CHAPTER TWO

MATRICES
2.1 DEFINATION OF MATRIX

Definition: - a rectangular array of numbers of the form

A= [ ]

Where each R is called a matrix and the notation is abbreviated as A = . The

horizontal arrangement in the array is called a row while the vertical arrangement is called column.
Here, we say that A has size or order m by n written as mxn. That means it has m rows and n
columns. As element , 1 ≤ i ≤ m, 1 ≤ j ≤ n is called the entry of A. it is an element of in the
row and column of A.

Example: - Given

A = [ ], then the size of A is 2x3 and ,

, , = -5

Equality of matrices:- two matrices A and B are Said to be equal ( A=B) iff A and B have the same
size and all their corresponding entries are equal. i.e. if A= , B= with =
for all 1 ≤ i ≤ m, 1 ≤ j ≤ n.

Example:- Let A = [ ], B=[ ]

If A = B, then find a, b, x, and y

Solution

A=B  [ ] = [ ],

 , 6= , -2 = , =8

Applied Math- I, By Tamirat Er.

 2 x  4 y  6 a  b  6
  ,  
 2 x  y  11  a  3b  2

 -5y = -5  y=1  x= 5  -4b = 8  b=-2  a=4

2.2 TYPES OF MATRICES

A. ZERO MATRIX;- If all the entire of a matrix isone zero, then the matrix is called zero matrix
or null matrix and denoted by the symbol 0 = . Example 0=[ ].

B. ROW MATRIX:- A matrix having exactly one row is called row matrix and denoted by A=
. Example A= [ ] etc.

C. COLUMN MATRIX:- A matrix having exactly one column is called column matrix and denoted

by A= . Example A= [ ].

D. SQUARE MATRIX:- A matrix in which the number of rows and the number of columns are
equal. i.e an nxn matrix is called square matrix of order n . In a square matrix the entries , ,
,… are called diagonal entries of A.

Example:- A= [ ] is square matrix of order 3.

E. DIAGONAL MATRIX:- A square matrix A = is called a diagonal matrix iff all of its
non-diagonal entries are zero.

Example:- A= [ ], B= [ ] are diagonal matrices.

F. SCALAR MATRIX:- A diagonal matrix in which all the diagonal entries are equal it is called
scalar matrix.

Example:- A= [ ], B=[ ] are scalar matrices.

G. IDENTIFY MATRIX:- A scalar matrix with diagonal entry of 1 is called identify matrix denoted
by In.

Applied Math- I, By Tamirat Er.

Example:- =[ ] =[ ]

H. TRIANGULAR MATRIX:- Let A be a square matrix. If all entries of A above the main diagonal
are zero, A is called lower triangular and all the entries of A below the main diagonal are zero, A is
called upper triangular matrix.

Example:- A= [ ] = upper triangular matrix

B=[ ] = lower triangular matrix

2.3 OPRATION ON MATRICES

Let A= , B= be any to matrices. Then

I. ADDITION OF MATRICES :- the sum of A + B is obtained by adding corresponding entries

as A+B= +
II. SCALAR MULTIPLICATION: - The scalar multiply of KA of A matrix obtained by
multiplying each entries of A by the scalar K as KA= .

Example1:- Let A=[ ], B=[ ] Then

a) A + B = [ ] + [ ] = [ ] =[ ]

b) 3A=?
c) 2A + 3B =?

Example2:- 1) If A – B =[ ], A + B = [ ] find the matrices A and B.

Applied Math- I, By Tamirat Er.

 Solution

(A + B) +(A – B) = [ ] [ ] =[ ]

 2A=[ ]  A= [ ] =[ ]

 A =[ ] and B = (A+B) - A = [ ] [ ]=[ ].

