Math 369 Exam #2 Practice Problem Solutions

     
1 2 5
1. Is {−2 , −3 , −8} a basis for R3 ?
−1 1 1
Answer: No, it is not. To show that it is not a basis, it suffices to show that this is not a
linearly independent set. To see that, we need to find coefficients a, b, c not all zero so that
       
1 2 5 0
a −2 + b −3 + c −8 = 0
−1 1 1 0

Equivalently, we can solve the matrix equation

    
1 2 5 a 0
−2 −3 −8  b  = 0 .
−1 1 1 c 0

So form the augmented matrix  

1 2 5 0
−2 −3 −8 0
−1 1 1 0
and row-reduce: add twice row 1 to row 2 and add row 1 to row 3:
 
1 2 5 0
0 1 2 0
0 3 6 0

Now subtract three times row 2 from row 3:

 
1 2 5 0
0 1 2 0
0 0 0 0

So we see that any a, b, c satisfying the equations

a + 2b + 5c = 0
b + 2c = 0

will yield a non-trivial linear combination of the given vectors that is zero. For example, if
a = −1, b = −2, and c = 1, then we have
       
1 2 5 0
−1 −2 − 2 −3 + 1 −8 = 0 ,
−1 1 1 0

so the set is linearly dependent and hence cannot be a basis.

2. In each part, V is a vector space and S is a subset of V . Determine whether S is a subspace

of V .

1
(a) V = R3
 
x
S = { 12  : x ∈ R}.
3x
 
0
Answer: S is not a subspace, because the zero vector 0 cannot be written in the
0
   
x 0
form  12  for any possible value of x, so 0 ∈
/ S and S cannot be a subspace.
3x 0
(b) V = R2
 
x
S={ : 2x − 5y = 11}
y
 
0
Answer: No, this is not a subspace. After all, the zero vector is not in S since
0
2(0) − 5(0) = 0 6= 11.
(c) V = Rn
S = {~x ∈ Rn : A~x = 2~x}, where A is a particular n × n matrix.
Answer: Yes, this is a subspace. To prove it, suppose ~x1 and ~x2 are in this set, meaning
that
A~x1 = 2~x1 and A~x2 = 2~x2
(such vectors are called eigenvectors of A; we’ll learn more about them later). Then

A(~x1 + ~x2 ) = A~x1 + A~x2 = 2~x1 + 2~x2 = 2(~x1 + ~x2 ),

meaning that ~x1 + ~x2 is in this set as well.

Moreover, for any c ∈ R,

A(c~x1 ) = c(A~x1 ) = c(2~x1 ) = 2(c~x1 ),

so c~x1 is in the set as well.

Therefore, this set is closed under addition and scalar multiplication, so it is indeed a
subspace.
(d) V = F (−∞, ∞)
S = {f : f (x) = a cos x + b sin x + c}
Answer: Yes, this is a subspace. If a1 , a2 , b1 , b2 , c1 , c2 ∈ R and I define

f (t) = a1 cos t + b1 sin t + c1

and
g(t) = a2 cos t + b2 sin t + c2 ,
then f and g are in the given subset. The sum has the form

f (t)+g(t) = (a1 cos t+b1 sin t+c1 )+(a2 cos t+b2 sin t+c2 ) = (a1 +a2 ) cos t+(b1 +b2 ) sin t+(c1 +c2 ),

2
 so f + g is also in the subset, which is, therefore, closed under addition.
Also, if r ∈ R, then

rf (t) = r(a1 cos t + b1 sin t + c1 ) = (ra1 ) cos t + (rb1 ) sin t + (rc1 ),

so rf is in the subset, which is, therefore, closed under scalar multiplication.

Hence, we can conclude that this subset is actually a subspace.

3. Let V be a vector space.

(a) Define what it means for a set {u1 , . . . , un } ⊂ V to be linearly dependent.

Answer: By definition, {u1 , . . . , un } is linearly dependent if there is a non-trivial way
to write 0 as a linear combination of the ui , meaning that there exist scalars λ1 , . . . , λn
not all zero so that
λ1 u1 + λ2 u2 + . . . + λn un = 0.
(b) Suppose v ∈ V . Is the set {0, v} linearly dependent? Explain.
Answer: Yes. Let λ be any nonzero scalar. Then

λ0 + 0v = 0

is a nontrivial linear combination of 0 and v that yields 0, so this set is linearly dependent.
(c) Define what it means for u ∈ V to be in the span of a set {v1 , . . . , vn }.
Answer: u ∈ span(v1 , . . . , vn ) means that there exist numbers λ1 , . . . , λn so that

u = λ1 v1 + λ2 v2 + . . . + λn vn .

