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CSIR-NET/JRF JUNE 2025 (Online Batch)

Section: MATHEMATICAL PHYSICS
Daily Practice Problem (DPP) Sheet M4: Matrices
(Cayley Hamiltonian Theorem, Similarity Transformation)

0 1 1 
Q.1. The inverse of the matrix M   0 0 1  is (where I is the identity matrix)
 
1 0 0 
 
(a) M  I (b) M 2  I (c) I  M 2 (d) I  M

Q.2. If a matrix A is such that 3A3 + 2A2 + 5A + I = 0, then A–1 is equal to

(a) – (3A2 + 2A + 5I) (b) 3A2 + 2A + 5I (c) 3A2 – 5A – 5I (d) 3A2 - 2A + 5I

 0 0 1
 
Q.3. For the matrix A   2 1 1 , A1 can be written as
 1 1 1
 
(a) A2  2 A (b) A2  2 A  3I (c) A2  2 A  I (d) A  3I

 4 2
Q.4. Consider the matrix: A    . Then  A  2 I  A  3I  is equal to
 1 1 
(a) A (b) 4A (c) 2I (d) 0

Q.5. If Pij  1 for 1  i, j  m , then the characteristic equation of the matrix P  {Pij } is
(a)  m   m  1  1  0 (b)  m  m  0 (c)  m  m  m  1  0 (d)  m  1  0

1 0 0 
Q.6. For the matrix A  0 4 2  , it is found that 6 A1  A2  cA  dI . The value of  c  d  is
0 1 1 
(a) 5 (b) -5 (c) 17 (d) -17

Q.7. If A is a 2 × 2 matrix, then its eigenvalue  satisfies the equation

(a)  2   tr ( A)  det ( A)  0 (b)  2   tr ( A)  det ( A)  0
(c)  2   tr ( A)  0 (d)  2   tr ( A)  0

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2 1 1
 
Q.8. Consider the following matrix A =  0 1 0  . Then the matrix A8  5 A7  7 A6  3 A5  A4  5 A3  8 A2
 1 1 2
 
2 A  I can be written as
2 2
(a) A2  A  I (b) A  A  I (c) A2  2 A  I (d) A  2 A  I

1 1 3
Q.9. Consider the matrix: A   5 2 6  . The matrix A14  3 A  2 I is equal to
 
 2 1 3

1 0 0  0 0 0 3 3 9 1 3 9 
0 1 0 0 0 0 15 6 18  15 4 18 
(a)   (b)   (c)   (d)  
0 0 1  0 0 0   6 3 9   6 3 11

Q.10. A 3  3 matrix P is such that P3  P . Then the eigen values of P are

(a) 0, 1, 2 (b) 1 , 0.5  j 0.866 , 0.5  j 0.866

(c) 1 ,  0.5  j 0.866 ,  0.5  j 0.866 (d) 0, 1, -1

 5 3  1 0
Q.11. Given that A    and I    . The value of A 3 is
 2 0   0 1 
(a) 15A  12I (b) 19A  30I (c) 17A  15I (d) 30 A  19 I

 8 4
Q.12. Consider the matrix: M    . The matrix M  2 M  76 I can be written as
4 2

  2 2 
(a) 500M  1700 I (b) 500M  1700 I (c) 520M  1824 I (d) 520M  1824 I

Q.13. If a real 3  3 matrix has A eigenvalues 1, 2, 3, then matrix A satisfies

(a) A3  6 A2  11A  6 I  0 (b) A3  6 A2  11 A  6 I  0
(c) A3  6 A2  11A  6 I  0 (d) A3  6 A2  11A  6 I  0

 1 2 3 17 0 0 
Q.14. A person claims that the matrix A  2 4 6 is similar to D   0 0 0  .
 
 4 8 12   0 0 0
   
(a) This statement is correct
(b) This statement is not correct as both matrices do not have same characteristic equation
(c) The statement is not correct as such transformation is not possible
(d) We can’t say anything from the given information

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Q.15. Consider the following matrices:

1 1 3   1 0 0 
 
A   0 0 1 and B   2 1 0 
 
0 0 2   1 1 3
   
Which of above matrices is/are diagonalizable?
(a) Both A and B (b) Only A (c) Only B (d) Neither A nor B

1 0 1  1 0 0 
 
Q.16. A person claims that the matrix P   3 3 0  is similar to D  0 1 0  .
 
0 0 1  0 0 3 
(a) This statement is correct
(b) This statement is not correct as both matrices do not have same characteristic equation
(c) The statement is not correct as such transformation is not possible
(d) We can’t say anything from the given information

 3 1 
Q.17. The sin of the matrix A    will be
 0 2 
sin  3  0  sin  3  sin 1 
(a)    (b)   
 0 sin  2    0 sin  2  

sin  3 sin  2   sin  3  sin  3 sin  2   sin  3 

(c)    (d)   
 0 sin  2    0 sin  2  

3 5 
Q.18. The exponential of the matrix A    will be
1 1
1 5e4  e 2 5e 4  5e 2  1 5e4  e 2 5e4  5e 2 
(a)  4 2  (b)  4 2 
6  e e e 4  5e2  6  e e e 4  5e 2 

1 5e4  e 2 5e4  5e 2  1 5e4  e 2 5e 4  5e 2 

(c)  4 2  (d)  4 2 
6  e e e 4  5e 2  6  e e e 4  5e 2 

 p r  cos  sin  
Q.19. The matrix A =   is transformed to the diagonal form D  M 1 AM , where M =  .
 r q   sin  cos  
The value of  which gives the diagonal transformation will be

