Determinants (ctd) Math 1850U

Cramer’s Rule (Section 2.3)

Recall: Last class, we studied several properties of determinants. Today, we’ll
use determinants to solve systems of linear equations.

Theorem. Cramer’s rule. If Ax = b is a system of n equations in n

unknowns such that det(A) 6= 0, then the system has a unique solution. This
solution is
det(A1 ) det(A2 ) det(An )
x1 = , x2 = , · · · , xn = ,
det(A) det(A) det(A)

where Aj is the matrix obtained by replacing the entries of the j th column of

A by the entries in the column vector b.

Example: Consider two real numbers x1 and x2 . If you subtract two times
x2 from eight times x1 , you get five. Also, x1 plus 3 times x2 gives you −6.
Set up the 2 × 2 system in matrix form and use Cramer’s rule to solve for x1
and x2 .

Exercise: Use Cramer’s rule to solve the 2 × 2 system

    
−3 5 −x1 4
= .
2 1 x2 −6

(Answer: x1 = − 34
13
, x2 = − 10
13
.)

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Example: Use Cramer’s Rule to find the value of x3 for the system below.

x1 + 2x2 − 2x3 = 2
−x1 + x3 = −2
2x1 + 4x2 − 5x3 = 4

Equivalence Theorem: If A is an n × n matrix, then the following state-

ments are equivalent:

(a) A is invertible.

(b) The homogeneous system Ax = 0 has only the trivial solution.

(c) The reduced row-echelon form of A is In .

(d) A is expressible as a product of elementary matrices.

(e) Ax = b is consistent for every column vector b.

(f) Ax = b has exactly one solution for every column vector b.

(g) det(A) 6= 0.

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 Example: If we know that det(A) = 5, then which of the following are true?

ˆ A is invertible

ˆ A is expressible as a product of elementary matrices

ˆ It’s possible that the system Ax = 0 has infinitely many solutions

ˆ Ax = b must be consistent

EUCLIDEAN VECTOR SPACES

Vectors in 2-Space, 3-Space, and n-Space (Section 3.1)
Definition: Quantities that are completely determined by a number are
called scalars. Quantities that need both magnitude and direction to be
completely determined are called vectors.

Definition: Vectors are often represented by the coordinates of the terminal

point of a vector. These are called the components of the vector. We
write u = (u1 , u2 , . . . , un ).

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 Definition: If n is a positive integer, then an ordered n-tuple is a sequence
of n real numbers (a1 , a2 , . . . an ). The set of all ordered n-tuples is called
n-space and is denoted Rn .
ˆ n = 1: R; all real numbers
ˆ n = 2: R2 ; ordered pairs
ˆ n = 3: R3 ; ordered triples
ˆ etc.

Applications: Vectors can be useful in representing data sets, e.g.

ˆ Temperature of a fluid at certain times, T = (T1 , T2 , . . . , Tn )
ˆ Positions of cars on a road, x = (x1 , x2 , . . . , xn ).

Definition: Two vectors u = (u1 , u2 , . . . , un ) and v = (v1 , v2 , . . . , vn ) in Rn

are called equal if u1 = v1 , u2 = v2 , . . . , un = vn .

Example: If (5, a, 3, −7) = (5, 8, 3, b), then a = and b = .

Definition: We have the following definitions for vector arithmetic in Rn :

sum: v + w = (v1 + w1 , v2 + w2 , . . . , vn + wn )
scalar multiple: kv = (kv1 , kv2 , . . . , kvn )
negative: −v = (−v1 , −v2 , . . . , −vn )
difference: w − v = (w1 − v1 , w2 − v2 , . . . , wn − vn )

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 Theorem. Properties of vectors in Rn : If u = (u1 , u2 , . . . , un ), v =
(v1 , v2 , . . . , vn ), and w = (w1 , w2 , . . . , wn ) are vectors in Rn , and k and l are
scalars, then

