Complementary Mathematics: Algebra

Fall Semester 2020/2021

Teaching assistant: Olga Bychkova
Date: 19/10/2020

Exercise Session #2
Matrices. Arithmetic operations with matrices. Diagonal and triangular
matrices. Rank and trace of a matrix. Projection matrices and their
properties.

Problem 1. Compute the following:

   
−6 1 0 1 −1 1
(a) M + N , where M = , and N = .
3 0 −2 −2 1 −2
   
1 1 0 −1
(b) A − B, where A = 2 2, and B = −2 0 .
4 4 −4 −4
 
0 −1 −1 2
(c) 4 · A, where A = −2 0 −2 −4.
−4 −4 0 8
Definition 1. If A is an m × n matrix and B is an n × p matrix, then their matrix product
AB is the m × p matrix which entries are given by dot product of the corresponding row
of A and the corresponding column of B:
n
X
[AB]i,j = ai,1 b1,j + ai,2 b2,j + · · · + ai,n bn,j = ai,r br,j ,
r=1

where 1 ≤ i ≤ m and 1 ≤ j ≤ p.
Multiplication of two matrices is defined if and only if the number of columns of the left
matrix is the same as the number of rows of the right matrix.
Problem 2. Compute the following:
   
1 1 1 0 −1 −1
(a) A · B, where A = 2 2 2 , and B = −1
   0 1 .
3 3 3 −1 −1 0
 
  6 5
1 5 1
(b) A · B, where A = , and B = 4
 3.
−1 −2 1
2 1
Definition 2.
(a) If all entries of A below the main diagonal are zero, A is called an upper triangular
matrix :  
a11 a12 a13
A =  0 a22 a23  .
0 0 a33
(b) If all entries of A above the main diagonal are zero, A is called a lower triangular

1
 matrix :  
a11 0 0
A = a21 a22 0  .
a31 a32 a33
(c) If all entries outside the main diagonal are zero, A is called a diagonal matrix :
 
a11 0 0
A =  0 a22 0  .
0 0 a33

Definition 3. The rank of a matrix A is the maximum number of linearly indepen-

dent row vectors of the matrix, which is the same as the maximum number of linearly
independent column vectors.
 
1 2 3
Problem 3. Determine the rank of the following matrices: A = 2 5 3 and
  1 0 8
1 1 1
B = 2 1 1.

3 2 2
Definition 4.
1. A square matrix P is called a projection matrix if it is equal to its square, i.e. if
P2 = P.
2. A square matrix P is called an orthogonal projection matrix if P 2 = P = P T
for a real matrix, and respectively P 2 = P = P H for a complex matrix, where P T
denotes the transpose of P and P H denotes the Hermitian (conjugate) transpose of
P.
3. A projection matrix that is not an orthogonal projection matrix is called an oblique
projection matrix.
Problem 4. Show that the function which maps the point (x, y, z) in three-dimensional
space R3 to the point (x, y, 0) is an orthogonal projection onto the x-y plane.
Problem 5. Show that  
0 0
P =
α 1
is a non-orthogonal (oblique) projection.

Properties of a projection matrix P :

1. If P is an n × n matrix and rank(P ) = r, then P has r eigenvalues equal to 1 and
n − r eigenvalues equal to 0.
2. P is positive semi-definite.
3. tr(P ) = rank(P ).
Definition 5. The trace of a square matrix A is the sum of elements on the main diagonal
of A.

2
Problem 6. Check whether the matrix
 
2 −2 −4
A = −1 3 4
1 −2 −3

is a projection matrix and calculate its trace and rank.

Problem 7. The space M2×2 of 2 × 2 matrices is the direct sum of the following two
matrices:      
a b 0 0
M= |a, b ∈ R N= |c, d ∈ R
0 0 c d
Project  
3 1
A=
0 4
into M along N .
Definition 6. Orthogonal projection onto a line. Let L = Span{u} be a line in Rn
and let x be a vector in Rn . Orthogonal projection of x onto L is
u·x
xL = u.
u·u

Problem 8. Let L be the line in R2 spanned by the vector

 
3
u=
2

and define T : R2 −→ R2 by T (x) = xL . Compute the standard matrix B for T .

Problem 9. Let L be the line in R3 spanned by the vector
 
−1
u=  1
1

and define T : R3 −→ R3 by T (x) = xL . Compute the standard matrix B for T .