MATH2019 PROBLEM CLASS

EXAMPLES 7
MATRICES
1991
&
1994
1. a) Find the eigenvalues and the corresponding eigenvectors of matrix
A =
_

_
3 2 2
2 2 0
2 0 4
_

_ .
b) Find an orthogonal matrix P such that
D = P
1
AP
is a diagonal matrix and write down the matrix D.
c) Using your results from parts (a) and (b) nd the solution of the system of dierential
equations
dx
dt
= 3x + 2y + 2z ,
dy
dt
= 2x + 2y ,
dz
dt
= 2x + 4z ,
subject to the conditions
x(0) = 0 , y(0) = 0 and z(0) = 1 .
d) Express the quadric surface
3x
2
+ 2y
2
+ 4z
2
+ 4xy + 4xz = 24
in terms of its principal axes X, Y and Z and write out an orthogonal matrix P such that
_
_
_
x
y
z
_
_
_ = P
_
_
_
X
Y
Z
_
_
_ .
What shape does this quadric surface represent?
e) A and P are n n matrices. A is symmetric and P is orthogonal. Prove that P
1
AP is
symmetric.
1998 2. Let
A =
_
7 24
24 7
_
a) Find the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of A.
b) Normalise the eigenvectors, to have length 1, and hence nd an orthogonal matrix P such
that
D = P
1
AP
is a diagonal matrix. Evaluate both sides of this equation to show that it is satised by
your P.
c) For the system of dierential equations
dx
dt
= Ax where x =
_
x
1
x
2
_
prove that the transformation
x = Pz where z =
_
z
1
z
2
_
yields the equation
dz
dt
= Dz where P and D are as in part b).
d) Hence solve the system of equations
dx
dt
= Ax if x
1
(0) = 1, x
2
(0) = 0.
1999 3. Let A =
_
1 1
4 2
_
.
a) Find the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of A.
b) i) Find a matrix P such that P
1
AP = D where D is a diagonal matrix. You may
assume that if ad bc = 0
_
a b
c d
_
1
=
1
ad bc
_
d b
c a
_
.
ii) Calculate P
1
AP to check this is indeed equal to D.
c) If x =
_
x
1
(t)
x
2
(t)
_
and f =
_
f
1
(t)
f
2
(t)
_
show that with the denition x = Pz, the system of
dierential equations
dx
dt
= Ax + f (1)
becomes
dz
dt
= Dz + P
1
f
d) Using the result of c) nd the general solution of (1) in the case when f
1
(t) = e
2t
and
f
2
(t) = 0.
2000 4. Consider the quadric surface given by
x
2
+ y
2
+ 3z
2
+ 4xz + 4yz = 5 .
a) Express this equation in the form
v
T
Av = 5
where A is a symmetric matrix and v =
_

_
x
y
z
_

_ .
b) Show that the matrix A has an eigenvalue = 1 and two other distinct eigenvalues. What
are the values of these other eigenvalues?
c) Write down the equation of the quadric surface in terms of its principal axes X, Y and Z.
Then sketch the surface relative to principal axes, clearly labelling the (X, Y, Z) coordinates
of the points where the surface intersects the principal axes.
d) Find the eigenvectors of A and hence nd an orthogonal matrix, P, which relates
_

_
x
y
z
_

_ and
_

_
X
Y
Z
_

_ . Write down this relationship.

e) Write down the points of intersection of the quadric surface with its principal axes in terms
of the (x, y, z) coordinate system.