MAST10008 Accelerated Mathematics 1 Version 2

Tutorial 2: Solutions

Q1. (a)
     
1 −2 7 3 1 −2 7 3 1 −2 7 3
 0 1 −2 4 
−R3 →R3 +2R1  0 1 −2 4  R3 →R3 +R2  0 1 −2 4 

 −2 3 −3 −−−−−−→  −−−−−−−→  
1  R4 →R4 +3R1  0 −1 11 7   0 0 9 11 
−3 6 −21 0 0 0 0 9 0 0 0 9
Since the row operations used do not change the determinant, it follows that det A =
1 × 1 × 9 × 9 = 81.
(b)
   
1 a a 2  1 a a 2 
 2
  2 2

1 b b  = 0 b − a b − a  R2 → R2 − R1 , R3 → R3 − R1
   
1 c c2   0 c − a c 2 − a2 
 
1 a a 2 
 
= (b − a)(c − a) 0 1 b + a take out common factors from R2 , R3
 0 1 c + a
 
1 a a2 
 
= (b − a)(c − a) 0 1 b + a R3 → R3 − R2
0 0 c − b 
= (b − a)(c − a)(c − b) (triangular matrix)
   
0 0 0 a14 a41 0 0 0
 0 0 a 23 0   0 a 32 0 0 
(c)  ∼  (by R1 ↔ R4 and R2 ↔ R3 )
 0 a32 0 0   0 0 a23 0 
a41 0 0 0 0 0 0 a14
so the determinant is (−1)(−1)a41 a32 a23 a14 = a41 a32 a23 a14
" 1 3 #
Q2. (a) (i) det 22 4 1 = 12 × − 13 − 43 × 32 = − 16 − 21 = − 23


3
−3
(ii) Expanding down  the second
 column: 
 −2 7   2 3 
det J = −1 ×   + (−1) × 
 1 −2  + 0 = −1 × (−3) + (−1) × (−7) = 10

1 −2 
(iii) det K = −9
(b) (i) det(J 2 K) = det(J)2 det(K) = 100 × (−9) = −900
(ii) KH is not defined since K is 3 × 3 and H is 2 × 2. Hence det(KH) is not defined.
(iii) det(3J) = 33 det(J) = 27 × 10 = 270
det(K) −9
(iv) det(K T (J −1 )2 ) = (det J)2
= 100
Q3. (a) First do R2 → 8R2 , then R1 → R1 − 2R2 , then R3 → 10R3 , then R1 ↔ R2 .
−1
(b) We have det(I) = (−1) · 10 · 1 · 8 det(A) = −80 det(A), so det(A) = .
80
Q4. Hint: Start by assuming that det P 6= 0. What does this tell you about P −1 ?
−1
Q5. (a) cos θ = √
10 3
√
(b) d((1, 2, 5), (−3, 1, 0)) = k(−3, 1, 0) − (1, 2, 5)k = 42
Q6. Hint: Try using some column operations.

Mathematics and Statistics 1 University of Melbourne