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DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS AND STATISTICS

Math1250-1 Test 2 (80 minutes)
November 21, 2024

1. You are given that

   
1 3 4 0 6 1 0 1 0 3
 2 1 3 2 7   0 1 
A=  row operations  1 1 0 =B
 1 −2 −1 2 1  −→  0 0 0 1 0 
2 1 3 −3 7 0 0 0 0 0

(a) (2 marks) Find a basis and the dimension for the row space of A.
(b) (2 marks) Find a basis and the dimension for the column space of A.
(c) (3 marks) Find a basis for the nullspace of A.

Solution. (a) The non-zero rows of B form a basis of the row space of A.
So {(1, 0, 1, 0, 3), (0, 1, 1, 0, 1), (0, 0, 0, 1, 0)} is a basis for the row space of A.
The dimension for the row space of A is 3.

(b) Leading 1’s of B are in 1st, 2nd and 4th columns, so the 1st, 2nd and 4th columns
of A form a basis for the column space of A.
So {(1, 2, 1, 2), (3, 1, −2, 1), (0, 2, 2, −3)} is a basis for the column space of A.
The dimension for the column space of A is 3.

£ ¯ ¤ £ ¯ ¤
(c) A ¯ ~0 −→ B ¯ ~0 , the general solution of A~x = ~0 is
      

 x1 = −x3 −3x5 x1 −1 −3

      
 x2 = −x3 −x5  x2   −1   −1 
x3 = x3 , 
 x3
 = x3 
  1  + x5 
  0  , x3 , x5 ∈ R.


  x4     

 x = 0 0 0
 4
x5 = x5 x5 0 1

So {(−1, −1, 1, 0, 0), (−3, −1, 0, 0, 1)} is a basis for the nullspace of A.
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2. (3 marks) Show that S = {(x1 , x2 , x3 ) | x1 x2 = x3 } is not a subspace of R3 .

Solution. S is not a subspace of R3 because it is not closed under addition.

For example, ~x = (1, 1, 1) ∈ S and ~y = (1, 0, 0) ∈ S, but ~x + ~y = (2, 1, 1) 6∈ S.

Or, S is not a subspace of R3 because it is not closed under scalar multiplication.

For example, ~x = (1, 1, 1) ∈ S, but 3~x = (3, 3, 3) 6∈ S.

        

 1 1 0 
 3
  1   2   0   −1 
3. (4 marks) Let B = ~v1 = 
 1
 , ~v2 = 

 
 1  , ~v3 =  4

 and ~
u =  
 8 .

 
 
−3 −3 0 −9

Determine whether ~u is in the subspace SpanB. If so, write ~u as a linear combination

of ~v1 , ~v2 and ~v3 .

Solution. The vector ~u is in the set SpanB if and only if the system with the following
augmented matrix has a solution.

     
1 1 0 | 3 R2 − R1 1 1 0 | 3 1 0 0 | 7
 1   0 R1 − R2
 2 0 | −1  −→  1 0 | −4 

 0
 1 0 | −4 
 1   0 −→
1 4 | 8 R3 − R1 0 4 | 5  1
 0 0 1 | 5/4 
R
4 3
−3 −3 0 | −9 R4 + 3R1 0 0 0 | 0 0 0 0 | 0
   
x1 7
Since the system has a solution  x2  =  −4 , the vector ~u is in the set SpanB,
x3 5/4
and ~u = 7~v1 − 4~v2 + 54 ~v3 .
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4. (5 marks) Find the best line y = c + d t to fit y = 3, 3, 1, 1 at times

t = −2, −1, 1, 2. (Use the least squares approximation.)

Solution. We want to find c and d satisfying

    

 c − 2d = 3 1 −2 3 · ¸
  1 −1   3 
c − d = 3  ~  c
Let A = 
 1 1 , b =  1
 and ~x =
 .

 c + d = 1 d

c + 2d = 1 1 2 1

We want to solve A~x = ~b, but it has no solution. So we solve AT Ax̂ = AT~b to get the
least squares approximation.
· ¸ · ¸
T 4 0 T~ 8
A A= , A b=
0 10 −6

We need to solve · ¸ · ¸
4 0 8
x̂ =
0 10 −6
· ¸−1 · ¸ · ¸· ¸ · ¸
4 0 8 1/4 0 8 2
x̂ = = =
0 10 −6 0 1/10 −6 −3/5

The best line is y = 2 − 35 t, or y = 2 − 0.6t.

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5. Let {~v1 = (1, −1, 1, 1), ~v2 = (3, 1, −1, 1)} be a basis for a subspace U of R4 .

(a) (3 marks) Use the Gram-Schmidt procedure to find an orthogonal basis of U .

(b) (1 marks) Find an orthonormal basis of U .
(c) (2 marks) Let ~v = (1, 1, 0, 3). Find projU (~v ), the projection of ~v onto U .

Solution. (a) ~u1 = ~v1 = (1, −1, 1, 1),

µ ¶
~v2 · ~u1 2 5 3 3 1
~u2 = ~v2 − ~u1 = (3, 1, −1, 1) − (1, −1, 1, 1) = , ,− ,
~u1 · ~u1 4 2 2 2 2

¡5 ¢
So {~u1 = (1, −1, 1, 1), ~u2 = , 3 , − 23 , 12
2 2
} is an orthogonal basis of U .
Or, redefine ~u2 = (5, 3, −3, 1).

~u1 1 ~u2 1
(b) w
~1 = = (1, −1, 1, 1), w
~2 = = √ (5, 3, −3, 1).
k~u1 k 2 k~u2 k 44
n o
So w~ 1 = 12 (1, −1, 1, 1), w
~ 2 = √144 (5, 3, −3, 1) is an orthonormal basis of U .

(c) The projection of ~v onto U is

3 1
projU (~v ) = (~v · w
~ 1 )w
~ 1 + (~v · w
~ 2 )w
~ 2 = (1, −1, 1, 1) + (5, 3, −3, 1) = (2, 0, 0, 1)
4 4
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 
A1
6. (6 marks) Suppose that A is an 3 × 3 matrix with det A = 5. If B = 4A1 + A3 ,
3A2
T
where A1 , A2 , A3 are rows of A, find det(A A), det(3A) and det B.

Solution. det(AT A) = det(AT ) det A = (det A)(det A) = 25,

det(3A) = 33 (det A) = 27(5) = 135

       
A1 A1 A1 1 A1
R − 4R1  R l R3  R
B = 4A1 + A3  2 A3  2 3A2  3 2 A2  = A
−→ −→ −→
3A2 3A2 A3 A3

Then det A = − 13 det B. So det B = −3 det A = −15.

 
0 −1 2 3
 1 0 −1 1 
7. (4 marks) You are given that A = 
 1 −1 1
 and det A = 3.
1 
2 0 −1 −2

Use the cofactor formula to find the (4, 3) entry of A−1 .

(You do not get marks for using other method.)

Solution. We first compute the cofactor C34 .

¯ ¯
¯ 0 −1 2 ¯ µ ¯ ¯ ¶
¯
3+4 ¯
¯ ¯
1+2 ¯ 1 −1
¯
C34 ¯
= (−1) ¯ 1 0 −1 ¯ = (−1) (−1)(−1) ¯ ¯ + 0 + 0 = −1
2 −1 ¯
¯ 2 0 −1 ¯

The (4, 3) entry of A−1 is

C34 1
=−
det A 3