MTH 201: Linear Algebra

Problem Sheet 1
August 6, 2014
1. Which of the following are systems of linear equations?
(a) cos(t) + 2sin(t) = 1
(b) e
x
= x
(c) log(x) = 3
(d) 3x
3
+ 2x
2
3 = 0
(e) 2x + 3y = 1
9x 5y = 7
(f) 3x 4y = 7
5x 3y
2
= 6
2. Check if the following matrices are in reduced row-echelon form. Explain
your answer.
(a)

1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 9

(b)

1 0 0
0 1 0
0 0 1

(c)

1 2 3
0 1 5
0 0 6

(d)

1 2 0 0
0 0 1 0
0 0 0 1
0 0 0 0

(e)

0 1 2
4 0 5
7 8 0

(f)

0 1 4
0 0 1

3. Consider the dierential equation

d
2
x
dt
2

dx
dt
x = cos(t)
Suppose we know that the dierential equation has a solution of the form
x(t) = a sin(t) + b cos(t).
Find a and b.
4. Find all the solutions of following system of linear equations by Gauss-
Jordan elimination and interpret the solutions geometrically.
(a) x + 2y = 1
2x + 3y = 1
(b) x + y 2z = 5
2x + 3y + 4z = 2
1
5. Use a sequence of elementary row operations to transform the following
matrix into reduced row-echelon form.

3 4 1 8
6 8 2 3

6. We say two m n matrices in reduced row-echelon form are of the same

type if they contain same number of leading 1

s in the same positions. For

example,

1 2 0
0 0 1

and

1 3 0
0 0 1

are of the same type.

(a) How many types of 2 2 matrices in reduced row-echelon form are
there?
(b) How many types of 2 3 matrices in reduced row-echelon form are
there?
(c) How many types of 3 2 matrices in reduced row-echelon form are
there?
7. Show that the system of linear equations
2x + 8y + 4x = a
2x + 5y + z = b
4x + 10y z = c
has an unique solution for any values of a, b and c.
2