MAT2040 Linear Algebra

Midterm Exam
SSE, CUHK(SZ)
31 Oct 2020

Seat No.: Student ID:

• Answer each question in the space after the question.

• For questions in Part I, you can give answers without explanations.

• For questions in Part II, be sure to give full explanations for

your answers. The solution only is not supposed to be a complete
answer.

Question Points Score Question Points Score

1 5 7 10
2 6 8 10
3 6 9 10
4 10 10 12
5 7 11 12
6 12 Total: 100

1
 This page has no questions, but a table of notations.

Table of Notations

R set of real numbers

Without otherwise specified, all matrices have entries from R
n
R set of all (column) vectors of n entries from R
n-dimensional Euclidean vector spaces
0, 1, . . . scalar values
0 zero vector in Rn , where n is implied in the context
I, In the n × n identity matrix
T
A transpose of matrix A
det(A), det A determinant of matrix A
Col(A) column space of matrix A
Null(A) null space of matrix A
Span(A) linear span of the set of vectors A
rank(A) rank of a matrix A
dim(V) dimension of a vector space V
[x]B the coordinate vector of x with respect to the basis B

MAT2040 Midterm Exam, Page 2 of 6 31 Oct 2020

I Multiple Choices and True/False
Answer the following questions following the instructions.

Question 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 points
Consider two symmetric matrices A and B of the same size. Which of the following
matrices are symmetric?
(a) A2 − B 2
(b) (A + B)(A − B)
(c) ABA
(d) ABAB

Question 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 points
Consider the following matrices
   
a11 a12 a13 a14 a14 a13 a12 a11
 a21 a22 a23 a24 
 , B =  a24 a23 a22 a21  ,
 
A=  a31 a32 a33 a34   a34 a33 a32 a31 
a41 a42 a43 a44 a44 a43 a42 a41
   
0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0
 0 1 0 0   0 0 1 0 
P1 = 
 0
 , P2 =  ,
0 1 0   0 1 0 0 
1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
where A is invertible, and then B −1 = ( )
(a) A−1 P1 P2
(b) P1 A−1 P2
(c) P1 P2 A−1
(d) P2 A−1 P1

Question 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 points
Consider a matrix A ∈ Rn×n and a vector a ∈ Rn×1 , with
 
A a
rank = rank(A).
aT 0

Then, ( ) is always true.

(a) Ax = a has infinite number of solutions.
(b) Ax = a has a unique solution.
  
A a x
(c) = 0 only has the trivial solution.
aT 0 y

MAT2040 Midterm Exam, Page 3 of 6 31 Oct 2020

   
A a x
(d) = 0 has a non-trivial solution.
aT 0 y

Question 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 points
Determine whether each of the following statement is equivalent to that an n × n
matrix A is nonsingular (invertible) by marking True or False. For the statement
marked False, please correct the statement so that it is equivalent to A is nonsingular.

(1) Ax = 0 is consistent.
(2) Ax = b has a unique solution for any b ∈ Rn .
(3) A is row equivalent to I.
(4) There exists a matrix E such that EA = I.
(5) A is a product of a sequence of finite elementary matrices.
(6) The columns of A span Rn .
(7) The rows of A form a basis of Rn .
(8) A is full rank, i.e., rank(A) = n.
(9) dim(Null(A)) = 1.
(10) det(A) > 0.

II Calculations and Proofs

(Please give the details of your proofs and solutions. Your answer will be only judged
based on your writing on the paper.)

Question 5 .. . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 points

3 1
Let A = . Calculate A2 , A3 and An . Suppose you know that
0 2
 −1     
1 −1 3 1 1 −1 3 0
=
0 1 0 2 0 1 0 2

Question 6 .. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 points

a a a a
a b b b 
Let A = a b c c . Consider the following sequence of row operations:


a b c d
     
a a a a a a a a a a a a
op1 a b b b  op2 a
  b b b  op3 0 b − a b − a b − a
A −−→  −−→  −−→  
a b c c  0 0 c − b c − b 0 0 c − b c − b
0 0 0 d−c 0 0 0 d−c 0 0 0 d−c

MAT2040 Midterm Exam, Page 4 of 6 31 Oct 2020

 (a) (5 points) Specify the operation performed in each step of the row operations,
and give the corresponding elementary matrices.
(b) (3 points) Give an LU decomposition of A.
(c) (4 points) Suppose thata= 1, b = 2, c = 3 and d = 4. Solve the system of
0
1
linear equations: Ax = 
1.


Question 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 points
Denote by P4 the set of polynomial of degree less than 4. Let A be a subset of P4 :

A = {1 + 2x3 , 2 + x − 3x2 , −x + 2x2 + x3 , 1 + x − 3x2 − 2x3 },

where x is the indeterminate (variable) of the polynomials.

(a) (5 points) Find the dimension of the subspace spanned by A, together with a
basis.
(b) (5 points) Verify whether the polynomial p1 = 1 + 2x + 2x2 is in Span(A) or
not. If it is, give the coordinates with respect to the basis you find in (a).

Question 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 points
Let            
1 1 2 4 0 0
u1 = 1 , u2 = 2 , u3 = 3 v1 = 6 , v2 = 1 , v3 = 1 .
          
1 2 4, 7 1 2
(a) (5 points) Find the change-of-basis transition matrix from {v1 , v2 , v3 } to {u1 , u2 , u3 }.
(b) (5 points) For x = 2v1 + 3v2 − 4v3 , determine the coordinates of x with respect
to {u1 , u2 , u3 }.

Question 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 points
For the following matrix, find a basis for the row space, a basis for the column space
and a basis for the null space.
 
1 2 −2 1
2 1 3 2
3 4 5 6

Question 10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 points

MAT2040 Midterm Exam, Page 5 of 6 31 Oct 2020

 Consider the following linear system


 (a1 + b)x1 + a2 x2 + a3 x3 + · · · + an xn = 0
 a1 x1 + (a2 + b)x2 + a3 x3 + · · · + an xn = 0


a1 x1 + a2 x2 + (a3 + b)x3 + · · · + an xn = 0 ,
···




a1 x1 + a2 x2 + a3 x3 + · · · + (an + b)xn = 0


where ni=1 ai ̸= 0, and ai and b are some scalars. Questions:

P

(a) (6 points) When this linear system only has the trivial solution? (For which ai
and b?)
(b) (6 points) When this linear system has non-trivial solutions? Then, obtain the
solutions.

Question 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 points
(a) (4 points) Show that for x, y1 , . . . , yn ∈ Rm (where m ≥ n + 1), if y1 , . . . , yn are
linearly independent and x ∈ / Span{y1 , . . . , yn }, then x, y1 , . . . , yn are linearly
independent.
(b) (8 points) Suppose n ≥ 3 and a, b, c, d3 , . . . , dn ∈ Rn . Show that if a ∈ /
Span{b, c, d3 , . . . , dn }, b ∈
/ Span{a, c, d3 , . . . , dn }, and c ∈
/ Span{a, b, d3 , . . . , dn },
then d3 , . . . , dn are linearly dependent.

MAT2040 Midterm Exam, Page 6 of 6 31 Oct 2020