THE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG

DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS

MATH2101 Linear Algebra I

Tutorial 7 solution

1. The correct answer: (a), (c).

(a) Note that det A = ±1. Hence det(AT A) = (det A)2 = 1.

(b) Counter-example: A = I5 . Then det A2 AT = 1 ≠ −1.
(c) Note that det A = ±1 and A adj A = (det A)I5 . Hence

det(A2 adj A) = det A ⋅ det[(det A)I5 ] = (det A)6 = 1.

(d) Counter-example: A = −I5 . Then adj A = I5 ≠ A.

2. (a) S is a subspace of R3 because

• clearly, 0 ∈ S.
T T
• for any u1 = [x1 y1 z1 ] ∈ S and u2 = [x2 y2 z2 ] ∈ S, we have

(x1 + x2 ) + (y1 + y2 ) + (z1 + z2 ) = (x1 + y1 + z1 ) + (x2 + y2 + z2 ) = 0 + 0 = 0

T
so that u1 + u2 = [x1 + x2 y1 + y2 z1 + z2 ] ∈ S.
T
• for any u = [x y z] ∈ S and scalar a,

ax + ay + az = a(x + y + z) = 0
T
so that au = [ax ay az] ∈ S.
T T
Next, we shall claim that {v1 = [−1 1 0] , v2 = [−1 0 1] } is a basis for S. It is
obvious that v1 , v2 belong to S and are linearly independent. They span S because any
vector in S is of the form
⎡−y − z ⎤
⎢ ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎢ y ⎥ = yv1 + zv2 .
⎢ ⎥
⎢ z ⎥
⎣ ⎦
This proves the claim and hence dim S = 2.
(b) T is not a subspace of R3 because 0 ∈/ T .
(c) U is a subspace of R3 because
• clearly, 0 ∈ U .
T T
• for any u1 = [x1 y1 z1 ] ∈ U and u2 = [x2 y2 z2 ] ∈ U ,

x1 = y1 = 2z1 and x2 = y2 = 2z2 Ô⇒ x1 + x2 = y1 + y2 = 2(z1 + z2 )

T
so that u1 + u2 = [x1 + x2 y1 + y2 z1 + z2 ] ∈ U .
T
• for any u = [x y z] ∈ U and scalar a,

x = y = 2z Ô⇒ ax = ay = 2(az)
T
so that au = [ax ay az] ∈ U .

1
 T
Next, we shall claim that {v = [2 2 1] } is a basis for U . It is obvious that v belongs
to U and is linearly independent. It span U because any vector in U is of the form
⎡2z ⎤
⎢ ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎢2z ⎥ = zv.
⎢ ⎥
⎢z⎥
⎣ ⎦
This proves the claim and hence dim U = 1.

3. (a) As U and V are subspaces of Rn ,

• 0 ∈ U and 0 ∈ V imply 0 ∈ U ∩ V .
• for any x, y ∈ U ∩ V , x, y ∈ U implies x + y ∈ U and similarly we have x + y ∈ V . Thus,
x+y ∈U ∩V.
• for any x ∈ U ∩ V and scalar a, ax ∈ U and ax ∈ V imply ax ∈ U ∩ V .
These show U ∩ V is a subspace of Rn .
(b) No. Consider the counterexample where n = 2 and U = V = R2 , then B1 = {e1 =
(1, 0)T , e2 = (0, 1)T } is a basis for U and B2 = {e1 , −e2 } is a basis for V . But B1 ∩B2 = {e1 }
is not a basis for U ∩ V = R2 because Span(B1 ∩ B2 ) ≠ R2 .

4. The correct answer: (b).

(a) If 0 ∈ Rn / V , then 0 ∉ V . So V cannot be a subspace, which gives a contradiction.
(b) Consider V = Rn and B = {e1 , e2 , . . . , en }, choose v = 0, then
{v} ∪ Span B = Span{e1 , e2 , . . . , en } = Rn .

(c) If v ∈ Rn / V for some v ∈ B, then v ∉ V = Span B. Thus, v ∉ B, which gives a contradic-

tion.
(d) If there exists v ∈ Rn / V such that {x1 , x2 , . . . , xm , v} are linearly dependent, then
c1 x1 + c2 x2 + . . . + cm xm + cm+1 v = 0, where cj ∈ R not all zero.
Case 1: cm+1 = 0. Then B = {x1 , x2 , . . . , xm } is linearly dependent and hence cannot be a
basis, which gives a contradiction.
Case 2: cm+1 ≠ 0. Then
1
v=− (c1 x1 + c2 x2 + . . . + cm xm ) ∈ Span B = V,
cm+1
which also gives a contradiction.

5. (a) e1 = (1, 0, 0)T , e2 = (0, 1, 0)T , e3 = (0, 0, 1)T , 0 = (0, 0, 0)T .

(b) There are many different possible answers. One way to find the answer is to observe that
{ae1 = (a, 0, 0)T , e2 = (0, 1, 0)T , e3 = (0, 0, 1)T } is a basis for R3 for any non-zero a.

6. (a) False. Let S = {(x, 0)T ∶ x ≥ 0} ⊆ R2 . Clearly, S contains 0. For any u = (u, 0)T ∈ S
and v = (v, 0)T ∈ S, we have u, v ≥ 0 so that u + v ≥ 0 and hence u + v = (u + v, 0)T ∈ S.
However, S is not a subspace because e1 = (1, 0)T ∈ S but −e1 = (−1, 0)T ∉ S.
(b) False. It is easy to see that U = {(x, 0)T ∶ x ∈ R} and V = {(0, y)T ∶ y ∈ R} are subspaces
of R2 . However, U ∪ V is not a subspace because u = (1, 0)T , v = (0, 1)T ∈ U ∪ V , but
u + v = (1, 0)T + (0, 1)T = (1, 1)T ∉ U ∪ V.