MA2001

Student Name:

Seat Number:

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE

MA2001 - LINEAR ALGEBRA I
(Semester 1 : AY2025/2026)
Time allowed : 1 hour

INSTRUCTIONS TO STUDENTS
1. Write down your name and seat number clearly in the
space provided at the top of this page.
STUDENT NUMBER
2. Write down your student number in the box on the
A
right and shade the appropriate circle in each column
that corresponds to the number/letter. For example, if U 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 A N
your student number is A0213321E, then you should write and A 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 B R

shade as shown below. HT 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 E U

NT 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 H W
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 J X
5 5 5 5 5 5 5 L Y
6 6 6 6 6 6 6 M
7 7 7 7 7 7 7
8 8 8 8 8 8 8
9 9 9 9 9 9 9

3. This booklet (and only this booklet) will be collected at the end
of the test.
Marker’s Use Only
4. This test paper contains three questions.
Questions Marks
5. Answer ALL questions. Use only pen to write your answers.
You may use the last 3 pages of the booklet for rough work. 1
6. This is a CLOSED BOOK (with helpsheet) test. 2
7. Students are allowed to use one double-sided A4 size helpsheet. 3

Total
8. Students may use non-programmable calculators. However,
they should lay out systematically the various steps in the cal-
culations.
 Question 1 (10 marks)

(a) Consider the following linear system, where a, b are real constants.

 x − y + z = 1
4y − az = 0
ax + 3ay + (a − 1)z = b2


(i) Find all possible values of a, b such that the linear system has a unique solution.
(ii) Find all possible values of a, b such that the linear system has infinitely many solutions.
(iii) Hence, find all possible values of a, b such that the linear system has no solution.

(b) For each of the following, use your answers from (a) to find all the values of a that satisfy the required
condition. Justify your answers.
 
1 0 a
(i) The reduced row-echelon form of −2 8 6a  is NOT I3 .
1 −a a − 1
     
 1 −1 1 
(ii) The linear span of 0 ,  4  ,  −a  is R3 .
a 3a a−1
 

(c) Suppose Ax = b
is a linear system involving 3 variables x, y, z. For each of the following, if the augmented
matrix A b is row equivalent to the given matrix, describe the solution of the linear system using one
of the following terms: (i) an empty set; (ii) a point; (iii) a line; (iv) a plane.
You do not need to justify your answers.
 
1 1 1 1
(i)  0 0 1 1 .
0 0 0 0
 
1 2 3 0
(ii)  2 4 6 0 .
3 6 9 0
 
1 1 2 2
(iii)  1 2 3 3 .
2 3 5 6

(a)
     
1 −1 1 1 R3 − aR1 1 −1 1 1 R3 − aR2 1 −1 1 1
 0 4 −a 0  −→  0 4 −a 0  −→  0 4 −a 0  = R.
a 3a a − 1 b2 0 4a −1 b2 − a 0 0 a2 − 1 2
b −a

(i) For the linear system to have a unique solution, a2 −1 ̸= 0, that is, a ̸= ±1 and b can be any real number.
(ii) For the linear system to have infinitely many solutions, a2 − 1 = 0 and b2 − a = 0. That is,
a = 1 and b = ±1. Note that when a = −1, b2 − a > 0 meaning that the linear system will always be
inconsistent.
(iii) For the linear system to have no solution, either a = 1, b ̸= ±1 or a = −1, b ∈ R.

(b) Let A be the coefficient matrix of the linear system in part (a).
(i) The given matrix is obtained in the following way
   
1 0 a 2R2 1 0 a
AT = −1 4 3a  −→ −2 8 6a  .
1 −a a − 1 1 −a a−1

So for the reduced row-echelon form to not be I, we want AT to be singular, that is, A to be singular.
This happens when a = ±1.
(ii) Note that the 3 vectors are the columns of A. For the linear span to be R3 , we require R to have 3
pivot columns on the left, that is, a ̸= ±1.
 More space for Question 1...

(c) (i) A line. (Consistent linear system with one arbitrary parameter in the general solution.)
(ii) A plane. (Homogeneous linear system with only one equation x + 2y + 3z = 0.)
(iii) An empty set. (The third row contradicts the sum of the first two rows.)
 Question 2 (10 marks)
 
1 0 0
Consider the matrix A = −2 −1 0 .
0 3 −1

(a) Use Gaussian Elimination to find A−1 .

(b) Let B be the matrix obtained from A as follows:
1
R
2 1
R2 ↔ R 3
A −→ −→ B.

(i) Find a matrix F such that B = F A.

(ii) Write down F −1 .
(iii) Hence or otherwise, compute B −1 .
(Hint: It may be easier to use the working above to compute B −1 rather than to find B first then B −1
using Gaussian Elimination.)
(c) Let C be the matrix obtained from B as follows:

R1 + 4R2 R2 + R1 R3 + R1
B −→ −→ −→ B1 and C = 3B1 .

Find det(C).