(a) u + v = v + u

(b) u + (v + w) = (u + v) + w

(c) u + 0 = 0 + u = u

(d) u + (−u) = u − u = 0

(e) k(lu) = (kl)u

(f) k(u + v) = ku + kv

(g) (k + l)u = ku + lu

(h) 1u = u

Proof of (a):

Definition: If w is a vector in Rn , then w is said to be a linear combina-

tion of the vectors v1 , v2 , . . . vr in Rn if it can be expressed in the form

w = k1 v1 + k2 v2 + · · · + kr vr

where k1 , k2 , . . . , kr are scalars. These scalars are called the coefficients of

the linear combination. [Note: If you only have one vector, v1 , then w = kv1
means w is a multiple of v1 .]

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Norm, Dot Product, and Distance in Rn (Section 3.2)
Definition: If u = (u1 , u2 , . . . , un ) and v = (v1 , v2 , . . . , vn ) are any two
vectors in Rn , then the dot product (also called the Euclidean inner
product), denoted u · v is defined by

u · v = u1 v1 + u2 v2 + · · · un vn .

Note: It is common to refer to Rn with the operations of addition, scalar multi-

plication, and the Euclidean inner product as Euclidean n-space.

Example: Find (2, −1, 0, 5) · (1, 3, 5, −2).

Application (from our text): Most books published in the last 25 years have a
10-digit ISBN (International Standard Book Number) on them. The last of these
digits is a check digit c to ensure that an ISBN has been recorded/transmitted
error-free. If a is the vector a = (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9), and b is the vector in Rn
composed of the first nine digits of the ISBN, then the check-digit c is calculated
as follows:

ˆ Compute a · b.

ˆ Divide a · b by 11 to get the remainder c.

This produces a number between 0 and 10, and if c = 10, it is written as X to

avoid double-digits. The text for the 6th edition of Stewart’s “Calculus: Early
Transcendentals” has ISBN 0495011665. Compute the check-digit to verify this
ISBN is recorded here correctly.

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Definition: We define the Euclidean norm (or Euclidean length) of a
vector u = (u1 , u2 , . . . , un ) in Rn bu
q
1
kuk = (u · u) 2 = u21 + u22 + · · · + u2n .

Example: If u = ( , , , ), then find kuk.

Definition: The vector u is a unit vector if

kuk = 1.

Example: Find a unit vector in the direction u = (1, −5, 3, 2).

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 Definition: The standard unit vectors in Rn are the vectors with one
component equal to one and all other components equal zero.

Theorem. Properties of length in Rn . If u and v are vectors in Rn , and

k is any scalar, then:

(a) kuk ≥ 0

(b) kuk = 0 if and only if u = 0

(c) kkuk = |k|kuk

(d) ku + vk ≤ kuk + kvk (this is called the triangle inequality)

Explanation of (d) in R2 :

Definition: The Euclidean distance between the points u = (u1 , u2 , . . . , un )

and v = (v1 , v2 , . . . , vn ) in Rn is defined by
p
d(u, v) = ku − vk = (u1 − v1 )2 + (u2 − v2 )2 + · · · + (un − vn )2 .

Example: If u = ( , , ) and v = ( , , ), find d(u, v).

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 Theorem. Properties of distance in Rn . If u, v, and w are vectors in
Rn , then:

(a) d(u, v) ≥ 0

(b) d(u, v) = 0 if and only if u = v

(c) d(u, v) = d(v, u)

(d) d(u, v) ≤ d(u, w) + d(w, v) (this is called the triangle inequality)

Example: Given u = (2, 0, −1) and v = (4, 0, 1), then which of the following
are true?

(a) u and v are parallel

(b) u is a unit vector

(c) kvk = 5

(d) u · v = 7

In Rn , the dot product can be written as

u · v = kukkvk cos(θ)

where θ is the angle between u and v (and 0 ≤ θ ≤ π). In words, the dot product
u · v depends on the size of u and v and the angle between them.

Example: Find the angle between the vectors u = (5, 3) and v = (4, −1).