2006 Fall Algebra Questions U

B First Qual

1. Let T : R3 → R4 be defined by

T (x, y, z) = (x + y + z, x + 2y − 3z, 2x + 3y − 2z, 3x + 4y − z)

Find the dimension of the range of T and the find a basis for the range.

2. Let A be a square matrix such that A 6= 0, but Ak = 0 for some integer k > 1. Show that A
is not diagonalizable.

3. Let A be an n × n matrix and let B be the (n − 1) × n matrix obtained by removing the last
row of A. Show that if the rank of A is equal to the rank of B, then 0 is an eigenvalue of A.

4. Let M3 (C) be the vector space of all 3 × 3 complex matrices and let Eij be the 3 × 3 matrix
with 1 as its (i, j) entry and 0 elsewhere. Let f : M3 (C) → C be a linear transformation. If
f (AB) = f (BA) for all A, B ∈ M3 (C), prove that f (Eij ) = 0 for all i 6= j and that f (E11 ) =
f (E22 ) = f (E33 ).

5. Let G be a group. Define Z(G), the center of G, by

Z(G) = {x ∈ G|xy = yx ∀y ∈ G}.

Prove that Z(G) is a subgroup of G.

6. Let R be a finite commutative ring with identity. Show that an element r ∈ R is invertible if
and only if rn = 1 for some n > 0.

7. Let G be an abelian group with an element of order greater than 2. Show that there exists an
automorphism φ of G that is different from the identity automorphism.

8. Let R be a commutative ring with identity 1 ∈ R, let R[x] be the ring of polynomials with
coefficients in R, and let the polynomials f (x) be invertible in R[x]. Show that if R is an integral
domain, then deg(f (x)) = 0. Also give an example (of a commutative ring R with identity and
a polynomial f (x) invertible in R[x] where deg(f (x)) > 0. z
2006 Fall Analysis Questions U
B First Qual

9. Find a sequence {an } such that {an } > 0 for all n, {an } is strictly decreasing in n, {an } → 0
as n → ∞, and a1 + a2 − a3 + a4 + a5 − a6 + . . . diverges. Note that the pattern of the terms is 2
pluses and 1 minus. Justify your answer.

10. Let A be a subset of Rn . define a set bd(A) as follows: bd(A) is the set of all b ∈ Rn such
that each open ball around b contains at least one element of A and at least one element of the
complement of A. Prove that bd(A) is a closed subset of Rn .

11. Let (
x3
x2 +y 2
; if(x, y) 6= (0, 0)
f (x, y) =
0; if(x, y) = (0, 0)
Prove that f is continuous at (0, 0). Is f differentiable at (0, 0)? Justify your answer.

12. Let f : [0, 1] → R be continuous and one to one, with f (0) < f (1). Prove that f is strictly
increasing.

13. Let f be continuous be [0, ∞) and limx→∞ f (x) = L. Evaluate

Z 2
lim f (n − x)dx
n→∞ 0

Prove your answer.

14. Let f, g : R → R be continuous functions. Let h(x) = max{f (x), g(x)}. Prove that h is
continuous in R. z
2006 Spring Algebra Questions U
B First Qual

(Bootlegged from the memories of examinees)

1. Prove that the vector space of all polynomials over the reals is not finite dimensional.

2. If ϕ : Rn → Rn is a linear transformation such that every non–zero vector of Rn is an

eigenvector of ϕ, show that there exists an a ∈ R s.t. ϕ(v) = av for all v ∈ Rn .

3. Prove that any non–abelian group has an automorphism different from the identity.

4. Diagonalize the matrix  

1 1 1
 
A :=  0 0 0  .
0 0 0

5. If H, K are normal subgroups of a group and H ∩ K = {e}, show that hk = kh, for any
h ∈ H, k ∈ K.

6. ? Let W1 , W2 , W3 be three distinct subspaces of R4 . Prove that W1 ∩ W2 ∩ W3 ...?

7. ?

8. ? z
2006 Spring Analysis Questions U
B First Qual

9. Is f (x) = x sin( x1 ) uniformly continuous on (0,1)?

10. If K is a compact subset of Rn , and x0 ∈ K, prove that there exists an a ∈ K such that
ka − x0 k ≥ kx − x0 k for all x ∈ K.

11. If f : Rm → Rn is differentiable at a ∈ Rn , prove that f is continuous at a.

12. Prove or disprove each of the two directions

P∞ P∞ 2
1 |an | converges ⇔ 1 an converges.

