Problem 1 (6 points).

Compute the inverse A−1 of the matrix

 
4 3 2
A = 1 0 0
4 1 1
using the matrix inversion algorithm.
Solution. To compute the inverse of A we transform A into reduced row-echelon form
using elementary row operations. Simultaneously we perform the same row operations
on the identity matrix I3 :
 
4 3 2 1 0 0
(A|I3 ) =  1 0 0 0 1 0 
4 1 1 0 0 1
Exchange rows 1 and 2.  
1 0 0 0 1 0
→  4 3 2 1 0 0 
4 1 1 0 0 1
Subtract 4 times row 1 from row 2.
 
1 0 0 0 1 0
→ 0 3 2 1 −4 0 
4 1 1 0 0 1
Subtract 4 times row 1 from row 4.
 
1 0 0 0 1 0
→  0 3 2 1 −4 0 
0 1 1 0 −4 1
Exchange rows 2 and 3.  
1 0 0 0 1 0
→  0 1 1 0 −4 1 
0 3 2 1 −4 0
Subtract 3 times row 2 from row 3.
 
1 0 0 0 1 0
→  0 1 1 0 −4 1 
0 0 −1 1 8 −3
Multiply row 3 by (−1).
 
1 0 0 0 1 0
→  0 1 1 0 −4 1 
0 0 1 −1 −8 3
Subtract row 3 from row 2.
 
1 0 0 0 1 0
→ 0 1 0 1 4 −2  = (R|B)
0 0 1 −1 −8 3
The matrix R is in reduced row-echelon form. Since R = I3 , the matrix A is invertible.
The inverse of A is given by
 
0 1 0
A−1 = B =  1 4 −2 .
−1 −8 3
 Problem 2.a (3 points). Let A be an invertible n × n matrix and let b ∈ Rn be a
vector. Is the system of linear equations Ax = b consistent? Prove that your answer is
correct.
2.b (1 point). What is the homogeneous system associated with the system Ax = b
from Part 2.a? What are its solutions?
2.c (3 points). Let
   
1 0 −2 3
A−1 = 1 3 0  and b = 1 .
0 4 1 2
Compute a solution to the system Ax = b.
Solution 2.a. If A is invertible then the system Ax = b is consistent for all b ∈ Rn .
To prove this, we give an explicit solution.
A(A−1 b) = (AA−1 )b = In b = b
Therefore A−1 b is a solution.
2.b. The homogeneous system associated to Ax = b is the system Ax = 0, where 0
denotes the zero vector in Rn .
If A is invertible then the homogeneous system Ax = 0 has only the trivial solution.
2.c. A solution to the system Ax = b is given by A−1 b. We compute
      
1 0 −2 3 3+0−4 −1
A−1 b = 1 3 0  1 = 3 + 3 + 0 =  6  .
0 4 1 2 0+4+2 6
 Problem 3.a (3 points). Let A be an m × n matrix and B be an n × k matrix.
Define the product of A and B.
3.b (3 points). Let A be an m × n matrix, let B be an n × k matrix, and let a ∈ R
be a number. Show that (aA)B = a(AB).
Solution 3.a. Let A be an m × n matrix and B be an n × k matrix. Let b1 , . . . , bk be
the columns of B. Then the product AB is defined as the m × k matrix with columns
Ab1 , . . . , Abk .
3.b. Let A be an m×n matrix and B be an n×k matrix, and let a ∈ R. Let b1 , . . . , bk
be the columns of B.
Then
     
(aA)B = (aA)b1 , . . . , (aA)bk = a(Ab1 ), . . . , a(Abk ) = a Ab1 , . . . , Abk = a(AB).
Here we have used the fact that scalar multiplication commutes with matrix-vector
multiplication.
 Problem 4.a (3 points). Compute the rank of each of the following matrices:
       
1 0 0 0 1 1 0 1
A= B= C= D=
0 1 0 0 1 1 0 1

4.b (4 points). Let

 

−1
A= 1 2 3 and B= 0 
2
Compute A2 , AB, BA and B 2 whenever the product is defined.
Solution 4.a. The rank of a matrix M is equal to the number of leading 1s in a
row-echelon matrix that can be obtained from M by elementary row operations.
The matrices A and B are already in row-echelon form. Therefore
rank(A) = 2 and rank(B) = 0
The reduced row-echelon form of C is
 
1 1
.
0 0
Therefore rank(C) = 1.
The reduced row-echelon form of D is
 
0 1
.
0 0
Therefore rank(D) = 1.
4.b. The products A2 and B 2 are not defined.
 


−1 −2 −3
AB = −1 + 0 + 6 = 5 and BA =  0 0 0 .
2 4 6
 Problem 5.a (3 points). Define the three types of elementary row operations.
5.b (3 points). Write the matrix
 
0 0 3
A = 2 0 0
0 1 0
as a product of elementary matrices.
5.c (1 point). Is every n × n matrix the product of elementary matrices? If not, give
a counterexample.
5.d (1 point). Let E be an elementary n × n matrix. What is the rank of E?
Solution 5.a. Let A be a matrix. The three types of elementary row operations are

(1) Exchanging two rows of A.

(2) Multiplying a row of A by a nonzero number.
(3) Adding a multiple of a row of A to a different row of A.

5.b. To write A as a product of elementary matrices, first transform A into the

identity matrix I3 using elementary row operations, and record the elementary matrices
corresponding to these row operations.
Exchange rows 1 and 2.
   
2 0 0 0 1 0
→ 0 0 3 E1 = 1 0 0
0 1 0 0 0 1

Multiply row 1 by 1/2.

  1 
1 0 0 0 02
→ 0 0 3  E2 =  0 1 0
0 1 0 0 0 1
Exchange rows 2 and 3.
   
1 0 0 1 0 0
→ 0 1 0 E3 = 0 0 1
0 0 3 0 1 0

Multiply row 3 by 1/3.

   
1 0 0 1 0 0
→ 0 1 0 = I3 E4 = 0 1 0 
0 0 1 0 0 31
Performing an elementary row operation is the same as multiplying by the corresponding
elementary matrix. Therefore we obtain

I3 = E4 E3 E2 E1 A
By inverting the elementary matrices E1 , E2 , E3 and E4 we obtain
    
0 1 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0
−1 −1 −1 −1
A = E1 E2 E3 E4 = 1 0 0   0 1 0   0 0 1 0 1 0 .
0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 3

5.c. Not every matrix is the product of elementary matrices. In fact a matrix A is
the product of elementary matrices if and only if A is invertible. For example the zero
matrix  
0 0
0 0
cannot be written as a product of elementary matrices.
5.d. Elementary matrices are invertible, therefore the rank of E is n.
 Problem 6. Let v = (v1 , . . . , vn ) ∈ Rn be the vector with entries v1 = 1 and vi = 0
for all i = 2, 3, . . . , n. Let A be an n × n matrix such that Av = 0 (here 0 denotes the
zero vector in Rn ).
6.a (3 points). Is the matrix A invertible? Prove that your answer is correct.
6.b (3 points). Compute the first column of A.
Solution 6.a. The matrix A is not invertible.
To prove this, assume that the inverse A−1 exists. Then
v = In v = (A−1 A)v = A−1 (Av) = A−1 0 = 0.
But this is a contradiction to v1 = 1. Therefore A−1 cannot exist.
6.b. Let a1 , . . . , an be the columns of A. We have
Av = v1 a1 + v2 a2 + · · · + vn an = 1a1 + 0a2 + · · · + 0an = a1 .
Therefore
a1 = Av = 0,
and the first column of A is the zero vector.