DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS, LPU, PUNJAB

Instructor: Dr. Juhi Kesarwani

ENGINEERING MATHEMATICS - MTH 174
First Semester of Academic Year 2022 - 2023
Tutorial Sheet - 1 Solution

1. Given any constants a, b, c where a 6= 0, find all values of x such that the matrix A is invertible if
 
1 0 c
A= 0 a −b
−1/a x x2

Solution 1. We know that A is invertible precisely when det(A) 6= 0. We therefore compute, by

expanding along the first row,
   
a −b  0 a 
det(A) = 1  2 + c
   = 1(ax2 + bx) + c(0 + 1)
x x −1/a x
= ax2 + bx + c.

2
Thus det(A) 6= 0 when ax√ + bx + c 6= 0. We know by the quadratic formula that ax2 + bx + c = 0
−b ± b2 − 4ac
precisely when x = . Therefore, A is invertible so long as x satisfies both of the
2 √ √
−b + b2 − 4ac −b − b2 − 4ac
following inequalities: x 6= , x 6=
2 2
 
8 1 6
2. Let A = 3 5 7 . Notice that A contains every integer from 1 to 9 and that the sums of
4 9 2
each row, column, and diagonal of A are equal. Such a grid is sometimes called a magic square.
Compute the determinant of A.

Solution 2. We compute using the first row cofactor expansion

 
8 1 6
 
det(A) = 3 5 7
4 9 2
     
5 7  3 7  3 5 
= 8   − 1
  + 6
 
9 2 4 2 4 9

= 8(10 − 63) − (6 − 28) + 6(27 − 20)

= 8(−53) − (−22) + 6(7)
= −424 + 22 + 42
= −360.

3. The following problems are True or False.

1
 Let A and B be n × n matrices.
(a) If AB = B, then B is the identity matrix.
(b) If the coefficient matrix A of the system Ax = b is invertible, then the system has infinitely
many solutions.
(c) If A is invertible, then ABA−1 = B.
(d) If A is an idempotent nonsingular matrix, then A must be the identity matrix.
(e) If x1 = 0, x2 = 0, x3 = 1 is a solution to a homogeneous system of linear equation, then the
system has infinitely many solutions.

Solution 3. (a) False. For example, if B is the zero matrix, then of course we have AB = B
as both sides are the zero matrix.

(b) False. If the coefficient matrix A is invertible, the system has a unique solution x = A−1 b.

(c) False. The given equality is equivalent to AB = BA. Even A is invertible,

 matrixmultipli-

1 1 1 0
cation is not commutative. As a counterexample, consider A = and B = .
0 1 −1 1
Note that thedeterminant
   A is det(A) = 1 6= 0. Hence
of   A is invertible.
 Yet, we have
1 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 1
AB = = and BA = = , and hence
0 1 −1 1 −1 1 −1 1 0 1 −1 0
AB 6= BA.
(d) True. Since A is idempotent, we have A2 = A. As A is nonsingular, it is invertible. Thus,
the inverse matrix A−1 exists. Then we have I = A−1 A = A−1 A2 = IA = A. Hence, such a
matrix A must be the identity matrix I.
(e) True. Note that any homogeneous system has the zero solution. In addition to the zero
solution, this system has a solution x1 = 0, x2 = 0, x3 = 1. So, it has at least two solutions.
The only possibilities for the number of solutions of a system of linear equations are zero,
one, or infinitely many. So, we conclude that the system must have infinitely many solutions.
 
2 0 −1
4. (a) Find a 3 × 3 nonsingular matrix A satisfying 3A = A2 + AB, where B =  0 2 −1 .
−1 0 1
(b) Find the inverse matrix of A.
Solution 4. (a) Assume that A is nonsingular. Then the inverse matrix A−1 exists. Multiplying
the given equality by A−1 on the left, we obtain 3A−1 A = A−1 (A2 +AB) = A−1 A2 +A−1 AB =
A + IB = A + B. Note that the left most  term  is equal
 to 3I. Hence,
 we have 3I = A + B.
3 0 0 2 0 −1 1 0 1
Solving for A, we have A = 3I − B = 0 3 0 − 0 2 −1 = 0 1 1 . As we see
    
0 0 3 −1 0 1 1 0 2
in part (b), this matrix is actually invertible.
(b) To find the inverse matrix of A, we reduce the augmented matrix [A | I] as follows:
   
1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0
R −R2
[A | I] = 0
 1 1 0 1 0  −−3−−→  0 1 1 0 1 0 
1 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 1 −1 0 1
 
1 0 0 2 0 −1
R −R3
−−1−−→  0 1 0 1 1 −1  .
R2 −R3
0 0 1 −1 0 1

2
 The left 3 by 3 part
 is now theidentity matrix. So the inverse matrix is given by the right 3
2 0 −1
−1
by 3 part: A = 1 1 −1 .

−1 0 1

5. Let A, B, C be n × n invertible matrices. When you simplify the expression

C −1 (AB −1 )−1 (CA−1 )−1 C 2 ,

which matrix do you get?

(a) A
(b) C −1 A−1 BC −1 AC 2
(c) B
(d) C 2
(e) C −1 BC
(f) C
Solution 5. In this problem, we use the following facts about inverse matrices: if P, Q are invert-
ible matrices, then we have

(P Q)−1 = Q−1 P −1 and (P −1 )−1 = P.

Using these, we simplify the given expression as follows:

C −1 (AB −1 )−1 (CA−1 )−1 C 2

= C −1 (B −1 )−1 A−1 (A−1 )−1 C −1 C 2
= C −1 BA−1 AC −1 C 2
= C −1 BIC
= C −1 BC,

where we used the identity A−1 A = I, identity matrix, in the third step. Thus, the answer is (e).

6. Let  
−5 0 1 2
A =  3 8 −3 7  .
0 11 13 28

(a) What is the size of the matrix A?

(b) What is the third column of A?
(c) Let aij be the (i, j)-entry of A. Calculate a23 − a31 .
Solution 6. (a) The matrix A has three rows and four columns. Thus, the size of A is 3 by 4,
or 3 × 4.
 
1
(b) The third column of A is −3.

13
(c) We see that a23 = −3 and a31 = 0. Thus, a23 − a31 = −3 − 0 = −3.

7. Calculate the following expressions, using the following matrices:

     
2 3 0 −1 2
A= , B= , v=
−5 1 1 −1 −4

3
 (a) AB T + vvT .
(b) Av − 2v.
(c) vT B.
(d) vT v + vT BAT v.
Solution 7. (a) AB T + vvT
    
T T 2 3 0 1 2  
AB + vv = + 2 −4
−5 1 −1 −1 −4
   
−3 −1 4 −8
= +
−1 −6 −8 16
 
1 −9
=
−9 10

(b) Av2v
    
2 3 2 2
Av2v = 2
−5 1 −4 −4
   
−8 −4
= +
−14 8
 
−12
=
−6

(c) vT B
 
T
  0 −1
v B = 2 −4
1 −1
 
= −4 2

(d) vT v + vT BAT v

vT v + vT BAT v
        
  2   0 −1 2 −5 2
= 2 −4 + 2 −4
−4 1 −1 3 1 −4
 
  24
= 18 + −4 2
2

= 1892
= −74

8. Determine whether the following matrices are nonsingular or not.

 
1 0 1
(a) A = 2 1 2 .
1 0 −1
 
2 1 2
(b) B = 1 0 1.
4 1 4

4
 Solution 8. Recall that an n × n matrix is nonsingular if Ax = 0 has only the zero solution. This
is equivalent to the condition that the rank of A is n.

(a) We find the rank of the matrix A as follows.

       
1 0 1 1 0 1 − 1
R
1 0 1 1 0 0
R2 −2R1 3 R −R3
A= 2  1 2  −− −−→ 0 1 0  −−2−→ 0 1 0 −−1−−→ 0 1 0 .
R3 −R1
1 0 −1 0 0 −2 0 0 1 0 0 1

The last matrix is in reduced row echelon form and has three nonzero rows. Hence, the rank
of A is 3. It follows that the matrix A is nonsingular.
(b) Next, we compute the rank of B as follows.
       
2 1 2 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1
R ↔R2 R2 −2R1 R −R2
B= 1 0 1 −−1−−→ 2 1 2 − −−−→ 0 1 0 −−3−−→ 0 1 0 .
R3 −4R1
4 1 4 4 1 4 0 1 0 0 0 0

This computation shows that the rank of B is 2. Hence, the matrix B is singular.

9. Determine the values of a real number a such that the matrix

 
3 0 a
A = 2 3 0 
0 18a a + 1

is nonsingular.

Solution 9. We apply elementary row operations and obtain:

   
3 0 a 1 −3 a
R −R2
A = 2 3 0  −−1−−→ 2 3 0 
0 18a a + 1 0 18a a + 1
   
1 −3 a 1 −3 a
R2 −2R1 R3 −(2a)R2
−− −−→ 0 9 −2a  −−−−−−→ 0 9 −2a .
2
0 18a a + 1 0 0 4a + a + 1

From this, we see that the matrix A is nonsingular if and only if the (3, 3)-entry 4a2 + a + 1 is not
zero. By the quadratic formula, we see that
√
−1 ± −15
a=
8
are solutions of 4a2 + a + 1 = 0.
Note that these are not real numbers. Thus, for any real number a, we have 4a2 + a + 1 6= 0.
Hence, we can divide the third row by this number, and eventually we can reduce it to the identity
matrix. So the rank of A is 3, and A is nonsingular for any real number a.
 
1 4
10. Consider the matrix M = .
3 12
(a) Show that M is singular.
(b) Find a non-zero vector v such that M v = 0, where 0 is the 2-dimensional zero vector.

5
 Solution 10. (a) To see that M is singular, we will row-reduce the augmented matrix:
   
1 4 0 R2 3R1 1 4 0
−−−→ .
3 12 0 0 0 0
The row-reduced matrix has a row of all 0s, and hence is singular.
 
v
(b) We see that the vector v = 1 must satisfy the equation v1 + 4v2 = 0.
v2
There are many solutions. One solution, for example, is found by setting v1 = 1 and solve
v2 = 14 .

11. Determine whether the following augmented matrices are in reduced row echelon form, and calcu-
late the solution sets of their associated systems of linear equations.
 
1 0 0 2
(a)  0 1 0 −3 .
0 0 1 6
 
1 0 3 −4
(b) .
0 1 2 0
 
1 2 0
(c) .
1 1 −1
Solution 11. (a) The first matrix is in reduced row echelon form.
For this matrix, we can read off the solution x1 = 2, x2 = −3, x3 = 6.
(b) The second matrix is in reduced row echelon form.
For this matrix, the variable x3 is a free variable because there are no leading 1s in the 3rd
column.
The solution set can be expressed as x1 = −43x3 , x2 = −2x3 , and x3 can be any real number.
(c) The third matrix is not in reduced echelon form because the bottom-left entry is 1, not 0, so
we first use elementary row operations to put it in this form.
   
1 2 0 R2 R1 1 2 0
−−−→
1 1 −1 0 −1 −1
   
(−1)R2 1 2 0 R1 2R2 1 0 −2
−−−−→ −−−→ .
0 1 1 0 1 1
With the reduced matrix, we can read off the solution x1 = −2 and x2 = 1.

12. Recall that a matrix A is symmetric if AT = A, where AT is the transpose of A.

Is it true that if A is a symmetric matrix and in reduced row echelon form, then A is diagonal? If
so, prove it.
Otherwise, provide a counterexample.
Solution 12. This is true.
If A is in reduced row echelon form, then every term below the diagonal must be 0. That is, the
entry aij = 0 for all i > j.
If A is, additionally, symmetric, then for i < j we also have aji = aij = 0.
These two facts together means that aij = 0 whenever i 6= j.
In this case, the only non-zero terms in the matrix A lie on the diagonal, and so A is a diagonal
matrix.

6
13. (a) Find all 3 × 3 matrices which are in reduced row echelon form and have rank 1.
(b) Find all such matrices with rank 2.

Solution 13. (a) First we look at the rank 1 case. For a 3 × 3 matrix in reduced row echelon
form to have rank 1, it must have 2 rows which are all 0s. The non-zero row must be the first
row, and it must have a leading 1.
These conditions imply that the matrix must be of one of the following forms:
     
1 a b 0 1 c 0 0 1
0 0 0 , 0 0 0 , or 0 0 0 .
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

(b) For a rank 2 3 × 3 matrix in reduced row echelon form, there must be one row, the bottom
one, which has only 0s.
Thus we need two leading 1s in distinct columns, and every other term in the same column
with a leading 1 must be 0. The possibilities are:
     
1 0 a 1 a 0 0 1 0
0 1 b  , 0 0 1 , or 0 0 1 .
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

14. Prove that if A is an n × n matrix with rank n, then rref(A) is the identity matrix.
Here rref(A) is the matrix in reduced row echelon form that is row equivalent to the matrix A.

Solution 14. Because A has rank n, we know that the n × n matrix rref(A) has n non-zero rows.
This means that all n rows must have a leading 1.
Each leading 1 must be in a distinct column, so we must have that each of the n columns has a
leading 1. In a row echelon matrix, these leading 1s must be arranged to lie on the diagonal.
In a reduced row echelon matrix, each column with a leading 1 has 0s above and below that 1.
These restrictions mean that rref(A) must be the identity matrix.

15. If A, B have the same rank, can we conclude that they are row-equivalent?
If so, then prove it. If not, then provide a counterexample.

Solution 15. Having the same rank does not mean they are row-equivalent.
   
For a simple counterexample, consider A = 1 0 and B = 0 1 .
Both of these matrices have rank 1, but are not row-equivalent because they are already in reduced
row echelon form.
Alternate Solution : The problem doesnt specify the sizes of matrices A, B.
Note that if the sizes of A and B are distinct, then they can never be row-equivalent. Keeping this
in mind, let us consider the following two matrices.
 