13. If f : R → R is continuous and open, prove that f is one–to–one.

14. ? On implicit function theorem... z

2005 Fall Algebra Questions U
B First Qual

1. Let A be a diagonal n × n matrix with diagonal entries λ1 , λ2 , . . . , λn , where λi 6= λj if i 6= j.

Prove that if AB = BA, then the n × n matrix B is diagonal.

2. (i) Let V be the vector space of all 3 × 3 symmetric matrices over the reals. Find a basis for
and the dimension of V . Prove that your assertions are correct.
(ii) Find (without proof) the number of elements in a basis for the vector space of all n × n
symmetric matrices over the reals. Your answer should be a formula in n.

3. Let S : V → V and T : V → V be linear transformations on a finite dimensional vector space

V . Prove that nullity (ST ) ≤ nullity (S) + nullity (T ).

4. Suppose T : R3 → R3 is a linear transformation such that T 3 (x) = x for every x ∈ R3 . Show

that there is a y 6= 0 in R3 such that T (y) = y.

5. Let G be the group Z2 ⊕ Z4 .

(i) Find the distinct cyclic subgroups of G and for each one give its order.
(ii) Find the proper non–cyclic subgroups of G.

6. Let p be an odd prime. Show that in the ring Zp , every element can be written as a sum of
two squares. {Hint: If c is in Zp , consider c + (−S) where S is the set of squares in Zp .}
√ √
7. Find the least degree polynomial with rational coefficients that has 2 + 3 as a root.

8. Let Z[i] denote the ring of Gaussian integers. Consider the function ϕ : Z[i] → Z5 defined by
ϕ(a + ib) = a − 2b(mod5).
(i) Show that ϕ is a ring homomorphism.
(ii) Find a generator for the kernel of ϕ and justify your answer. z
2005 Fall Analysis Questions U
B First Qual

an+1
9. Prove that if an > 0 for each n = 1, 2, 3, . . . and limn→∞ < 1, then limn→∞ an = 0.
an
R∞
10. Let f be a non–negative monotonically decreasing function on [1, ∞). Prove that 1 f (x)dx
P
converges if and only if ∞
n=1 f (n) converges.

11. Let f and g be continuous functions on [a, b]. Suppose that f (a) = 12 g(a) and f (b) = 2g(b).
(i) Show by example there need not exist a c ∈ [a, b] such that f (c) = g(c).
(ii) Prove that such a number c should exist if g(x) ≥ 0 for all x ∈ [a, b].

12. Show that there do not exist reals numbers a, b, c, not all zero such that aex + be2x + ce3x = 0
for all real x.

13. Let K be a compact subset of R2 and

A := {x ∈ R| ∃ y ∈ R such that (x, y) ∈ K}
Prove that A is a compact subset of R.
n+sin(x)
14. For n = 1, 2, 3, . . ., let fn (x) = 3n+sin2 (x) .

(i) Prove that {fn } converges uniformly on R.

Rπ
(ii) Evaluate limn→∞ 0 fn (x)dx. z
2005 Spring Algebra Questions U
B First Qual

1. Show that there is no non-trivial automorphism of the ring Z of integers.

2. Let H be a finite subgroup of a group G. If the order of H is m and H is the only subgroup
of order m, prove that H is normal in G.

3. Let G be an abelian group. Let T be the subgroup of G defined by T = {g ∈ G| order of g is finite}.

Prove that every non-identity element of the quotient group G/T has infinite order.

4. Let R be a commutative ring and let I be an ideal in R. Define the radical of the ideal I,
Rad(I) := {r ∈ R|rn ∈ I for some positive number n}. Prove that Rad(I) is an ideal in R.

5. Suppose A is an m × n matrix and B is an n × p matrix. Prove that the nullity of AB is

greater than or equal to the nullity of B. Also, prove that the rank of AB is less than or equal
to the rank of B.
" #
0 1
6. Let A = . Find A50 .
−2 3
7. Let M and N be subspaces of a finite–dimensional vector space V . Define a subspace M + N
of V by
M + N = {x + y|x ∈ M, y ∈ N }.

Prove that dim(M + N ) = dim M + dim N − dim (M ∩ N ).

8. Let T : Rn → Rn be a linear transformation. Suppose H is a subspace of Rn of odd dimension

such that T (H) ⊆ H. Then prove that H contains an eigenvector of T . z
2005 Spring Analysis Questions U
B First Qual

9. Let I be the open interval (a, b). Suppose f : I → R is uniformly continuous. Prove that if
{xn } is a Cauchy sequence in I, then {f (xn )} is also a Cauchy sequence.

10. Suppose {fn } is a sequence of functions from R to R which converges point wise to a function
f . Then prove that {fn } converges uniformly to f on every finite subset of R.

