1

MATRICES
Introduction

 A matrix is an ordered rectangular array of numbers or functions.

 The numbers or functions are called the elements or the entries of the matrix.
 The horizontal lines of elements are said to constitute, rows of the matrix and
 the vertical lines of elements are said to constitute, columns of the matrix.

Example of matrix

Order of a matrix: No. of rows x no. of columns. For example, order of above matrix is 3 x 2
(read as 3 by 2)

 A matrix is always represented by a capital alphabet (For e.g. A in above example).

 Any element of the matrix is represented by aij .

 For example a12 represents element of 1st row and second column.

 For example a12  2 in A.

 In general, aij is an element lying in the ith row and jth column.

 The number of elements in an m × n matrix will be equal to mn.

Types of matrices

1) Row matrix

A matrix is said to be a row matrix if it has only one row. For example, A  1 3 2 5  is a row

matrix.

2) Column matrix

4
A matrix is said to be a column matrix if it has only one column. For example, A   5  is a
 3 

column matrix.
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3) Square matrix

A matrix in which the number of rows are equal to the number of columns, is said to be a
square matrix. Thus an m × n matrix is said to be a square matrix if m = n and is known as a
 2 6 4 
square matrix of order ‘n’. For example A  5 7 3  is a square matrix of order 3.
0 9 3 

4) Diagonal matrix

A square matrix is said to be a diagonal matrix if all its non-diagonal elements are zero, that
is a matrix B is said to be a diagonal matrix if bij = 0, when i ≠ j.

5) Scalar matrix

Scalar matrix A diagonal matrix is said to be a scalar matrix if its diagonal elements are
equal, that is, a square matrix B = [bij] n × n is said to be a scalar matrix if

bij = 0, when i ≠ j

bij = k, when i = j, for some constant k.

2 0 0 
For example, A  0 2 0  is a scalar matrix.
0 0 2 

6) Identity matrix

A square matrix in which elements in the diagonal are all 1 and rest are all zero is called an
identity matrix. We denote the identity matrix of order n by In. When order is clear from the
context, we simply write it as I.

1 0
In   
 0 1
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7) Zero matrix
Zero matrix A matrix is said to be zero matrix or null matrix if all its elements are zero.
0 0 
0 0  
For example,   , 0 0  .
0 0  
0 0 

Equality of matrices

Two matrices A and B are said to be equal if

(i) they are of the same order
(ii) each element of A is equal to the corresponding element of B, that is aij = bij for all
i and j.

2 3  2 3
For example,   and   are equal.
 4 1  4 1

Operations on Matrices

1) Addition or subtraction of subtraction

the sum of two matrices is a matrix obtained by adding the corresponding elements of the given
matrices. Furthermore, the two matrices have to be of the same order.

a a12 a13  b b12 b13   a  b11 a12  b12 a13  b13 

If A   11  & B   11  , then A  B   11
a21 a22 a23  b21 b22 b23  a21  b21 a22  b22 a23  b23 

Properties of matrix addition

(i) It is commutative i.e. A + B = B + A

(ii) It is associative i.e. A + (B + C) = (A + B) + C
(iii) Existence of identity A + O = A, so, O is the identity which is a null matrix of same order
as that of A.
(iv) Existence of inverse. As A    A   O , therefore inverse A is  A .

Multiplication of a matrix by a scalar

2 5   6 15 
if A    ,then 3A    , i.e. if a scalar is multiplied by matrix then we multiply it by
3 1 9 3 
every element of the matrix.

Properties of scalar multiplication of a matrix

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(i) k(A +B) = k A + kB,
(ii) (k + l)A = k A + l A

Multiplication of matrices

Two matrices can be multiplied in the order AB only if

No. of rows in A = No. of columns in B

Let A be a matrix of order m x n and B be a matrix of order n x p, then order of matrix AB is m x

p.

Let AB  C, then

c ij  sum of product of corresponding elements ith row of A & jth column of B 
1 3 
1 2 3  
Example: Let A    , B   2 1 , then AB exists as no. of columns in A = no. of
 0 2 4  2x3  4 2  3x2

c c12 
rows in B. No the order of C = AB is 2 x 2. Let C be C   11  , then
c 21 c 22 

 1
c11  [1 2 3]  2   1 1  2  2  3  4  1  4  12  17
 4 

3
c12  [1 2 3]  1  1 3  2   1  3  2  1  2  6  5
 2 

 1
c 21  [0 2 4]  2   0  1  2  2  4  4  4  16  20
 4 

3
c 22  [0 2 4]  1  0  3  2   1  4  2  2  8  6
 2 

17 5 
So, C   
 20 6 
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Note;

If AB is defined, then BA need not be defined. In the above example, AB is defined but BA is not
defined because B has 3 columns while A has only 2 (and not 3) rows. If A, B are, respectively
m × n, k × l matrices, then both AB and BA are defined if and only if n = k and l = m. In particular,
if both A and B are square matrices of the same order, then both AB and BA are defined.

Properties of multiplication of matrices

(i) The associative law for any three matrices A, B and C. We have (AB) C = A (BC),
whenever both sides of the equality are defined.
(ii) The distributive law for three matrices A, B and C. (i) A (B+C) = AB + AC (ii) (A+B) C =
AC + BC, whenever both sides of equality are defined.
(iii) The existence of multiplicative identity for every square matrix A, there exist an identity
matrix of same order such that IA = AI = A.

Transpose of a Matrix

If A = [aij] be an m × n matrix, then the matrix obtained by interchanging the rows and columns of
A is called the transpose of A. Transpose of the matrix A is denoted by A′ or AT.

 2 3
 2 1 0 
If A   1 5  , then A ' or A T   
 0 6  3 5 6 

Properties of transpose of the matrices

For any matrices A and B of suitable orders, we have

(i) (A′) ′ = A,
(ii) (kA)′ = kA′ (where k is any constant)
(iii) (A + B) ′ = A′ + B′ (iv) (A B)′ = B′ A′

Symmetric and Skew Symmetric Matrices

 A square matrix A = [aij] is said to be symmetric if A′ = A,

 A square matrix A = [aij] is said to be skew symmetric matrix if A′ = – A, that is aji = – aij
for all possible values of i and j.
 Diagonal elements of skew symmetric matrix are zero.
Proof. As aji = – aii and for diagonal elements i = j, therefore aii  aii  2aii  0  aii  0
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Important theorems

(i) For any square matrix A with real number entries, A + A′ is a symmetric matrix and A – A′
is a skew symmetric matrix.
(ii) Any square matrix can be expressed as the sum of a symmetric and a skew symmetric
matrix.

Let A be a square matrix, then we can write

1 1
A  A  A '   A  A '
2 2

From the Theorem (i), we know that (A + A′) is a symmetric matrix and (A – A′) is a skew
symmetric matrix.

1
Since for any matrix A, (kA)′ = kA′, it follows that  A  A '  is symmetric matrix and
2
1
 A  A '  is skew symmetric matrix. Thus, any square matrix can be expressed as the sum
2
of a symmetric and a skew symmetric matrix.