1  
A= and B = 1 0 .
0
Then both matrices are in reduced row echelon form and have rank 1. As noted above, they are
not row-equivalent because the sizes are distinct.

7
16. For each of the following matrices, find a row-equivalent matrix which is in reduced row echelon
form. Then determine the rank of each matrix.
 
1 3
(a) A = .
−2 2
 
2 6 −2
(b) B = .
3 −2 8
 
2 −2 4
(c) C = 4 1 −2.
6 −1 2
 
−2
(d) D = 3 .

1
 
(e) E = −2 3 1 .

Definition 1 (Rank of a Matrix). The rank of a matrix A is the number of nonzero rows in the
reduced row echelon form matrix rref(A) that is row equivalent to A.

Solution 16. (a) The matrix A has rank 2, which can be seen by computing
       
1 3 R2 +2R1 1 3 18 R2 1 3 R1 3R2 1 0
−−−−→ −−→ −−−→ .
−2 2 0 8 0 1 0 1
Because the row-reduced matrix has two non-zero rows, the rank of A is 2.
(b) The matrix B has rank 2, which can be seen by computing
     
2 6 −2 21 R1 1 3 −1 R2 3R1 1 3 −1
−−→ −−−→
3 −2 8 3 −2 8 0 −11 11
−1
   
R
11 2 1 3 −1 R1 3R2 1 0 2
−−−→ −−−→
0 1 −1 0 1 −1

(c) The matrix C has rank 2, which can be seen by computing

     
2 −2 4 1
R1
1 −1 2 1 −1 2
R2 4R1
4 1 −2 −2−→ 4 1 −2 − −−→ 0 5 −10
R3 6R1
6 −1 2 6 −1 2 0 5 −10
     
1 −1 2 1
R2
1 −1 2 1 0 0
R R2 R1 +R2
−−3−→ 0 5 −10 −5−→ 0 1 −2 − −−−→ 0 1 −2 .
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

(d) The matrix D has rank 1, which can be seen by calculating:

     
−2 −1 R 1 1
2 1 R2 3R1 ,R3 R1
 3  −− −→ 3 −−−−−−−→ 0 .
  
1 1 0

(e) The matrix E has rank 1, which can be seen by calculating:

  −1
2
R1 
−3 −1

−2 3 1 −− −→ 1 2 2
.

8
17. If A, B, C are three m × n matrices such that A is row-equivalent to B and B is row-equivalent to
C, then can we conclude that A is row-equivalent to C?
If so, then prove it. If not, then provide a counterexample.
Definition 2 (Row Equivalent). Two matrices are said to be row equivalent if one can be obtained
from the other by a sequence of elementary row operations.
Solution 17. Yes, in this case A and C are row-equivalent.
By assumption, the matrices A and B are row-equivalent, which means that there is a sequence of
elementary row operations that turns A into B.
Call this sequence r1 , r2 , · · · , rn , where each ri is an elementary row operation. (Start with applying
r1 to A.)
By another assumption, B is row-equivalent to C, which means that there is a sequence of elemen-
tary row operations which transforms B into C; call this sequence s1 , s2 , · · · , sm .
Putting these sequences together, the operations r1 , r2 , · · · , rn , s1 , s2 , · · · , sm will transform the
matrix A into C.
This proves that A and C are row-equivalent.

18. Let v be an n × 1 column vector. Prove that vvT is a symmetric matrix.

Definition 3 (Symmetric Matrix). A matrix A is called symmetric if AT = A.

In terms of entries, an n × n matrix A = (aij ) is symmetric if aij = aji for all 1 ≤ i, j ≤ n.
 
v1
 v2 
Solution 18. Let v =  .. . Then we have
 
.
vn
   
v1 v1 v1 v1 v2 · · · v1 vn
 v2     v2 v1 v2 v2 · · ·
 v2 vn 
vvT =  ..  v1 v2 · · · vn =  .. ..  .
  
.. ..
.  . . . . 
vn vn v1 vn v2 · · · vn vn

In particular, the the (i, j)-th component is

(vvT )ij = vi vj = vj vi = (vvT )ji .
This shows that the matrix vvT is symmetric.

19. Let A, B be n × n matrices such that BA + B 2 = I − BA2 where I is the n × n identity matrix.
Which of the following is always true?
(a) A is nonsingular
(b) B is nonsingular
(c) A + B is nonsingular
(d) AB is nonsingular
Solution 19. BA + B 2 + A2 = I ⇒ B(A + B + A2 ) = I. That is, inverse of B exists. Thus, 2nd
option is correct.