Mathemission

CBSE Math Class 12

Matrices
(Notes)

Ashutosh Kumar
MATHEMISSION

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The material covers the following topics:
• Definition of a Matrix
• Operation on Matrices
• Transpose of a Matrix
• Symmetric and Skew-symmetric Matrices
• Elementary Transformation of a Matrix
• Inverse of a Matrix
I am thankful to all the resources that have been taken into account
while preparing this material.

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Matrices Notes

Mathemission
1 Definition of a Matrix
A rectangular arrangement of mn objects in in the form of an ordered set of
m rows each consisting ordered set of n objects is called an m by n matrix.
The term ’m by n’ is called the order of matrix and also denoted as m × n.
The objects of that a matrix is constituted are called elements or entries of
the matrix. The abbreviated notation of a matrix A of order m by n is

A = [aij ]m×n , 1 ≤ i ≤ m, 1 ≤ j ≤ m

where aij is represents the entry of the ith row and the j th column. And
the matrix A in its detailed form, in which each entry occupy its own assigned
place, appears as follow.
 
a11 a12 · · · a1n
 a21 a22 · · · a2n 
A =  .. .. .. .. 
 
 . . . . 
am1 am2 · · · amn m×n

2 Types of Matrices
• Row Matrix: A matrix which has only one row is called a row matrix.
 
R = a11 a12 · · · a1n 1×n

• Column Matrix: A matrix which has only one column is called a

column matrix.  
a11
 a21 
C =  .. 
 
 . 
am1 m×1

• Zero Matrix: A matrix which all the elements are zero is called a zero
matrix.  
0 0 ··· 0
0 0 · · · 0
Z =  .. .. . . .. 
 
. . . .
0 0 · · · 0 m×n

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Matrices Notes

Mathemission
• Square Matrix: A matrix which has equal number of rows and
columns.
A = [aij ]n×n
If a square matrix has order n × n, we can say it has order n. For
example the matrix M ,
 
1 −2 0
M = 3 4 10
5 6 8
is a square matrix of order 3.

Diagonal of a Square Matrix: A square matrix has a diagonal along

which the elements aii falls. The elements in this diagonal are called
diagonal elements and diagonal is called principal diagonal or leading
diagonal or the diagonal. For example, of the matrix M above, the
diagonal elements are a11 = 1, a22 = 4 and a33 = 8.
• Diagonal Matrix: A square matrix whose all the elements except the
diagonal elements are zeros is called diagonal matrix. For example,
 
  2 0 0
3 0 0 −4 0
,
0 −2
0 0 9

• Scalar Matrix: A diagonal matrix whose diagonal elements are equal

and zero is called a scalar matrix. If S is a scalar matrix of order n
then (
0, when i 6= j
S = [aij ]n×n where aij =
k, when i = j
For example,  
2 0 0
0 2 0
0 0 2
• Identity Matrix: A scalar matrix in which each diagonal entry is 1
is called an identity matrix. For an identity matrix I of order n,
(
0, when i 6= j
In = [aij ]n×n where aij =
1, when i = j

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Matrices Notes

Mathemission
For example,  
1 0 0
I3 = 0 1 0
0 0 1
is the identity matrix of order 3.

3 Equal Matrices
Two matrices A and B are said to be equal if they are of same order and
their corresponding elements are equal. For example,
   
a b 1 3
if A = B=
c d 4 9

are equal matrices then a = 1, b = 3, c = 4, d = 9.

4 Operation on Matrices
Addition of Matrices
If A and B are two matrices of the same order, then their sum A + B is
the matrix obtained by adding the corresponding elements of A and B. For
example,    
4 b 5 1 b 0
for A = B=
x d 0 4 9 3
The sum (A + B) is given as
   
4+1 b+b 5+0 5 2b 5
A+B = =
x+4 d+9 0+3 x+4 d+9 3

Similarly the difference of A and B is given as

   
4−1 b−b 5−0 3 0 5
A−B = =
x−4 d−9 0−3 x − 4 d − 9 −3

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Matrices Notes

Mathemission
Properties of Addition
(i) Commutative: A + B = B + A

(ii) Associative: (A + B) + C = A + (B + C)

(iii) Additive Identity: A + Z = Z + A. The zero matrix Z is additive

identity.

(iv) Additive Inverse: −A is the additive inverse of A.

