Problem Set 4

Economic Methods

1. Find the three matrices A + B, C − B, A + C, given that

     
1 2 −3 3 −1 2 4 1 2
A = 5 0 2 , B = 4 2 5 , and C = 0 3 2
     

1 −1 1 2 0 3 1 −2 3
(15 points)

ANSWER:
       
1 2 −3 3 −1 2 1+3 2 − 1 −3 + 2 4 1 −1
A + B = 5 0 2  + 4 2 5 = 5 + 4 0+2 2 + 5 = 9 2 7
       

1 −1 1 2 0 3 1 + 2 −1 + 0 1+3 3 −1 4

       
4 1 2 3 −1 2 4 − 3 1 − (−1) 2 − 2 1 2 0
C − B = 0 3 2  − 4 2 5 = 0 − 4 3 − 2 2 − 5 = −4 1 −3
       

1 −2 3 2 0 3 1 − 2 −2 − 0 3 − 3 −1 −2 0

       
1 2 −3 4 1 2 1+4 2 + 1 −3 + 2 5 3 −1
A+C = 5 0 2+0 3 2  = 5 + 0 0+3 2 + 2 = 5 3 4
       

1 −1 1 1 −2 3 1 + 1 −1 + (−2) 1+3 2 −3 4

2. Compute the products AB and BA, if possible, when A and B are, respectively:
! !
0 −2 −1 4
a) A= and B=
3 1 1 5

ANSWER: These are two 2 × 2 square matrices and therefore the products AB and
BA can be found and the products are 2 × 2 square matrices too.
! ! ! !
0 −2 −1 4 0 − 2 0 − 10 −2 −10
AB = = =
3 1 1 5 −3 + 1 12 + 5 −2 17
! ! ! !
−1 4 0 −2 0 + 12 2 + 4 12 6
BA = = =
1 5 3 1 0 + 15 −2 + 5 15 3

1
  
! 3 1
−1 0
b) A= and B = −1 1
 
2 4
0 2
ANSWER: A is a 2 × 2 square matrix and B is a 3 × 2 matrix. Therefore, we cannot
compute the product AB. On the other hand, we can find BA which will be a matrix
of order 3 × 2:
     
3 1 ! −3 + 2 0 + 4 −1 4
 −1 0
BA = −1 1 =  1 + 2 0 + 4 =  3 4
    
2 4
0 2 0+4 0+8 4 8

 
0  
c) A = −2 and B = 0 −2 3
 

4
ANSWER: A is row vector of order 3 × 1 and B is a column vector of order 1 × 3.
As such, we can compute both AB and BA. The first will be a 3 × 3 square matrix.
The other product will be a scalar.
   
0   0 0 0
AB = −2 0 −2 3 = 0 4 −6
   

4 0 −8 12
 
  0
BA = 0 −2 3 −2 = 0 + 4 + 12 = 16
 

(25 points)

3. Write down the three matrix equations:

x1 + 2x2 + x3 = 4
x1 + x2 = 3 2x1 − 3x2 + x3 = 0
x1 − x2 + x3 = 5
3x1 + 5x2 = 5 x1 + x2 − x3 = 0
2x1 + 3x2 − x3 = 1

and then solve each system by Gaussian elimination.

(30 points)

ANSWER: Write out the three matrix equations that correspond to the following systems:
! ! !
1 1 x1 3
=
3 5 x2 5
| {z } | {z } | {z }
A x b

2
     
1 2 1 x1 4
1 −1 1  x2  = 5
    

2 3 −1 x3 1
| {z } | {z } | {z }
A x b

    
2 −3 1 x1 0
1 1 −1 x2  = 0
    

0 0 0 x3 0
| {z } | {z } | {z }
A x b

where A is the coefficient matrix, x is the vector of the unknown, and b is a vector of
constants (intercepts).

