18.

06 Final Exam May 18, 2010 Professor Strang

Your PRINTED name is: 1.

Your recitation number is 2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

1. (12 points) This question is about the matrix

� ⎡
1 2 0 1
A = � 2 4 1 4 ⎣.
3 6 3 9

(a) Find a lower triangular L and an upper triangular U so that A = LU.

(b) Find the reduced row echelon form R = rref (A). How many independent columns in A?

(c) Find a basis for the nullspace of A.

(d) If the vector b is the sum of the four columns of A, write down the complete solution to
Ax = b.
2. (11 points) This problem finds the curve y = C + D 2 t which gives the best least squares fit
to the points (t, y) = (0, 6), (1, 4), (2, 0).

(a) Write down the 3 equations that would be satisfied if the curve went through all 3 points.

(b) Find the coefficients C and D of the best curve y = C + D2 t .

(c) What values should y have at times t = 0, 1, 2 so that the best curve is y = 0?
3. (11 points) Suppose Avi = bi for the vectors v1 , . . . , vn and b1 , . . . , bn in Rn . Put the v’s into
the columns of V and put the b’s into the columns of B.

(a) Write those equations Avi = bi in matrix form. What condition on which vectors allows A
to be determined uniquely? Assuming this condition, find A from V and B.

(b) Describe the column space of that matrix A in terms of the given vectors.

(c) What additional condition on which vectors makes A an invertible matrix? Assuming this,
find A−1 from V and B.
4. (11 points)

(a) Suppose xk is the fraction of MIT students who prefer calculus to linear algebra at year k.
The remaining fraction yk = 1 − xk prefers linear algebra.

At year k + 1, 1/5 of those who prefer calculus change their mind (possibly after taking
18.03). Also at year k + 1, 1/10 of those who prefer linear algebra change their mind
(possibly because of this exam).
� � � � � �
xk+1 xk k
1
Create the matrix A to give =A and find the limit of A as k � �.
yk+1 yk 0

(b) Solve these differential equations, starting from x(0) = 1, y(0) = 0 :

dx dy
= 3x − 4y = 2x − 3y .
dt dt

� � � �
x(0) x(t)
(c) For what initial conditions does the solution to this differential equation
y(0) y(t)
lie on a single straight line in R 2 for all t?
5. (11 points)

(a) Consider a 120� rotation around the axis x = y = z. Show that the vector i = (1, 0, 0) is
rotated to the vector j = (0, 1, 0). (Similarly j is rotated to k = (0, 0, 1) and k is rotated to
i.) How is j − i related to the vector (1, 1, 1) along the axis?

(b) Find the matrix A that produces this rotation (so Av is the rotation of v). Explain why
A3 = I. What are the eigenvalues of A?

(c) If a 3 by 3 matrix P projects every vector onto the plane x+2y+z = 0, find three eigenvalues
and three independent eigenvectors of P. No need to compute P .
6. (11 points) This problem is about the matrix

� ⎡
1 2
A = � 2 4 ⎣ .
3 6

(a) Find the eigenvalues of AT A and also of AAT . For both matrices find a complete set of
orthonormal eigenvectors.

(b) If you apply the Gram-Schmidt process (orthonormalization) to the columns of this matrix
A, what is the resulting output?

(c) If A is any m by n matrix with m > n, tell me why AA T cannot be positive definite. Is
AT A always positive definite? (If not, what is the test on A?)
7. (11 points) This problem is to find the determinants of

� ⎡ � ⎡ � ⎡
1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 x 1 1 1
� 1 1 1 1 ⎢ � 1 1 1 1 ⎢ � 1 1 1 1 ⎢
A=� � 1 1 1 0 ⎣ B=� 1 1 1 0 ⎣ C=� 1 1
⎢ � ⎢ � ⎢
1 0 ⎣
1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0

(a) Find det A and give a reason.

(b) Find the cofactor C11 and then find det B. This is the volume of what region in R 4 ?

(c) Find det C for any value of x. You could use linearity in row 1.
8. (11 points)

(a) When A is similar to B = M −1 AM, prove this statement:

If Ak � 0 when k � �, then also B k � 0.

(b) Suppose S is a fixed invertible 3 by 3 matrix.

This question is about all the matrices A that are diagonalized by S, so that

S −1 AS is diagonal. Show that these matrices A form a subspace of

3 by 3 matrix space. (Test the requirements for a subspace.)

(c) Give a basis for the space of 3 by 3 diagonal matrices. Find a basis for the space in part (b)
— all the matrices A that are diagonalized by S.
9. (11 points) This square network has 4 nodes and 6 edges. On each edge, the direction of
positive current wi > 0 is from lower node number to higher node number. The voltages at the
nodes are (v1 , v2 , v3 , v4 .)

(a) Write down the incidence matrix A for this network (so that Av gives the 6 voltage differences
like v2 −v1 across the 6 edges). What is the rank of A? What is the dimension of the nullspace
of AT ?

(b) Compute the matrix AT A. What is its rank? What is its nullspace?

(c) Suppose v1 = 1 and v4 = 0. If each edge contains a unit resistor, the currents (w 1 , w2 , w3 , w4 , w5 , w6 )
on the 6 edges will be w = −Av by Ohm’s Law. Then Kirchhoff’s Current Law (flow in =
flow out at every node) gives AT w = 0 which means AT Av = 0. Solve AT Av = 0 for the
unknown voltages v2 and v3 . Find all 6 currents w1 to w6 . How much current enters node
4?
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18.06 Linear Algebra

Spring 2010

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