Multiplication of Matrix by a Scalar

If A = [aij ]m×n then kA = [kaij ]m×n . In words, a matrix A changes by k
times if each element of matrix is multiplied by constant k. For example,
   
a b c ka kb kc
If A = then kA =
1 −2 0 k −2k 0

Multiplication of Two Matrices

Let A and B be two matrices, then the product AB, taken in order, is defined
if the number of columns in A is equal to the number of rows in B. And the
order of the product AB is number of rows of A by number of columns of B.
The element cik of matrix AB is the sum of of the products of the elements
aij from A and bjk from B. That is,

For A = [aij ]m×n , and B = [bjk ]n×p the product AB = [cik ]m×p

n
X
where cik = aij bjk 1 ≤ i ≤ m, 1 ≤ k ≤ n
j=1

Properties
• A(B + C) = AB + AC

• (A + B)C = AC + BC

• (AB)C = A(BC)

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Matrices Notes

Mathemission
• k(AB) = (kA)B = A(kB), where k is any constant.
• If A is an m by n matrix, and Im and In are the identity matrices of
order m and n respectively, then

Im A = A = AIn

• Am = Am−1 A = AAm−1 for all positive integers m and a square matrix

A.

5 Transpose of a Matrix
If A = [aij ] be a m by n matrix then the transpose of A, is the matrix
obtained from A by interchanging its rows and columns. The transpose of
matrix A is denoted by A0 or AT and it has order n by m. For example,
 
a b  
a c e
If A =  c d  then A =
T
b d f 2×3
e f 3×2

Properties of Transpose
• (AT )T = A
• (kA)T = kAT
• (A + B)T = AT + B T
• (A − B)T = AT − B T
• (AB)T = B T AT

Symmetric and Skew-Symmetric Matrices

A square matrix A = [aij ]m×n is called a symmetric matrix if

AT = A ie., aij = aji

A square matrix A = [aij ]m×n is called a skew-symmetric matrix if

AT = −A ie., aij = −aji

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Matrices Notes

Mathemission
 
2 3 5
For example, the matrix 3 −1 7 is a symmetric matrix. And, the
  5 7 2
0 −3 5
matrix 3
 0 7 is a skew-symmetric matrix.
−5 −7 0

Theorem
Let A is a square matrix. Then
(i) A + AT is a symmetric matrix.
(ii) A − AT is a skew-symmetric matrix.
(iii) the matrix A can be expressed as the sum of a symmetric and a skew-
symmetric matrices.

6 Elementary Operations (Transformations)

on a Matrix
An elementary row (or column) operation can be any of the following three
types:
(i) The interchange of two rows (or columns): For example, The
interchange of the second and the third row is indicated as
R2 ↔ R2

(ii) The multiplication of the elements of any row (or column) by

a nonzero real number: Suppose, we want to multiply the second
row by 3, we indicate this by writing
R2 → 3R2

(iii) The addition to the elements of any row (or column), the cor-
responding elements of any other row (or column) multiplied
by any nonzero real number. Suppose we wish to add three times
of row 3 to row 1, we should indicate it by
R1 → R1 + 3R3

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Matrices Notes

Mathemission
7 Inverse of a Matrix
If A is a square matrix and there exists a square matrix B such that

AB = BA = I.

Then the matrix B is called the inverse of A. The inverse of A is denoted by

A−1 . So,
B = A−1

Some Important Points

• If B is the inverse of A, then A is the inverse of B.

• Inverse of a matrix is unique.

• For some matrices inverse may not exist.

• AA−1 = A−1 A = I

Finding Inverse by Elementary Row Operations

Let A be a square matrix of order n and I is the identity matrix of the same
order. Then we can write

A = IA
Now our task is to apply a sequence of elementary row operations on
the matrix A on LHS along with on the identity matrix I on the RHS until
A is reduced to I. We observe that the I on the right-hand side will get
transformed into a new matrix, say B. The matrix B will be the inverse of
A.

Stepwise
1. Write A = IA

2. Apply elementary row operations to transform LHS A into I and RHS

I into B.

3. Then A−1 = B

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Matrices Notes

Mathemission
The following is the sequence of row transformations that can be per-
formed on a 3 by 3 matrix in order to find its inverse.

• First, make the element a11 1. For this, apply the following operation
1
R1 → R1
a11
If the element a11 = 0, interchange the row with any other row which
has not the first entry zero. And then apply the above operation.

• Make the elements a21 and a31 zero in thus formed matrix. For this,
use the following operations

R2 → R2 − a21 R1 and R3 → R3 − a31 R1

• Now, make the element a22 1 in thus acheived matrix. For this, apply
the operation below
1
R2 → R2
a22
• Again, make the elements a12 and a32 zero in thus formed matrix. For
this, use the following operations

R1 → R1 − a12 R2 and R1 → R1 − a32 R2

• Now you got the idea! Make the element a33 1 in thus acheived matrix.
For this, apply the operation below
1
R3 → R3
a33

• And finally, make the elements a23 and a13 zero in thus formed matrix.
For this, use the following operations

R2 → R2 − a23 R3 and R1 → R1 − a13 R3