III. MATRIX MULTIPLICATION:- Let , ,… be the row matrices of A and , ,

… be column matrices of B. Then the product of A and B is defined as:-

P= AB = [ ]

for each i,k Pi,k =RiCk =∑ is the (ik)th entry of the product matrix

P= AB , particularly, for A = [ ] , B =[ ]

AB = [ ][ ]=[ ]

Example1:- Let A= [ ] , B=[ ]. Then, find a) AB b) BA

Ans: a) AB = [ ] b) BA = [ ]

Example2:- Let A= [ ] , B=[ ]. Then, find (if possible) a) AB b) BA

Ans: a) AB = [ ] b) Ex.

Applied Math- I, By Tamirat Er.

Remark: i) In matrix multiplication, it is always true that if I is identity matrix , then AI=IA =A.

ii) The product of AB is defined if the number of columns of A is equal to the number of rows of B.
For instance , if A is m n matrix and B is n r , then the order of P= AB will be m r.

Eg:- Let A= [ ] , B = (-2, 3, 1), then AB= [ ].

Ex: Find matrix A with the property that [ ]A[ ]==[ ]

Ans: A = [ ] =[ ] b/c (3 2)(m n)(2 3)  m=2 and n=2 order of A.

iii) Matrix multiplication is not in general commutative . i. e .

Eg:- Let A = [ ] , B= [ ] , then verify that .

iv) AB=AC does not imply that B=C i.e cancellation is not possible.

Power of a matrix:- The power of a matrix A is the nth power of A defined inductively as

A0 = I, A1 = A, A2 = A.A, A3 = A2.A, …… An= An-1 .A.

Eg: Let A= [ ] , then find a) A4 b) A6. Ex.

Transpose of a matrix and symmetric matrix

Definition: A matrix obtained from a given matrix A by writing rows as columns or columns as
rows is called transpose of A and denoted by At.

Eg: Let A= [ ], then At = [ ].

Properties of transpose

Let A = (aij , B = (bij and k be a scalar. Then

a) (A+B)t = At + Bt
b) (At)t = A
c) (A-B)t = At - Bt
d) (kA)t = kAt
e) (AB)t = BtAt ( when ever AB is defined )

Applied Math- I, By Tamirat Er.

 Symmetric and Skew-Symmetric Matrices

Let A = (aij be a square matrix. Then A is said to be

a) Symmetric if At = A i. e aij = aji for each i and j.

b) Skew- symmetric if At = - A i. e aij = - aji for each i and j.

Eg: Let A = [ ], B = [ ], C= [ ], Then find At, Bt , Ct and

determine whether they are symmetric, skew-symmetric or neither.

Solution

At = [ ] = A, Therefore A is symmetric.

Bt = [ ] = - B . Therefore B is Skew-symmetric.

Ct = [ ] C and Ct - C . Therefore C is neither.

Remark:- Any square matrix A can be expressed uniquely as a sum of symmetric and skew-
symmetric matrices. This is possible as follows :

Let A be any square matrix. Then , Consider B= ½(A+At) and C=½(A-At).

Here , Bt =(½(A+At))t = ½(A+At)t= ½(At+A) =B (symmetric) and

Ct = (½(A-At))t = ½(At-A) = -½(A-At) = -C (skew – symmetric).

Besides A= B+C = ½(A+At) +½(A-At).

Ex: Express A = [ ] as a sum of symmetric and skew- symmetric matrices.

(Ans: B=½(A+At) , C= ½(A-At) and A= B+C = ½(A+At) +½(A-At).)

Applied Math- I, By Tamirat Er.

2.4 ROW OPRATIONS , ROW- ECHELON FORM AND RANK OF A MATRIX.

Any of the following three types of actions on matrices is called elementary row operations.

1) Interchanging of two rows Ri  Rj ( This notation means take Ri to Rj and Rj to Ri).

2) Replacing a row by its non-zero scalar multiple Ri  kRi (This notation means replace
Ri by kRi).
3) Adding a multiple of one row to another row Rj  Rj+kRi (This notation means replacing
Rj by Rj+kRi).

