University of Pennsylvania

ESE 500: Linear Systems Theory

Quiz I
MODULE II: Linear Algebra

Problem 1. Consider vectors x,y. Which of the following statements are

correct:

a) ||x + y|| ≤ ||x|| + ||y||.

b) ||x − y|| ≤ ||x|| + ||y||.

c) ||x + y||22 + ||x − y||22 = 2||x||22 + 2||y||22 .

d) a and c.

e) a, b and c.

f ) None of the above

Answer: e.

Problem 2 (Norm and inner product). Let A ∈ Rn×n be an invertible

matrix and x, y ∈ Rn . Which of the following expressions define a valid
inner product on Rn ?

a) < x, y >= xT AT Ay.

b) < x, y >= xT Ay.

c) < x, y >= 5xT y.

d) < x, y >= xT y + 1.

e) a and c.

f ) a, b and c.

g) None of the above.

Answer: e.

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Problem 3. Given a vector space V, and M, N ⊆ V , span(M ∪ N ) =
span(M ) + span(N ):
a) Correct.

b) Incorrect.
Answer: a.
Problem 4. For matrices A and B such that the product AB is defined,
which of the following statements is true:
a) dim(R(A)) = dim(N (A))

b) rank(A) = dim(N (A))

c) R(AB) ⊆ R(A).

d) N (B) ⊆ N (AB).

e) b and c.

f ) c and d.
Answer: f.
Problem 5 (Vector norms). If we are given any two norms || · ||a and || · ||b
on some finite-dimensional vector space X over C or R, a useful fact is that
they are equivalent, e.g. always within a constant factor of one another.
Specifically, there exists a pair of real numbers 0 < C1 ≤ C2 such that, for
all x ∈ X , the following inequality holds:

C1 ||x||b ≤ ||x||a ≤ C2 ||x||b (1)

Let X = Rn . Find constants C1 and C2 for the following norms a and b:

a) a = 1, b = ∞.

b) a = 2, b = ∞.

c) a = 1, b = 2. Hint: Use Cauchy-Schwarz inequality.

Answer:
1. C1 = 1, C2 = n.
√
2. C1 = 1, C2 = n.
√
3. C1 = 1, C2 = n.
Problem 6 (Vector norms). Let p1 . . . , pn ∈ R+ and let X = Rn . For each
of the following expressions determine if it defines a norm on X:

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 Pn
a) ||x|| = i=1 pi |xi |
Pn i
b) ||x|| = i=1 |xi |

c) ||x|| = max1≤i≤n pi |xi |

d) ||x|| = min1≤i≤n |xi |

e) ||x|| = max{||x||a , ||x||b }, where || · ||a and || · ||b are norms on X.

Answer: Yes: 1, 3, 5. No: 2, 4