(d) Suppose {v1 , . . . , vn } is a set of vectors and u ∈ span(v1 , . . . , vn ). Show that {v1 , . . . , vn , u}
is linearly dependent.
Answer: Since u ∈ span(v1 , . . . , vn ), we know there exist numbers λ1 , . . . , λn so that

u = λ1 v1 + λ2 v2 + . . . + λn vn .

But then
λ1 v1 + λ2 v2 + . . . + λn vn − u = u − u = 0
is a nontrivial linear combination of the vectors {v1 , . . . , vn , u} (since the coefficient of u
is −1 6= 0) that produces 0, so this set is linearly dependent.

4. Let A be a 2 × 3 matrix.

(a) Let U = {~x ∈ R3 : A~x = ~0}. Show that U is a subspace of R3 .

Proof. It suffices to show that (i) U is closed under addition and (ii) U is closed under
scalar multiplication.
i. Suppose ~x, ~y ∈ U . Then A~x = ~0 and A~y = ~0. But then

A(~x + ~y ) = A~x + A~y = ~0 + ~0 = ~0,

so ~x + ~y ∈ U and U is closed under addition.

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 ii. Suppose ~x ∈ U and λ ∈ R. Then A~x = ~0 and so

A(λ~x) = λA~x = λ~0 = ~0,

so λ~x ∈ U and U is closed under scalar multiplication.

Having proved (i) and (ii), we conclude that U is indeed a subspace of R3 .
 
3 ~ ~ 1
(b) Is W = {~x ∈ R : A~x = b} a subspace when b = ? Explain.
2
Answer: No. In particular, ~0 ∈/ W since

A~0 = ~0 6= ~b,

so W cannot be a subspace.

5. Let V = P∞ be the vector space of polynomials. Is the set

{1 + x + x2 , 1 − x, 1 − x3 }

linearly independent? Prove your claim.

Answer: This set is linearly independent. To see this, suppose a, b, c ∈ R are constants so
that
a(1 + x + x2 ) + b(1 − x) + c(1 − x3 ) = 0.
Then, after distributing and combining terms, we see that

(a + b + c) + (a − b)x + ax2 − cx3 = 0 + 0x + 0x2 + 0x3 .

Since the coefficients of x2 and x3 must be zero, we see that a = 0 and c = 0. But then the
above reduces to
b − bx = 0 + 0x + 0x2 + 0x3 ,
so b = 0 as well. Therefore, the only way to write 0 as a linear combination of 1 + x + x2 , 1 − x,
and 1 − x3 is if all the coefficients are zero, which means the set is linearly independent.

6. Logan and Terry are both computing with the same 5 × 3 matrix. Logan determines that
the nullspace of the matrix is 2-dimensional, while Terry computes that the column space is
2-dimensional. Can they both be right? Justify your answer.
Answer: No, they cannot both be correct. Since A has three columns, the rank-nullity
theorem tells us that
dim(null(A)) + dim(col(A)) = 3.
There’s no way that the two terms on the left hand side can both be 2.

7. For each of the following statements, say whether it is true or false. If the statement is true,
prove it. If false, give a counterexample.

4
 (a) If V is a vector space and S is a finite set of vectors in V , then some subset of S forms
a basis for V .
Answer: 2
  False. Let V = R , which is clearly a vector space, and let S be the singleton
1
set { }. The single element of S does not span R2 : since R2 is 2-dimensional, any
0
spanning set must consist of at least two elements. Of course this means no subset of S
can be a basis for R2 . Hence, this provides a counterexample to the statement.
(b) Suppose A is an m × n matrix such that A~x = ~b can be solved for any choice of ~b ∈ Rm .
Then the columns of A form a basis for Rm .
Answer: False. Consider the matrix
 
1 0 0
A= .
0 1 0

Then A is already in reduced echelon form and clearly has 2 pivots, so rank(A) = 2.
This implies that dim col(A) = 2, so the column space of A consists of all of R2 . Thus,
the equation A~x = ~b can be solved for any ~b ∈ R2 (since any ~b is in col(A)). However,
the columns of A are clearly not linearly independent (no set containing the zero vector
can be linearly independent), so they cannot form a basis for R2 .
A related but true statement would be the following: “Suppose A is an m × n matrix
such that A~x = ~b can be solved for any choice of ~b ∈ Rm . Then some subset of the
columns of A forms a basis for Rm .”
(c) The set of polynomials of degree ≤ 5 forms a vector space.
Answer: True. You should check that the set of polynomials of degree ≤ 5 satisfies
all the rules for being a vector space. Since this is a subset of the collection of all
polynomials (which we know is a vector space) all you really need to check is that this
collection is closed under addition and scalar multiplication.

