Indian Institute of Technology Bombay

MA 106 Linear Algebra

Spring 2021 SRG/DP
Common Quiz 1

Date: March 24, 2021 Max. Marks: 10

Time: 8.30 AM – 9.15 AM

Q1: Consider the 4 × 5 matrix

 
1 0 2 1 a
 1 1 5 2 b 
A=
 1
,
2 8 4 12 
3 4 18 8 27
where a and b denote the last two digits of your roll number (e.g., if your roll number
is 200010059, then a = 5 and b = 9). Determine:
(i) The row canonical form of A.
(ii) The nullity of A. [3 marks]

Row Canonical form:

   
1 0 2 1 a 1 0 2 1 a
 1 1 5 2 b  R2 −R1 ,R−→
3 −R1 ,R4 −3R1
 0 1 3 1 b−a 
A=  ,
 1 2 8 4 12   0 2 6 3 12 − a 
3 4 18 8 27 0 4 12 5 27 − 3a
   
1 0 2 1 a 1 0 2 1 a
R3 −2R2 ,R4 −4R2  0 1 3 1 b−a 4 −R3  0
 R−→
  1 3 1 b−a 
−→  ,
 0 0 0 1 12 + a − 2b   0 0 0 1 12 + a − 2b 
0 0 0 1 27 + a − 4b 0 0 0 0 15 − 2b
   
1 0 2 1 a 1 0 2 1 0
R4 /(15−2b)  0 1 3 1 b−a  R1 −aR4 ,R2 −(b−a)R4 ,R3 −(12+a−2b)R4  0 1 3 1 0 
−→   −→  
 0 0 0 1 12 + a − 2b   0 0 0 1 0 
0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1
 
1 0 2 0 0
R1 −R3 ,R2 −R3  0 1 3 0 0 
−→  0 0 0 1 0 .
 

0 0 0 0 1
 Nullity= n-r = 1.
Q2: Let r1 , . . . , r6 denote the last six digits of your roll number (so that r6 is the
last digit, r5 the second last digit, and so on). Consider the matrices
 
r1
 r2 
 
 r3 
a=   , b = [r6 r5 r4 r3 r2 r1 ] and A = ab.
 r4


 r5 
r6

of sizes 6 × 1, 1 × 6, and 6 × 6, respectively. Compute the rank of A and write down

a basis for the column space of A. [3 marks]
   
r1 r1 r6 r1 r5 r1 r4 r1 r3 r1 r2 r1 r1
 r2   r2 r6 r2 r5 r2 r4 r2 r3 r2 r2 r2 r1 
   
 r3   r3 r6 r3 r5 r3 r4 r3 r3 r3 r2 r3 r1 
 r4  [r6 r5 r4 r3 r2 r1 ] =  r4 r6
   
   r4 r5 r4 r4 r4 r3 r4 r2 r4 r1 

 r5   r5 r6 r5 r5 r5 r4 r5 r3 r5 r2 r5 r1 
r6 r6 r6 r6 r5 r6 r4 r6 r3 r6 r2 r6 r1

Rank A = 1, and any nonzero column is a basis for column space of A.

 Q3. Let V denote the subspace of R1×4 spanned by a1 , a2 and a3 , where

a1 = [−1 0 1 2] , a2 = [3 4 − 2 5] , and a3 = [1 4 0 9] .

Find the dimension of V . Further let A be the 3 × 4 matrix whose row vectors given
by a1 , a2 and a3 , and let c be the 3 × 1 column vector
 
0
c = a ,

b

where a and b denote the last two digits of your roll number (e.g., if your roll number
is 200010059, then a = 5 and b = 9). Then determine if the linear system Ax = c
has (i) no solution, (ii) unique solution, or (iii) infinitely many solutions. [4 marks]

Solution Since 2a1 + a2 = a3 , and since a1 and a2 are not multiple of each other,
dim(V ) = 2.

Apply Elementary Row operations on the Augmented matrix for Ax = c:

 
−1 0 1 2 0
 3 4 −2 5 a 
1 4 0 9 b
   
−1 0 1 2 0 −1 0 1 2 0
R2 +3R1 ,R3 +R1 R3 −R2
−→  0 4 1 11 a  −→  0 4 1 11 a 
0 4 1 11 b 0 0 0 0 b−a

Conclusion:
(i) No solution if a 6= b. (ii) Infinitely many solutions if a = b. (iii) Unique solution
never happens.