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Assignment 1 – Math 5341 – Linear Algebra Review

Give complete answers to each of the following questions. Show all of your work.

Note: You might struggle with some of these questions, either because it has been a while since
you took linear algebra, or because you did not learn some of these concepts. Don’t worry. We
will use the Discussion Forum on https://space.uh.edu to ask questions and help one another.

1. Suppose A is a real m by n matrix and ∈ .

a. What does it mean to say that a vector ∈ is a solution to Ax = b?
b. What does it mean to say that the system Ax = b is consistent?
c. What does it mean to say that a vector ∈ is a least squares solution to
Ax = b?
2. Suppose A is a real m by n matrix and ∈ .
a. What is the system of normal equations associated with the system Ax = b, and
what purpose does this system serve?
b. Suppose ∈ is a least squares solution to Ax = b. How is Ax related to the
vector b?
3. Suppose A is a real m by n matrix and ∈ . True or False. If the statement is true,
then give a reason. If the statement is false, then give a counter example.
a. The system Ax = b always has at least one solution.
b. If the system Ax = 0 has a nontrivial solution, then Ax = b is inconsistent.
c. A least squares solution to Ax = b is also a solution to Ax = b.
d. A solution to Ax = b is also a least squares solution to Ax = b.
 2 x1  x2  2 x3  2 
 
4. Use elementary row operations to solve the linear system  x1  2 x2  2 x3  1  .
 x  5 x  4 x  1 
 1 2 3 

  x1  x2  2 
 
5. Show that the system  2 x1  x2  1 is inconsistent.
 2x  x  4 
 1 2 
6. Suppose A is a real n by n matrix. Describe the process of using elementary row
operations to determine if A is invertible, and if it is, finding the inverse of A.
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 1 2 0 
 
7. Use elementary row operations to find the inverse of the matrix  1 2 0  .
 1 0 2 
 
8. Suppose A is a real m by n matrix.
a. What is Col (the column space of – sometimes also called the range space of
)?
b. What is Nul (the null space of – sometimes also called the kernel of )?
c. Two vectors , ∈ are orthogonal (perpendicular) with respect to the
Euclidean dot product if and only if ∙ 0. Two subspaces , ⊆ are
orthogonal if and only if ∙ 0 for every ∈ and ∈ . In this case, we
write . Prove that Nul Col .
d. Suppose is a subspace of . Describe the orthogonal complement of with
respect to the Euclidean dot product.
e. Prove that Nul is the orthogonal complement of Col .
 1   1   0  
      
 0 1 1 
9. Let V  span   ,   ,    . Give all of the equations that must be satisfied by a vector
 1   0   1  
 0   1   1  

with Euclidean length 1 that is orthogonal to V (with respect to the Euclidean dot
product).
10. State the rank theorem.
11. Suppose A is an n by n matrix. Give at least 10 equivalent statements to
“ is invertible.”
12. Suppose A is a 6 by 8 matrix, and dim Col (AT) = 3.
a. dim Nul (AT) =
b. dim Nul (A) =
c. Give the size of ATA.
d. Give the size of AAT.
e. dim Col (A) =
f. Show that Col ATA is a subset of Col (AT).
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2 0 0 1 3 1 1 2 
 
0 0 0 1 3 0 1 1
2 0 0 1 3 1 1 2 
g. Is it possible for A to be row equivalent to  ?
0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
13. Suppose A and B are n by n matrices. What does it mean to say that A and B are similar
matrices? List some consequences of A and B being similar matrices?
14. True or False. If the statement is true, then give a reason. If the result is false, then give a
counter example.
a. If two matrices have the same trace, then they are similar matrices.
b. Elementary row operations, applied to a matrix, do not change the eigenvalues of
the matrix.
c. Elementary row operations, applied to an augmented matrix, do not change the
solution set to the corresponding system of linear equations.
15. Suppose , ,…, is a subset of .
a. Describe span , ,…, .
b. What has to be true for , ,…, to be an orthonormal subset of ?
c. Suppose , ,…, is an orthonormal subset of . Form the matrix whose
columns are , ,…, . What is ?
16. Suppose , , ∈ .
a. How do you create proj (the projection of onto span )?
b. How do you create proj , (the projection of onto span , )?
c. Explain how to find two orthogonal vectors whose span is , .
d. Explain how to find the angle between and , .

 1  1
   
17. Let v   1  and u  1 .
1  1
   
a. Give projvu (the projection of onto span ).
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 1 
 
b. Give the distance from u to span  1   .
  
 1  
18. Suppose is a subspace of . What does it mean to say that is a subspace of ?
     
  
19. Show that H   2  3   ,   R  is a subspace of R 3 .
     
  
20. P3 is the set of all polynomials with real coefficients, of a single variable, of degree less
than or equal to 3. Define the function T : P3  P3 via T (y) = (2x2 – 1)y  + y.
a. Show that P3 is a vector space.
b. Show that T is a linear transformation.
c. Give the matrix representation for T with respect to the standard basis
{1, x, x2, x3} of P3.
 3 1
21. Find the eigenvalue and associated eigenspaces for the matrix  .
 1 3 
 1 
  
22. A is a real 3 by 3 matrix with eigenvalues -1/2, 1/2 and 0. Suppose E1/2  span  1   ,
 1  
  
1
1   1    1 1 1   1/ 2 1/ 2 0
         
E1/2  span 1  and E0  span  1   , and  1 1 1    1/ 2 1/ 2 1  . Give
1   0    1 1 0  0 1
         1

the matrix A.
 2 3 2 
23. The matrix A is similar to  0 4 1  .
 0 0 1
 
a. Give the eigenvalues of A.
b. Give the trace of A.
c. Give the determinant of A.
24. Suppose you have the data , , , ,…, , .
a. Describe the process of finding the line of best least squares fit for the data.
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b. Suppose y = mx + b is the line of best least squares fit for the data given in
part a. How do you find the predicted value of y at a value x = c?
25. Consider the (x,y) data given by  1, 1 , 1, 2  ,  2, 4  .

a. Find the line of best least squares fit for this data.
b. Use this line to predict the value of y when x = 1.5.