Math 22 Summer 2020, June 29 Name

• By a nonzero row or column of a matrix we mean a row or column with at least one nonzero
entry.

• By a leading entry in a nonzero row we mean the left-most nonzero entry.

• A rectangular matrix is in echelon (or row echelon) form if it has the following three
properties:

– All nonzero rows are above any rows of all zeros (i.e., rows of all zeros at the bottom).
– Each leading entry of a row is in a column to the right of the leading entry of the row
above it. (Hence the term echelon)
– All entries in a column below a leading entry are zeros.

• A matrix in echelon form is in reduced echelon (or reduced row echelon) form (RREF)
if it has the following additional properties:

– The leading entry in each nonzero row is a 1.

– Each leading 1 is the only nonzero entry in its column.

1. The process of row reduction is algorithmic. Suppose we want to row reduce a matrix
 
1 1 −3 4
A= 2  1 −1 2  .
3 2 −4 6

To do so, we first make a couple of definitions. A pivot position in a matrix A is a location

in A that corresponds to a leading 1 in the reduced row echelon form of A. A pivot column
is a column of A that contains a pivot position. Your textbook Lay presents the row reduction
algorithm as a sequence of 5 steps, the first four reducing the matrix to echelon (row echelon)
form, and the fifth producing the reduced row echelon form.

(a) Step 1 Begin with the left-most nonzero column. This is necessarily a pivot column.
The pivot position is at the top.
(b) Step 2 Select a nonzero entry in the pivot column as a pivot. If necessary, interchange
rows to move this entry to the pivot position.
(c) Step 3 Use row replacement operations to create zeros (in the pivot column) in all
positions below the pivot.
(d) Step 4 Ignore the row containing the pivot position (and any rows above it). Now apply
steps 1-3 to remaining submatrix. Repeat until there are no more nonzero rows to work
on.
(e) Step 5 Beginning with the rightmost pivot and working upward and to the left, create
zeros above each pivot. If the pivot is not equal to 1, scale the row appropriately.

Steps 1-4 are called the forward phase of the row reduction (to echelon form); step 5 the
backward phase (to RREF).

1
2. If the matrix A in Problem 1 is an augmented matrix, can you write down the solution set
given the reduced echelon form of A you found? How many solutions are there?
 
1 4 3 −5 −11 10
 0 0 1 −1 −3 3 
3. Consider the system with augmented matrix   −1 −4 −5

7 17 −16 
1 4 2 −4 −8 7
Answer the following question without row reductions.

(a) How many variables?

(b) What is the minimum and maximum number of pivots it can have?
(c) What is the maximum number of basic variables it can have?
(d) What is the minimum number of free variables?
4. We will write column vectors, that is as an n × 1 matrix (n rows; 1 column). Column
vectors in R2 , R3 , Rn .
a1 0
   
 
  a1  a2 0
a1
  
∈ R2 ,  a2  ∈ R3 ,  .  ∈ Rn ; 0= ..  ∈ Rn
   
a2  ..
a3   . 
an 0

Let v1 , . . . , vp ∈ Rn be vectors. Then the set of all possible linear combinations of v1 , . . . , vp is called
the subset of Rn spanned (or generated) by the v1 , . . . , vp , that is

Span{v1 , . . . , vp } := {c1 v1 + · · · + cp vp | c1 , . . . , cp ∈ R}.

   
1 0
(a) Given a geometric description of Span{ , }.
0 1
     
1 0 2
(b) Given a geometric description of Span{ , , }.
0 1 3
   
1 0
(c) Given a geometric description of Span{ 0 , 1 }.
  
0 0
     
1 0 1
(d) Given a geometric description of Span{ 0  ,  1  ,  2 }.
0 0 3