(a)
   
1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0

R +2R1
A I = −2 −1 0 0 1 0 −−2−−−→ 0 −1 0 2 1 0
0 3 −1 0 0 1 0 3 −1 0 0 1
 
1 0 0 1 0 0
R +3R2
−−3−−−→ 0 −1 0 2 1 0
0 0 −1 6 3 1
 
1 0 0 1 0 0
−R2
A−1


−−−→ 0 1 0 −2 −1 0 = I
−R3
0 0 1 −6 −3 −1

Therefore  
1 0 0
A−1 = −2 −1 0 .
−6 −3 −1
  1  1 
1 0 0 2 0 0 2 0 0
(b) (i) F = E2 E1 = 0 0 1  0 1 0  =  0 0 1 .
0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0
    
2 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 0
(ii) F −1 = E1 −1 E2 −1 = 0 1 0 0 0 1 = 0 0 1.
0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0
(iii)     
1 0 0 2 0 0 2 0 0
B −1 = A−1 F −1 = −2 −1 0  0 0 1 =  −4 0 −1 .
−6 −3 −1 0 1 0 −12 −1 −3
 More space for Question 2...

(c) Note that

27
det(B1 ) = det(B) ⇒ det(C) = 33 det(B1 ) = 27det(B) = .
det(B −1 )
0 −1 27
det(B −1 ) = 2 = −2 ⇒ det(C) = − .
−1 −3 2
 Question 3 (10 marks)
Determine if each of the following statements are true. Justify your answer.
(a) If A and B are square matrices of the same order such that Ax = 0 and Bx = 0 have only the trivial
solution, then there is a unique u such that Au = Bu.
(b) V = {(a, b) | ab ̸= 0} is not a linear span but W = V ∪ {(0, 0)} is.
(c) The plane x − y + 2z = 0 in R3 can be expressed as span{(1, 1, 0), (−1, 1, 1)}.
(d) If u1 = (1, −1, 0), u2 = (1, 0, −1), u3 = (0, −1, 1), v1 = (1, 0, 0), v2 = (1, 1, 0), v3 = (1, 1, 1), then
span{u1 , u2 , u3 } = span{v1 , v2 , v3 }.

(e) For n ≥ 3, let An = (aij ) be the square matrix of order n where

aij = j + (i − 1)n for i, j = 1, 2, . . . , n.
Then An is singular for all n ≥ 3.
   
1 0 2 0
(a) False. Let A = ,B= . Then Ax = 0 and Bx = 0 have only the trivial solution. However,
0 2 0 2
there are infinitely many u that satisfy Au = Bu since
 
−1 0
Au = Bu ⇔ (A − B)u = 0 ⇔ u = 0.
0 0

(b) False. Note that (1, 1) and (−1, −2) both belong to W . However
(1, 1) + (−1, −2) = (0, −1) ∈
/ W.
Thus W is not a linear span.
(c) True. Since x = s − 2t, y = s, z = t where s, t ∈ R is a general solution to x − y + 2z = 0, the plane can be
expressed as
span{(1, 1, 0), (−2, 0, 1)}.
Since (−2, 0, 1) + (1, 1, 0) = (−1, 1, 1),
span{(1, 1, 0), (−2, 0, 1)} = span{(1, 1, 0), (−1, 1, 1)}.

(d) False. Note that span{u1 , u2 , u3 } ⊆ span{v1 , v2 , v3 } since each ui , i = 1, 2, 3 is a linear combination of
v1 , v2 , v3 :  
1 1 1 1 1 0
 0 1 1 −1 0 −1  .
0 0 1 0 −1 1
However, span{v1 , v2 , v3 } ̸⊆ span{u1 , u2 , u3 } since none of v1 , v2 , v3 is a linear combination of u1 , u2 , u3 :
   
1 1 0 1 1 1 R2 + R1 R3 + R2 1 1 0 1 1 1
 −1 0 −1 0 1 1  −→ −→  0 1 −1 1 2 2  .
0 −1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 2 3

(e) True. Consider the first, second and third rows of An :

 
1 2 ··· n−1 n
 1 + n 2 + n ··· 2n − 1 2n 
 
 1 + 2n 2 + 2n · · · 3n − 1 3n 
An = 
 .. .. .. .. 


 . . . . 
.. .. .. ..
. . . .
Perform R2 − R1 , R3 − R1 and R3 − 2R2 on An :
   
1 2 ··· n − 1 n 1 2 ··· n−1 n
 n n ··· n n   n n ··· n n 
R2 − R 1 
 2n 2n · · ·
 R3 − 2R2  
2n 2n   0 0 ··· 0 0 
An −→   .. .. .. .. 
 −→ 
 .. .. .. ..  = B

R3 − R 1 
 . . . . 


 . . . . 
.. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
. . . . . . . .
Since An is row equivalent to B which has a row of zeros, An is singular.
More space for Question 3...
More space to write your answers.
More space to write your answers.