Diagnostic problems

July, 2015

1 Linear Algebra
Problem 1. Let n be a positive integer and let F be a field. Show that any
two n-dimensional vector spaces over F , say V and W , are isomorphic.
Problem 2. Let Pn (R) denote the vector space of real polynomials with
degree less than or equal to n. Given the ordered bases 1, x, x2 for P2 (R) and
1, x, x2 , x3 for P3 (R):
1. Find the matrix that represents the linear transformation

T : P2 (R) → P3 (R)

in these bases where, for p ∈ P2 (R), T (p) = (2x − 3) · p.

2. What is the nullity of T ?

3. What is the rank of T ?

Problem 3. Let V be a finite dimensional vector space over F . Suppose the
linear transformation P : V → V is idempotent.
1. Show that I − P is idempotent.

2. Let P V denote the image of P and let n(P ) denote the null space of
P . Assume P V 6= {0} and n(P ) 6= {0}. Show that V = (P V ) ⊕ n(P ).
Problem 4. Let F be a field and let V be a finite dimensional vector space
over F . Assume that the linear transformation T : V → V is both diagonal-
izable and nilpotent. Prove that T = 0.

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Problem 5. Let F be a field, let F [x] be the ring of polynomials in x with
coefficients in F , let V 6= {0} be a finite dimensional vector space over F ,
and let T : V → V be a linear transformation. Fix a non-zero vector v ∈ V .

1. Show that there is a smallest positive integer, s, such that the vectors

v, T v, T 2 v, . . . , T s−1 v, T s v

are linearly dependent.

2. Given s as above, show that there exist scalars β0 , β1 , . . . , βs−1 belong-

ing to F such that

T s v = βs−1 T s−1 v + · · · + β1 T v + β0 v.

3. Using the above scalars, find a non-zero polynomial g ∈ F [x] such that
g(T )v = 0.

4. Show that the polynomial g is minimal for T and v in the following

sense: for f ∈ F [x], if f (T )v = 0 then g | f (g divides f ).

5. Let m ∈ F [x] be a minimal polynomial for T and show that g | m.

6. Show that the subspace generated by v, T v, T 2 v, . . . , T s−1 v is an s-

dimensional, T -invariant subspace of V .

Problem 6. Let F be a field and let V be a finite dimensional vector space

over F . Assume that the linear transformations T1 , T2 : V → V are both
diagonalizable, and that they commute (i.e. T1 T2 = T2 T1 ). Let α1 , α2 ∈ F
and show that α1 T1 + α2 T2 is diagonalizable. (Hint: use the simultaneous
diagonalization theorem).

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2 General Algebra
Problem 7. 1. What is the maximal order of an element of the symmet-
ric (permutation) group S7 ? Give an example of a permutation in S7
that has maximal order.

2. Repeat Part 1. of the problem for the alternating group A7 .

3. Give an example of a simple group of order 2520.

Problem 8. How many non-isomorphic abelian groups of order 105 are

there? And how many of order 1680?

Problem 9. Consider the ring R = Z20 = Z/(20).

1. List all zero divisors in R.

2. List all units in R.

3. How many roots does the polynomial x2 − 1 have in R?

Problem 10. Prove that there is no simple non-abelian group with 41 ≤

|G| ≤ 50. You may use standard theorems from group theory.

Problem 11. Prove that if R is a ring with unit, then R contains a maximal
proper ideal.

Problem 12. The following statements are equivalent to the Axiom of

Choice:

(A) Zorn’s Lemma

(B) Every set can be well–ordered

(C) The Cartesian product of nonempty sets is nonempty.

Prove at least two of the implications A =⇒ B, A =⇒ C, B =⇒ A, B =⇒ C,

C =⇒ A, C =⇒ B.

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3 Analysis
Problem 13. Which of the following subsets of R2 are compact? Justify
your answers.

1. {(x, y) ∈ R2 | x2 ≤ 2y}.

2. {(x, y) ∈ R2 | x2 + y 2 ≤ 2}.

3. {(x, y) ∈ R2 | x2 + 3y 2 < 2}.

Problem 14. Let (X, d) be a complete metric space, and (xn ) a sequence of
points in X such that d(xn+1 , xn ) < 2−n for all n. Show that the sequence
converges.

Problem 15. Let f be a function that is differentiable on (−1, 0) ∪ (0, 1)

and continuous at x = 0.

1. Prove that if limx→0 f 0 (x) exists, then f 0 (0) = limx→0 f 0 (x).

2. What happens when the limit of the derivative does not exist?

Problem 16. Give examples of sequences of functions from [0, 1] to R with

the following properties. Justify your answers.

1. A sequence (fn ) that converges pointwise, but not uniformly, to the

constant function with value 0.

2. A sequence (gn ) that has no uniformly convergent subsequence.

Problem 17. Let C[0, 1] denote the space of continuous functions from [0, 1]
to C, equipped with the uniform metric defined by

d(f, g) = sup |f (x) − g(x)|.

x∈[0,1]

Let c be a positive real number, and say that a function f : [0, 1] → C is

c-Lipschitz if
|f (x) − f (y)| ≤ c|x − y|
for all x, y ∈ [0, 1]. Show that the collection of c-Lipschitz functions is closed
in the metric space (C[0, 1], d).

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Problem 18. Let f : R2 → R2 be defined by

f (x, y) = (x2 + y, 2x).

1. Compute the Jacobian of f .

2. True or false: there exist open sets U and V containing the origin (0, 0)
such that f restricted to U is a bijection onto V . Justify your answer
(you may use standard theorems without justification).

Problem 19. Let ξ be a fixed real number. Use contour integrals to compute
the integral Z ∞ −iξx
e
2
dx.
−∞ 1 + x

Make sure you justify all the steps involved.