Department of Mathematics

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

MATH 417 – SPRING 2017 – SECTION B1

MIDTERM 2

MARCH 17, 2017

Midterm Duration: 50 m
SOLUTIONS

1. (25 points) Let M2 (R) be the ring of real 2 × 2-matrices. Con-

sider the subset B ⊂ M2 (R) given by:
  
a b
B= : a, b ∈ R
−b a
Which of the following statements are true/false (justify!):
(a) B is a subring of M2 (R);
(b) B is an ideal of M2 (R);
(c) B has no zero divisors.

Solution:

(a) True. The difference and the product of two matrices in

B is a matrix in B:
     
a1 b1 a2 b 2 a b
− =
−b1 a1 −b2 a2 −b a
where a = a1 − a2 and b = b1 − b2 .
    
a1 b 1 a2 b 2 a b
=
−b1 a1 −b2 a2 −b a
where a = a1 a2 − b1 b2 and b = a1 b2 + a2 b1 .
(b) False. The product of a matrix in M2 (R) by a matrix in
B may fail to be in B, for example I ∈ B but:
    
1 0 1 0 1 0
= 6∈ B.
0 0 0 1 0 0

(c) True. Every non-zero matrix in B is invertible:

 −1  
a b 1 a −b
= 2 ∈ B.
−b a a + b2 b a

1
2 MATH 417 – 2ND MIDTERM

2. (25 points) Let A = R[x] be the ring of polynomials with real

coefficients and let I ⊂ R[x] be the subset:
I = {a2 x2 + a3 x3 + · · · + an xn : n ≥ 2, ai ∈ R}.
Is it true that I is an ideal in R[x]? Justify.

Solution:

I is an ideal since:
(1) it is closed for the difference (by adding zeros, we can
assume the polynomials have the same degree):
(a2 x2 + a3 x3 + · · · + an xn ) − (b2 x2 + b3 x3 + · · · + bn xn ) =
= (a2 − b2 )x2 + (a3 − b3 )x3 + · · · + (an − bn )xm ∈ I.
(2) the product of any polynomial in I by any polynomial
p(x) = p0 + p1 x + p2 x2 + · · · pm xm ∈ R[x] is still a polynomial
in I:
(a2 x2 + a3 x3 + · · · + an xn )(p0 + p1 x + p2 x2 + · · · pm xm ) =
= a2 p0 x2 + · · · ∈ I.
 MATH 417 – 2ND MIDTERM 3

3. (25 points) Let q ∈ H be a quaternion:

q = a + xi + yj + zk
2
Show that q = −1 if and only if q is purely imaginary and has
norm 1:
q 2 = −1 ⇐⇒ q = −q̄, ||q|| = 1.
2
Hint: Recall that ||q|| = q q̄.

Solution:

Assume that q 2 = −1. Then:

1 = ||q 2 || = ||q||2 =⇒ ||q|| = 1.
and also:
1 q̄ q̄
q=− =− =− = −q̄.
q q q̄ ||q||2

Conversely, if q = −q̄ and ||q|| = 1 then:

q 2 = q(−q̄) = −q q̄ = −||q||2 = −1.
4 MATH 417 – 2ND MIDTERM

4. (25 points) (A, +, ·) be an ordered ring with identity 1 6= 0.

Show that A is not finite.

Solution:

Let A+ be the set of positive elements and assume, by con-

tradiction, that A was finite. Then A+ is also finite so it has a
maximum: a0 = max(A+ ).
Now observe that, since 1 6= 0, we have 1 > 0. But then:
a0 , 1 ∈ A+ =⇒ a0 + 1 ∈ A+ ,
and:
a0 + 1 > a0 + 0 = a0 ,
contradicting the fact that a0 was the maximum of A+ .
 MATH 417 – 2ND MIDTERM 5

5. (Extra Credit: 10 points) Let f : R3 → R3 be the map:

f (x, y, z) = (y, −x, z) + (1, 1, 0).
Show that f is a symmetry of the set:
Ω = {(n1 , n2 , n3 ) ∈ R3 : n1 , n2 , n3 ∈ Z}.

Solution:

Note that we can write f in the form:

f (x) = Ax + a,
where:  
0 1 0
A =  −1 0 0  , a = (1, 1, 0).
0 0 1
Since:   
0 −1 0 0 1 0
AT A =  1 0 0   −1 0 0  = I,
0 0 1 0 0 1
we see that A is an orthogonal matrix, so f is an isometry.

If (n1 , n2 , n3 ) ∈ Ω then:
f (n1 , n2 , n3 ) = (n1 + 1, 1 − n1 , n3 ) ∈ Ω.

Since f is an isometry and f (Ω) ⊂ Ω, we conclude that f is a

symmetry of Ω.