and only if det(A) = 1.
13. We are looking for the parabola y = C + Dt + Et2 that gives the least squares fit to these
four measurements:
y = 1 at t = 2, y = 1 at t = 1, y = 1 at t = 1 and y = 0 at t = 2.
(a) Write down the four equations (not solvable!) for the parabola C + Dt + Et2 to go
through those four points. This is the system Ax = b to solve by least squares:

C
A D = b.
E
What equations would you solve to find the best C, D, E?
(b) Compute AT A. Compute its determinant. Compute its inverse.
(c) The first two columns of A are already orthogonal. From column 3, subtract its projection onto the plane of the first two columns. That produces what third orthogonal
vector v? Normalize v to find the third orthonormal vector q3 from Gram-Schmidt.

MTH 102: Linear Algebra

Department of Mathematics and Statistics
Indian Institute of Technology - Kanpur

Problem Set 6
Problems marked (T) are for discussions in Tutorial sessions.
1. (T) Let A be an n n matrix with eigenvalues 1 , . . . , n . Show that det(A) = 1 . . . n
and Tr(A) = 1 + +n . Further show that A is invertible if and only if its all eigenvalues
are non-zero.
2. Let A be an n n invertible matrix. Show that eigenvalues of A1 are reciprocal of the
eigenvalues of A, moreover, A and A1 have the same eigenvectors.
3. Let A be an n n matrix and be a scalar. Find the eigenvalues of A I in terms of
eigenvalues of A. Further show that A and A I have the same eigenvectors.
4. (T) Let A be an n n matrix. Show that AT and A have the same eigenvalues. Do they
have the same eigenvectors?
5. Let A be an n n matrix. Show that:
(a) If A is idempotent (A2 = A) then eigenvalues of A are either 0 or 1.
(b) If A is nilpotent (Am = 0 for some m 1) then all eigenvalues of A are 0.
6. (T) This question deals with the following symmetric matrix A:

1 0 1
A = 0 1 -1 .
1 -1 0
One eigenvalue is = 1 with the line of eigenvectors x = (c, c, 0).
(a) That line is the null space of what matrix constructed from A?
(b) Find the other two eigenvalues of A and two corresponding eigenvectors.
(c) The diagonalization A = SS 1 has a specially nice form because A = AT . Write
all entries in the three matrices in the nice symmetric diagonalization of A.
7. Find the eigenvalues and corresponding
eigenvectors
of matrices



1
2
2
1 1
2
2
2
(a)
(b)
4 1
3 6 6
8. Construct

0
(a)
2

a basisof R3 consistingof eigenvectors

of the following matrices
0 2
1 1 1
1 1
2 0
1 .
(b)
0 3
1 1
1

2
9. Let An be an n n tridiagonal matrix

1 a
a 1

0 a

An = ..
.

0
0
0
0

0
0 0
a 0 0
1 a 0
.
.. .. ..
.
.
. ..
a 1 a
0 a 1

(a) Show for n 3 that

det(An ) = det(An1 ) a2 det(An2 ).
(b) Show that the equation in part (a) can equivalently be written as xn = Bxn1 , where




det(An )
1 a2
xn =
and B =
.
det(An1 )
1 0
3
, find an expression for det(An ) for any n. (Hint: One method starts by
(c) For a2 = 16
writing B = SS 1 , where is a diagonal matrix.)

2 -1 0
10. Show that A = -1 2 0 is diagonalizable. Find a matrix S such that S 1 AS is a
2 2 3
diagonal matrix.

7 -5 15
11. Let A = 6 -4 15 . Find a matrix S such that S 1 AS is a diagonal matrix and
0 0 1
hence calculate A6 .

12. Consider the 3 3 matrix

a b c
A = 1 d e .
0 1 f
Determine the entries a, b, c, d, e, f so that:
the top left 1 1 block is a matrix with eigenvalue 2;
the top left 2 2 block is a matrix with eigenvalue 3 and -3;
the top left 3 3 block is a matrix with eigenvalue 0, 1 and -2.

13. (a) Find the eigenvalues and eigenvectors (depending on c) of



0.3
c
A=
.
0.7 1 c
For which value of c is the matrix A not diagonallizable (so A = SS 1 is impossible)?

3
(b) What is the largest range of values of c (real number) so that An approaches a
limiting matrix A as n ?
(c) What is that limit of An (still depending on c)? You could work from A = SS 1
to find An .
14. (a) If B is invertible, prove that AB has the same eigenvalues as BA.
(b) Find a diagonalizable matrix A 6= 0 that is similar to A.
diagonalizable matrix A that is similar to A.

Also find a non-

15. (T) Find all linear transformations from Rn R.

16. Let V, W be vector spaces and let L(V, W ) be the vector space of all linear transformations
from V to W . Show that dimL(V, W ) = dimV.dimW .
17. Show that a linear transformation is one-one if and only if null-space of T is {0}.
18. Describe all 2 2 orthogonal matrices. Prove that action of any orthogonal matrix on a
vector v R2 , is either a rotation or a reflection about a line.
19. (T) Let v, w Rn , n 2, with kvk = kwk = 1. Prove that there exist an orthogonal
matrix A such that A(v) = w. Prove also that A can be chosen such that det(A) = 1.
(This is why orthogonal matrices with determinant one are called rotations.))