R1  R2 R1 ( 1) R1
Eg: [ ]   [ ]   [ ] .

Definitions:

i) Zero row : A row of a matrix is said to be a zero row if all its entries are zero but if there is
at least one non-zero entry, it is called non-zero row.

ii) Leading entry : The left most non-zero entry (the first non-zero entry ingoing from left to
right ) of a non-zero row is called leading entry.

Eg: [ ]  2 is leading entry for first row, second row is zero row with no leading entry

and 3 is leading entry for third row .

iii) ROW- ECHELON FORM (REF) : A matrix is said to be in row- echelon form if and only if it
satisfies the following three conditions.

1) All zero rows (if any) are below all the non-zero rows.
2) If two successive rows of the matrix are non-zero, then the row with more zeros is below the
row with less zeros ( zeros are counted from left to right in each row).
3) All other elements of the column below the leading entry are zero.

iv) REDUCED -ROW- ECHELON FORM (RREF): A matrix is said to be in Reduced- row-
echelon form if it also satisfies the following two additional conditions.

4) The leading (the left most non-zero) entry in each non-zero row is 1.
5) All other elements of the column in which the leading entry 1occurs (below and above the
leading 1) are zero.

v) RANK OF A MATRIX : Let A be an m n arbitrary matrix. The number of non-zero rows in the
row-echelon form or in the reduced-row-echelon form of A is known as rank of A and denoted by
rank(A).

Applied Math- I, By Tamirat Er.

Eg: Justify whether the following matrices are REF , RREF or neither and give their ranks.

A=[ ] , B=[ ] ,C=[ ]

Solution

Here all are in REF and rank(A)=rank(B)=rank(C)=3 but only C is in RREF . (Reasons are a13=2,
a23= 9, should have been zero in A and b13= 2, b14= 1 and b24= -2 should have been zero in B).

Note : Every matrix can be changed in to RREF. Besides, the RREF of every matrix is unique. But
we can apply different elementary row operations even though the final answer is the same.
However , we can get different forms of REF for the same matrix ( not unique).

Eg: Transform the following matrices in to RREF and determine their ranks.

a) A = [ ] , b) B= [ ].

Solution

R2  R2  2 R1 R1  R1  2 R2
R3  R3  R1 R3  R3 3 R2
a) A = [ ]   
 [ ]    [ ]

R1 R1  R3
R2 R2  2R3 R2 ( 1) R2
 
 [ ]   [ ].

Hence RREF(A)= [ ] and rank(A)= 3.

N:B: For any m n matrix A, rank(A) min{m,n}, rank(A)=0 iff A= 0 and

rank(A) = rank(At).
a2
Ex. 1) Find a, b, c and d if A= [ ] is skew-symmetric. (At = -A).

2) Find the RREF and determine the rank of the matrix

a) A= [ ] (Ans: a) [ ] r(A)=2)

Applied Math- I, By Tamirat Er.

 b) B = [ ] ( Ans: b) [ ] r(B)=2).

Applied Math- I, By Tamirat Er.

 CHAPTER THREE
DETERMINANTS
3.1 Definition of a determinant

Definition:- The determinant of a square matrix A is denoted by det (A) or /A/ and defined as
follows

i)The determinant of a 1 1 matrix is the element of the matrix itself i. e if A= [a], then det(A)=a.

a11 a12
ii) The determinant of a 2 2 matrix , say A = [ ] is defined by
a21 a22

a11 a12
det(A) = | |= a11a22 a12 a21 .
a21 a22

Eg: Let A = [ ] , then det(A)= | | = 2(5)-3(4)= 10 – 12 = -2.

a11 a12 a13

iii) The determinant of a 3 3 matrix , say A = a21 a22 a23 is defined in almost the same way as

[ a31 a32 a33 ]

a11 a12 a13

det (A) = || a21 a22 a23 ||
a31 a32 a33

Applied Math- I, By Tamirat Er.