Department of Mathematics, IIT Madras
MA2031 Linear Algebra July - November 2023
Assignment 1
2×2
"ij ] ∈ F# " with a11 #=
1. Let A = [a ̸ 0. Let b = a21 /a11 . Show that there exists c ∈ F such
1 0 a11 a12
that A = .
b 1 0 c
2. Suppose A ∈ Fm×n and B ∈ Fn×k . For 1 ≤ i ≤ m and 1 ≤ j ≤ k, show that
(a) (AB)i∗ = Ai∗ B (b) (AB)∗j = AB∗j
Write the results in words.
3. Let A ∈ Fn×n be the matrix whose super diagonal entries are all 1, and all other entries
are 0. Is it true that An = 0?
4. Let A ∈ Cm×n . Is it true that if A∗ A = I, then AA∗ = I?
2 1 3 2 1 3
5. Find an elementary matrix E such that −2 4 5 = E 3 1 4 .
1 5 9 −2 4 5
4 −2 1 2 −2 3
6. Find an elementary matrix E such that −2 4 −4 = −1 4 2 E.
6 1 8 3 1 −2
2 −1 −1 0
7. Compute the RREF of the matrix 1 0 1 −4 .
0 1 −1 −4
1 2 0 3 1 −2
0 0 1 2 4 5
8. Suppose RREF(A) = .
0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0
If A∗1 = [1 1 3 4] and A∗3 = [2 − 1 1 3]t , then determine A∗6 .
t
9. Let u = [1 2 3 4], v = [2 0 1 1], w = [−3 2 1 2] and x = [1 − 2 −2 − 3].
Construct y ∈ R1×4 such that y ̸= au + bv + cw + dx for any a, b, c, d ∈ R.
10. Let A, B ∈ F2×2 . Let E = [eij ] with e11 = e22 = 0 and e12 = e21 = 1. Show that if
B = EA, then det(A + B) = det(A) + det(B).
11. Construct A, B ∈ R2×2 , where det(A + B) ̸= det(A) + det(B).
12. For each n ≥ 2, construct a matrix A ∈ Fn×n , where no row of A is a scalar multiple of
another row but det(A) = 0.
1
13. Let A ∈ Fn×n . Is it true that if det(A) = 0, then there exists i ∈ {1, . . . , n} such that
n
P
Ai∗ = aj Aj∗ for some scalrs aj ? What about columns instead of rows?
j=0
j̸=i
" #
2 1
14. Let A = . Express A and A−1 as products of elementary matrices.
6 4
"
# " #
5 2 3 4
15. Let A = and B = . Use RREF to construct matrices X and Y such
3 1 1 2
that AX = B and Y A = B.
16. Show that the inverse of an invertible upper triangular matrix is upper triangular.
17. Let A ∈ Fn×n . Show that if AB = BA for all B ∈ Fn×n , then there exists c ∈ F such that
A = cI. (Hint: First multiply A with diag(1, 2, . . . , n). Then, multiply with a matrix
whose first row is [1, 2, . . . , n], all diagonal entries are 1, and all other entries are 0.)
18. Let u, v, w ∈ C5 be linearly independent vectors. Let α is a complex number. Are the
vectors u + v, v + 2w, u + αv, v − αw linearly independent?
19. Prove that nonzer vectors v1 , . . . , vn are linearly dependent iff one of them is a linear
combination of the earlier ones.
20. Using RREF, determine if the following vectors are linearly depenent. If so, then show
which vector is a linear combination of others.
[1, i, −1, 1 − i], [i, −1, −i, 1 + i], [2, 0, 1, i], [1 + i, 1 − i, −1, −i]
21. Let u, v, w ∈ F4×1 and x = u + 2v, y = u − v + 2w. Determine the RREF of the matrix
[u v x w y] ∈ F4×5 .
22. Let A ∈ Fm×n and P ∈ Fm×m . When is RREF(P A) = RREF(A)?
23. Let A ∈ Fn× . Prove that rank(A) = 1 iff there exist vectors u, v ∈ Fn×1 such that
A = uv t .
24. For each of the following augmented matrices, determine whether the corresponding linear
system
has (i) no solutions,
(ii) a unique solution,and (iii) infinitely
many solutions:
1 −2 4 1 1 −2 2 −2 1 −1 3 8
(a) 0 0 1 3 (b) 0 1 −1 3 (c) 0 1 2 7
0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 1 2
25. Show that the linear system x + y + kz = 1, x − y − z = 2, 2x + y − 2z = 3 has no solutions
for k = 1, and has a unique solution for each k ̸= 1.