Preparation Check List - Final Exam

33A Linear Algebra, Puck Rombach

Last updated: June 4, 2016

Details
6/6/16, 11.30am-2.30pm, Ackerman Grand Ballroom
Bring: Pen, Bruin ID card
One letter sized double-sided cheat-sheet is allowed.

Bretscher
The numbers indicate either Definitions or Theorems (underlined). Definitions
or Theorems that
(((
(
(
(
crossed
you specifically do not need to know for the exam have been (
(( out like this.
Chapter 1
1.2 (ERO and RREF)
1.3 (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
Chapter 2
2.1 (1, 2, 3, 4)
2.2 (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
2.3 (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
, 10, 11)
2.4 (1, 2, 3, 4
, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
Chapter 3
3.1 (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
3.2 (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
3.3 (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
, 9, 10)
3.4 (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
Chapter 5
5.1 (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)

5.2 (1, 2
, 3
)

5.3 (1
, 2
, 3
, 4
, 5, 6, 7
, 8
, 9, 10)
5.4 (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
5.5 (1, 2, 3)
Chapter 7
7.1 (1, 2, 3, 4
, 5, 6, 7)
7.2 (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
7.3 (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
7.4 (1, 2)
7.5 (3, 4, 5)

Lecture Notes
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 (Please make sure that you are using the latest versions of Lecture Notes.
The webpage states the dates they were last updated.)

Exercises
Focus on the exercises from the HW sheets and Lecture Notes, and the suggested exercises
from Bretscher (see lecture notes).
For specific skills, Bretscher has drill exercises: usually the first sets of exercises. You need
to judge whether these are useful to you.
Being fast/accurate at basic skills, such as finding RREFs, inverting matrices, doing matrix
multiplication, gives you a huge advantage on the exam. These are very easy to practice
yourself, as there are many online resources with practice sets + solutions.

Check List of Basic Skills per Topic

Vector Spaces and Linear Independence
Define and understand the following terms:
linear independence
vector space
subspace
basis

33A Linear Algebra, Rombach

Exam Check List

span.
Show if a set of vectors is linearly independent.
Find a basis for a vector space that is given in terms of a span of a set of vectors, an equation
or a general definition.
Find equations for vectors spaces that are defined in some other way.
If possible, find an expression of one vector in terms of other vectors, by solving the appropriate system of linear equations.
Find out whether a given set of vectors is a vector space/subspace, by checking the necessary
properties.

Systems of linear equations and matrix basics

Define and understand the following terms:
systems of linear equations
matrices
vector
matrix addition/multiplication
Gauss-Jordan elimination
coefficient/augmented matrices
elementary row operations
reduced row echelon form
matrix rank
linear combinations.
Add, subtract and multiply matrices and vectors, and know what the conditions on the dimensions are for such operations.
Understand what elementary row operations are.
Know if a matrix is in RREF, list the properties of RREF.
Perform Gauss-Jordan elimination to reduce a matrix to RREF.
Solve systems of linear equations using of vectors and matrices.
Recognize how many free/fixed variables a system of equations has (using the RREF if necessary).
Understand how free variables correspond to the dimensions of a solution space.

33A Linear Algebra, Rombach

Exam Check List

Linear Transformations Basics

Define and understand the following terms:
linear transformation
functions
inverses of a matrix/linear transformation
image
kernel
rank
nullity.
Understand the properties of a LT and decide whether a described transformation is linear or
not.
Be able to find the kernel and image of any matrix.
Find the inverse of a matrix, or show that it is not invertible.
For some cases, explain geometrically why a transformation is or isnt invertible.
If some elements of a matrix are given as a variable, decide for which values of that variable
the matrix is invertible.
Find the rank and nullity of a matrix.
Find a basis for the column span and the row span of a matrix.
Explain how the RREF comes into play when finding the column and row spans.
Recognize whether matrix properties are preserved by elementary row operations and writing
in RREF.
Finding examples of matrices that have given vectors in their images or kernels.

Linear Transformations in 2D
Define and understand the following terms:
scaling
rotation
shear
projection
reflection
dot product.
Recognize whether a given 2 2 matrix is a one of the above transformations.

33A Linear Algebra, Rombach

Exam Check List

Find the matrices of any of those transformations if the parameters are given.
For a projections; be able to find both the matrix and the dot product formula for the projection
transformation (onto a line).
Explain what compositions of the above transformations look like.

Orthogonality
Define and understand the following terms:
unit vector
orthogonal vectors
orthogonal complement
projections and reflections
orthonormal sets
orthonormal basis
correlation coefficient
Gram-Schmidt algorithm
transpose
symmetric and skew-symmetric matrices
least-squares solution
error
normal equation
inner product.
Find the unit vector pointing in a given direction.
Find the orthogonal complement of a subspace.
Recognize properties of the orthogonal complement and show why they hold.
Check if sets of vectors are orthonormal.
If not, be able to apply Gram-Schmidt to create an orthonormal set.
Use (orthonormal) bases to find projections using the dot product formula or the matrix.
Know important properties of the transpose, and be able to perform calculations with it
smoothly by using those properties.
Find the correlation coefficient in a data set of two variables and explain it geometrically.
Understand least-squares approximation geometrically and in practice.
Be able to find a least-squares solution to an inconsistent system of linear equations.
33A Linear Algebra, Rombach

Exam Check List

Use least-squares to fit a function to a set of data points and compute the error.

Change of Basis
Define and understand the following terms:
coordinates
change of basis
B-matrix of a transformation
diagonal matrices.
Be able to translate vectors from one basis to another.
Be able to find the B-matrix of a given matrix with respect to a given basis.
Explain what a change of basis looks like geometrically (for examples where that is doable).

Eigenvectors and Eigenvalues

Define and understand the following terms:
eigenvector
eigenvalues
eigenspace
algebraic / geometric multiplicities
characteristic polynomial
characteristic equation
diagonal matrix
upper/lower triangular matrix
trace
determinant.
Find the trace and determinant of a matrix.
Find the eigenvalues and eigenvectors / eigenspaces of a matrix (using the matrix or characteristics of the matrix, such as invertibility, trace, determinant, etc)
Find both the algebraic and geometric multiplicity of eigenvalues.
Diagonalize matrices if possible, or show that it cant be done.
Understand how matrix similarity classifies matrices into equivalence classes.

33A Linear Algebra, Rombach

Exam Check List

Show that two matrices are similar, if it is easy to find a change of basis that translates one
into the other, or by showing that they are similar to the same diagonal matrix.
Show that two matrices are not similar by showing that they have different eigenvalues/multiplicities/characteristic
equations/determinant/trace/rank/etc...
If a matrix is regular, find the equilibrium distribution vector.
Create a transition matrix for a simple system of transition probabilities.

Dynamical Systems
Define and understand the following terms:
discrete linear dynamical system
trajectories
phase portrait
Be able to draw the beginning of a trajectory for any discrete dynamical system ~x(t) = A~x(t1)
with ~x(0) = ~x0 by computing and drawing ~x(0), ~x(1), ~x(2), . . .
Write a direct expression in terms of eigenvalues and eigenvectors for ~x(t) if it is given by the
recurrence ~x(t) = A~x(t 1) with ~x(0) = ~x0 and A is diagonalizable.
Draw phase diagrams for discrete dynamical systems coming from diagonalizable matrices
with positive eigenvalues.
Understand 2 2 positive transition matrices as dynamical systems.
Understand 2 2 scaling-rotations as dynamical systems.

33A Linear Algebra, Rombach

Exam Check List