1 -1  2r  1 -1  r  1 -1  2r   2r 
(a) cot   (b) cot   (c) tan   (d) tan -1  
2  p-q 2 q p 2 q p q p

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 1 0 
Q.20. The exponential of the matrix M    will be
 0 1
1 1 1 1  1  1
(a) e   I  e  M (b)  e   I   e   M
2 e 2 e  e  e

 1  1 1 2 1  1 2 1 
(c)  e 2  2  I   e 2  2  M (d) e  2  I  e  2 M
 e   e  2 e  2 e 

 1 1 A
Q.21. If A    and I is a 2 × 2 identity matrix, then e is
 1 1

 e2  1   e 1  e2  1   e 1
(a) I   A (b) I   A (c) I   A (d) I   A
 2   2   2   2 

Q.22. If a non-diagonal Hermitian matrix M is transformed into diagonal form D  P 1M P , then P will be a
(a) Orthogonal Matrix (b) Unitary Matrix (c) Hermitian Matrix (d) Symmetric Matrix

Q.23. Consider the matrix

 2 2
A 
2 5
If B = 2eA, the determinant of B is

(a) 4e7
7

(b) 4 e  e
4
 (c) e7
7
(d) e  e
4

  
4 A A 2n +1
Q.24. If A   2 and B  sin   . If sinA =   1
n2
, then trace of B is
  3 n0  2n  1 !
 0 3 

(a) 1/3 (b) 1/6 (c) 1/2 (d) 1/8

1  3i 1  3i
Q.25. The eigen values of a matrix A(3 × 3) are 1, , . if A can be expanded as power sereis
2 2

An
expansion of exponential as e   , then the value of det  eA  is
A

n 0 n !

1
(a) e  (b) e 2  e (c) 1 (d) 0
e

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QUESTIONS ON NEW PATTERN OF GATE EXAMINATION

PART I: Multiple Select Questions (MSQ)

Q.26. Let, M be a 3  3 Hermitian matrix which satisfies the matrix equation M 2  5M  6 I  0 . Which of the
following are the possible eigenvalues of M?
(a) (1,1,2) (b) (2,2,3) (c) (3,3,3) (d) (2,3,3)

Q.27. Two different 2  2 Hermititan matrices A and B found to be have same eigenvalues. It is then correct to state
that A  SBS 1 . Which of the following statements is/are CORRECT about the matrix S?
(a) It has determinant with unit modulus (b) S †  S 1
(c) It can have only real eigenvalues (d) It can have complex eigenvalues with unit modulus

Q.28. Suppose 1 , 2 , 3 are eigenvalues of the following matrix:

1 3 3 
M   3 5 3 
6 6 4 
Which of the following statements is/are CORRECT about the matrix M?
1
(a) M 3  12M  16 I  0 (b) M 1 
16
 M 2  12 I 

(c) 12  2 3  31  12 (d) M is non-invertible in nature

Q.29. Consider the following matrix:

 0 0 0 
 0 0  0 
A
 0  0 0
 
  0 0 0
Which of the following statements is/are CORRECT about the matrix A?
(a) Product of eigenvalues for exp  A is e (b) Sum of eigenvalues for exp  A is 4 cos 

(c) Sum of eigenvalues for exp  A2  is 0 (d) A2 is a scalar matrix.

Q.30. Consider the following matrix

 4 6
A 
6 9
Which of the following statements is/are CORRECT?
(a) The matrix is not invertible in nature.
(b) The number of degenerate eigenvalues of the matrix is zero.
(c) The eigenvectors of the matrix are orthogonal to each other.
(d) Diagonalization of the matrix is not possible.

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PART II: Numerical Answer Type (NAT) Questions

Q.31. Let M be a 3  3 hermitian matrix which satisfies the matrix equation M 2  7 M  12 I  0 , where I refers
to identity matrix. The determinant of M given that the trace is 10, will be ___________________
[Your answer should be AN INTEGER]

Q.32. If the unitary matrix U and the Hermitian matrix H are related by U  ei a H . If tr ( H )  0 , then
det (U )  ______________________________________ [Your answer should be AN INTEGER]

 0 2i 3i 
 eM 
 
Q Consider a matrix M   2i 0 6i  , If det   is equal to 1: m, then m is ________________
 2 
 3i 6i 0 
[Your answer should be AN INTEGER]

Q.34. If a 3  3 matrix A satiesfies the characteristic equation A3  8 A2  17 A  10 I  0 and it’s eigenvalues are
given given by 1 ,  2 , 3 , then the value of 1 2   2  3   31 is ___________________________
[Your answer should be AN INTEGER]

Q.35. Consider a n  n matrix  n  3 satisfies the relation A2  I . If the matrix also satisfies Det  A 1 and

Det  A  1 , then the minimum value of n will be ______________________________________

[Your answer should be AN INTEGER]

Answer Key

1. (b) 2. (a) 3. (c) 4. (d) 5. (c) 6. (a) 7. (a)

8. (a) 9. (d) 10. (d) 11. (b) 12. (a) 13. (b) 14. (a)

15. (a) 16. (c) 17. (c) 18. (a) 19. (c) 20. (a) 21. (a)

22. (b) 23. (a) 24. (c) 25. (c)

26. (b,c,d) 27. (a,b,d) 28. (a,b,c) 29. (a,b,d) 30. (a,b,c)

31. (36) 32. (1) 33. (8) 34. (17) 35. (6)

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