8. Consider the system of equations

x1 + 2x2 + x3 − 3x4 = b1
x1 + 2x2 + 2x3 − 5x4 = b2 .
2x1 + 4x2 + 3x3 − 8x4 = b3

(a) Find all solutions when b1 = b2 = b3 = 0. Find a basis for the space of solutions to the
homogeneous system.
Answer: Convert the system into the augmented matrix
 
1 2 1 −3 0
1 2 2 −5 0 .
2 4 3 −8 0

Now do elimination to get the reduced echelon form. First, subtract row 1 from row 2
and subtract twice row 1 from row 3:
 
1 2 1 −3 0
0 0 1 −2 0 .
0 0 1 −2 0

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 Now, subtract row 2 from both row 1 and row 3:
 
1 2 0 −1 0
0 0 1 −2 0 .
0 0 0 0 0
Then this system is consistent provided that
x1 = −2x2 + x4
x3 = 2x4 .
. Hence, the solutions to the homogeneous equation are those vectors of the form
   
−2 1
 1   0 
x2 
 0  + x4  2 
  

0 1
for x2 , x4 ∈ R. Then a basis for the space of solutions to the homogeneous system (i.e.
nullspace of the corresponding matrix) is
   

 −2 1  
1   0 

 ,  .
  0   2 
 
0 1
 
 
b1
(b) Let S be the set of vectors ~b = b2  such that the system can be solved. What is the
b3
dimension of S?
Answer: Letting A be the matrix of the system, we know that the set of vectors ~b for
which the system can be solved is the column space of A: S = col(A). Since A is 3 × 4,
we know that
dim col(A) + dim null(A) = 4.
Since, from part (a), we know that the dimension of the nullspace is 2, this implies that
S = col(A) is two-dimensional.
 
1
0
(c) It’s easy to check that the vector ~v = 
2 is a solution to the system that arises when


0
b1 = 3, b2 = 5, and b3 = 8. Find all the solutions to this system.
Answer: All solutions ~x to the system A~x = ~b take the form ~x = ~x0 + ~xp , where
~xp is a particular solution and ~x0 is the homogeneous solution to the corresponding
homogeneous problem. Thus, we can let ~xp = ~v , which we’re told solves the system and
we see that, using part (a), the general solution is
     
1 −2 1
0 1 0
  + x2   + x4   ,
2 0 2
0 0 1

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 where x2 , x4 ∈ R.
       
2 5 0 1 −3
9. Let B = { , } and B = { , }.
1 2 −2 7

(a) Show that B and B 0 are both bases for R2 .

Answer: If we form the matrices
  
2 5 0 1 −3
A= and A = ,
1 2 −2 7

then det(A) = −1 and det(A0 ) = 1, so A and A0 are both invertible. This means the
columns of both matrices are bases for R2 , but of course the columns of A are just the
elements of B and the columns of A0 are just the elements of B 0 , so B and B 0 are bases.
(b) Find the change-of-basis matrix [M ]B→B 0 for converting coordinate vectors with respect
to B to coordinate vectors with respect to B 0 .
Answer: We can follow the procedure for finding the change-of-basis matrix by forming
the super-augmented matrix with the entries of B 0 on the left and the entries of B on
the right.  
1 −3 2 5
−2 7 1 2
Now we row-reduce: add 2 times row 1 to row 2:
 
1 −3 2 5
0 1 5 12

Then add 3 times row 2 to row 1:

 
1 0 17 41
0 1 5 12

Therefore, the change-of-basis matrix is

 
17 41
[M ]B→B 0 =
5 12
 
2
(c) Let ~v = . What is the coordinate vector [~v ]B for ~v with respect to the basis B?
1
Answer: Notice that ~v is just the first basis vector in B, so
   
2 5
~v = 1 +0 ,
1 2
 
1
so the coordinate vector for ~v with respect to the basis B is simply [~v ]B = .
0
(d) Use your answer to part (b) to determine [~v ]B 0 , the coordinate vector for B with respect
to B 0 .

7
Answer: By definition of the change-of-basis matrix,
    
17 41 1 17
[~v ]B 0 = [M ]B→B 0 [~v ]B = = .
5 12 0 5

We can check this:      

1 −3 2
17 +5 = ,
−2 7 1
which is indeed our vector ~v .