The next step is to see whether these systems have no solution, one solution or infinitely
many solutions. This can be done by looking at the determinant of the coefficients matrix,
A. If the determinant is different from zero (A is not singular) then it exists a unique
solution, i.e. a unique value of the unknowns that solve the system. On the other hand,
a zero determinant (A is singular) then the system may have zero solution or infinitely
many solutions.
In the first and second case, it is easy to show that |A| =
̸ 0 and therefore there is a uniqune
solution to the linear system. On the other hand, in the third case |A| = 0 because all the
coefficients of a row are zero. In this last case, we have infinitely many solutions because
the coefficients in vector b are all equal. These coefficients refer to the intersect of the
planes on the vertical axis. Therefore we have that the planes coincide (look also at the
lecture with the geometrical interpretation of the determinant).
Let us now solve each system by Gaussian elimination. Let us begin with the first system:
! ! !
1 1 x1 3
=
3 5 x2 5

These are the row operations to solve it

ˆ R2 → R2 − 3R1 : ! ! !
1 1 x1 3
=
0 2 x2 −4

ˆ R2 → 12 R2 : ! ! !
1 1 x1 3
=
0 1 x2 −2

ˆ R1 → R1 − R2 : ! ! !
1 0 x1 5
=
0 1 x2 −2

3
Therefore the solution is x1 = 5 and x2 = −2.

Let us now solve the second system:

    
1 2 1 x1 4
1 −1 1  x2  = 5
    

2 3 −1 x3 1
These are the row operations to solve it

ˆ R3 → R3 − 2R1 :     
1 2 1 x1 4
1 −1 1  x2  =  5 
    

0 −1 −3 x3 −7
ˆ R2 → R2 − R1 :     
1 2 1 x1 4
0 −3 0  x2  =  1 
    

0 −1 −3 x3 −7
ˆ R2 → − 31 R2 :
    
1 2 1 x1 4
    1
0 1 0  x2  = − 3 


0 −1 −3 x3 −7
ˆ R3 → R3 + R2 :     
1 2 1 x1 4
0 1 0  x2  =  − 13 
    

0 0 −3 x3 − 223

ˆ R3 → − 31 R3 :
    
1 2 1 x1 4
    1
0 1 0 x2  − 3 
=

22
0 0 1 x3 9
ˆ R1 → R1 − 2R2 :     
14
1 0 1 x1
    31 
0 1 0 x2  = − 3 


22
0 0 1 x3 9
ˆ R1 → R1 − R3 :     
20
1 0 0 x1
   9 
0 1 0 x2  = − 13 

22
0 0 1 x3 9
20
Therefore the solution is x1 = 9 , x2 = − 13 , and x3 = 22
9 .

Let us now solve the last system:

    
2 −3 1 x1 0
1 1 −1 x2  = 0
    

0 0 0 x3 0
These are the row operations to solve it

4
 ˆ R1 → 12 R1 :
    
1 − 23 1
2 x1 0
1 1 −1 x2  = 0
    

0 0 0 x3 0
ˆ R2 → R2 − R1 :     
1 − 32 1
2 x1 0
0 52 − 23  x2  = 0
    

0 0 0 x3 0

ˆ R2 → 25 R2 :
    
1 − 32 1
2 x1 0
3   =  
0 1 − 5  x2  0


0 0 0 x3 0

ˆ R1 → R1 + 23 R2 :
    
1 0 − 25 x1 0
3   =  
0 1 − 5  x2  0


0 0 0 x3 0
Therefore we have infinitely many solutions, one for each choice of x3 (one degree of
freedom). In particular, given a value of x3 you have that x1 = 52 x3 and x2 = 35 x3 .

4. Calculate the following determinants:

2 2 3
5 −2
and 0 3 5
3 −2
0 4 6

(30 points)
ANSWER:
5 −2
= 5 · (−2) − (−2) · 3 = −4
3 −2

The determinant
2 2 3
0 3 5
0 4 6
can be found using the Sarrus’ rule.

1. Write the 3 × 5 matrix

2 2 3 2 2
0 3 5 0 3
0 4 6 0 4
2. Multiply along the three diagonal lines falling to the right and add up:

2 · 3 · 6 + 2 · 5 · 0 + 3 · 0 · 4 = 36

5
3. Multiply along the three diagonal lines rising to the right and add up:

3 · 3 · 0 + 2 · 5 · 4 + 2 · 0 · 6 = 40

4. Subtract the result in 3. from the result in 2. to get the determinant of A:

|A| = 36 − 40 = −4