11. Let A = R2 \{(0, 0)}. Prove that A can be written as a countable union of closed disks.

12. Let f be defined on the square D = {(x, y)| 0 ≤ x ≤ 1, 0 ≤ y ≤ 1} by

f (x, y) = x2 − 2xy + 3y 2 − x.

Find all critical points of f on D and find the maximum and the minimum of f on D.

13. Suppose that f : (a, b) → R is continuously differentiable. Suppose K is a compact subset of

the interval (a, b). Then prove that there is some constant M such that, for any x, y ∈ K,

|f (x) − f (y)| ≤ M |x − y|.

14. Let f : R → R be a function which is bounded, continuous and strictly increasing. Prove
that f is uniformly continuous. z
2004 Fall Algebra Questions U
B First Qual

1. Let P3 be the vector space of all real polynomials of degree ≤ 3. Let T : P3 → P3 be the linear
transformation defined by T (p(x)) = p(x + 1).
a. Find the matrix of T with respect to the basis 1, x, x2 , x3 .
b. Find the eigenvalues of T and the corresponding eigenspaces.

2. Let V be a finite dimensional vector space and let T : V → V be a linear transformation.

Show there exists a positive integer k such that T k (V ) = T l (V ) for all l ≥ k.

3. Let V be a vector space over the real numbers with an inner product hu, vi. Let W be the
P
linear span of an orthonormal subset {u1 , . . . um } of V . For v ∈ V , let v 0 = m
i=1 hv, ui iui . Prove
0 ⊥ 0
that v − v ∈ W and that ||v − v || ≤ ||v − w|| for all w ∈ W .

4. Suppose V and W are real vector spaces, with basis v1 , . . . , vn for V and basis w1 , . . . wm for
W . Recall (
1, if j = k
δjk =
0, if j 6= k.
For each i and j, where 1 ≤ i ≤ m and 1 ≤ j ≤ n, define a linear transformation Eij : V → W
by Eij (vk ) = δjk wi for 1 ≤ k ≤ n. Let L(V, W ) be the vector space of all linear transformations
T : V → W . Prove that the dimension of L(V, W ) is m · n by showing that Eij form a basis for
L(V, W ).

5. Let F be a field. Let G be the group of all non–singular n × n matrices with coefficients in F
and let H be the subgroup of all n × n matrices with determinant equal to 1. Show that H is
normal in G and that G/H is isomorphic to F .

6. Let G be a group of order 72. Show that if G has a normal subgroup of order 8, then G
contains a subgroup of order 24.

7. (Mod p Irreducibility Test) Let P (x) be a polynomial of degree ≥ 1 with integer coefficients
and let p be a prime. Let P̄ be the polynomial with coefficients in Zp obtained by taking the
coefficients of P and reducing them mod p. If degree P equals degree P̄ , and P̄ is irreducible
over Zp , prove that P (x) is irreducible over the rationals.

8. Let G be the group of bijections on Z, with composition as the group operation : σ · τ = σ ◦ τ ,

where σ ◦ τ (n) = σ(τ (n)). Let H be the subgroup of G given by h = {σ ∈ G|σ(n) = n for all n ≤
0}. Define α ∈ G by α(n) = n + 1 for all n ∈ Z. Show that αHα−1 is contained in H, but
αHα−1 6= H. z
2004 Fall Analysis Questions U
B First Qual

9. Prove that the function f (x) = 1/x is uniformly continuous on the interval [1, ∞), but not
uniformly continuous on (0, 1].

10. Let f be a strictly increasing function defined on the closed interval [a, b]. Prove that f is
continuous on [a, b] if and only if the range of f is [f (a), f (b)].

11. Let f : R → R be differentiable and not identically zero. If f (x + y) = f (x)f (y) for all
x, y ∈ R, prove that f (x) = ekx for some constant k.
P P∞
12. Let a1 , a2 , . . . be real numbers. Prove that if ∞n=1 |an | converges, then n=1 an converges.

13. The point P0 = (1, −1, 2) is on the curve given by

x2 (y 2 + z 2 ) − 5 = 0 (x − z)2 + y 2 − 2 = 0

a. Show that near P0 the curve can be written as y = f (x), z = g(x).

b. Find a non–zero tangent to the curve at P0 .

14. Let A be a constant, 0 < A < 1. Let f : Rn → Rn be a function such that ||f (x) − f (y)|| ≤
A||x − y|| for all x and y in Rn . Prove that f is continuous and that there is a unique b ∈ Rn
such that f (b) = b. (Hint: Consider a sequence such that xk+1 = f (xk )). z