Math 33A

Practice Problems
Instructor: Nadja Hempel
December, 2017

No calculators, books or notes are allowed.

 
a b
1. Consider a 2 × 2 matrix A = .
c d
(a) Under which conditions is A invertible?
(b) In such a case give the formula for the inverse of A.
(c) Show that if the entries of A−1 and A are integers then we have that det(A) is
either 1 or −1.
(d) Suppose that A has integers entries and det(A) is either 1 or −1. Conclude that
A−1 has only integer entries. (Hint: Use part (b))
2. Consider the following n × n matrix

1 2 3 4 ... n−1 n
 
 0 2 3 4 ... n−1 n 
1 0 3 4 ... n−1 n
 
 
Jn = det 
 1 2 0 4 ... n−1 n


 .. .. .. .. .. .. 
 . . .... . . . 
1 2 3 4 ... 0 n
(a) Calculate det(J5 ).
(b) Calculate det(Jn ).
 
a 1 0 0 0

 0 b 0 0 0 

3. Consider the matrix A = 
 0 0 a 1 0 

 0 0 0 c 1 
0 0 0 0 c
(a) Calculate the characteristic polynomial fA (λ) of A.
(b) Calculate the distinct eigenvalues.
(c) Give a basis of their corresponding Eigenspaces.

1
 (d) What is their algebraic and geometric multiplicity?
(e) Is this matrix diagonalizable?
~ be two vectors in Rn
4. Consider a symmetric n × n matrix A and let ~v and w
(a) Show that
(A~v ) · w
~ = ~v · (Aw)
~
(b) Suppose that ~v and w~ are two eigenvectors of A. Show that either they have the
same eigenvalue or they are orthogonal.

1 Short answers
Instructions: The following problems have a short answer. No reason needs to be given. If
the problem is multiple choice, circle the correct answer (there is always exactly one correct
answer).
1. Consider a linear transformation T : R3 → R3 with three distinct eigenvalues λ1 , λ2 ,
and λ3 and corresponding eigenvectors v~1 , v~2 , and v~3 respectively. Let B = (v~1 , v~2 , v~3 ).
Give [T ]B .
Answer:

 
−1 0 0 1
 0 3 0 2 
2. Calculate det  
 0 0 −1 3 
0 0 0 5
Answer:

3. Let A be an n × n matrix. What is the relationship between det(A) and det(AT )?

Answer:

2
4. Which of the following linear transformations are diagonalizable?
(a) reflections along a line in R2
(b) Scaling with k 6= 1
(c) rotation of 90 degrees
(d) Projection onto a plane in R3
5. Let  
−1 0 0 1
 0 3 0 2 
A= 
 0 0 −1 3 
0 0 0 5
Calculate fA (λ)

Answer: