Student

Number

Semester 1 Assessment, 2019

School of Mathematics and Statistics
MAST10007 Linear Algebra
Writing time: 3 hours
Reading time: 15 minutes
This is NOT an open book exam
Common content with: MAST10008 Accelerated Mathematics 1
This paper consists of 6 pages (including this page)

Authorised Materials

• Mobile phones, smart watches and internet or communication devices are forbidden.

• No written or printed materials may be brought into the examination.

• No calculators of any kind may be brought into the examination.

Instructions to Students

• You must NOT remove this question paper at the conclusion of the examination.

• All questions may be attempted.

• Start each question on a new page. Clearly label each page with the number of the
question that you are attempting.

• Marks may be awarded for

– Using appropriate mathematical techniques

– Accuracy of the solution
– Justification of rules or theorems used
– Using correct mathematical notation

• The total number of marks available is 120.

Instructions to Invigilators

• Students must NOT remove this question paper at the conclusion of the examination.

• Initially students are to receive the exam paper and a 14 page script book.

This paper may be held in the Baillieu Library

Blank page (ignored in page numbering)
MAST10007 Semester 1, 2019

Question 1 (9 marks)

The following diagram refers to a section of a road network, involving intersections labelled
A, B, C and D. The number of vehicles x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 entering or exiting each road in a particular
time period is indicated.

At each intersection, the number of vehicles going in must be equal to the number of vehicles
going out.

(a) (i) Write down a linear equation for each intersection A, B, C and D.
(ii) Given that
   
1 0 0 −1 160 1 0 0 −1 160
 1 −1 0 0 240   0 1 0 −1 −80 
 0 1 −1 0 −600  ∼  0 0
   
1 −1 520 
0 0 1 −1 520 0 0 0 0 0

find the general solution of the linear system in part (i).

(iii) Determine the minimum number of each vehicle x1 , x2 , x3 and x4 in the road network.

(b) Consider the system of equations

2x + cy + 8z = 3
x + 2y + cz = 1

where c ∈ R.

(i) Explain why this system can never have a unique solution.
(ii) Find the value of c such that there are no solutions.

Page 2 of 6 pages
MAST10007 Semester 1, 2019

Question 2 (7 marks)

(a) Let B be a m × n matrix. Explain why B T B is always well defined.

(b) Let  
a b c
A = u v w
x y z
and  
2a 2b 2c
B = x − 2a y − 2b z − 2c .
u+a v+b w+c

If a, b, . . . , z ∈ R have been chosen so that det(A) = 1, calculate det(B).

(c) (i) Suppose P is a square matrix such that P 2 = P . Find the possible values of det(P ).
(ii) Specify a 2 × 2 matrix, not equal to the identity or the zero matrix, with the property
P2 = P.

Question 3 (12 marks)

(a) Let  
0 1 1 1
1 0 1 0
A=
1

1 0 0
1 0 0 0
be the adjacency matrix of a particular graph.

(i) Draw the graph corresponding to the adjacency matrix.

(ii) Without doing any matrix multiplication, predict the value of the entry of A4 in row
1 and column 4. Explain your reasoning.

(b) Let  
0 0 1
B = 1 0 −1 .
1 1 −2

(i) Using elementary row operations, find B −1 .

(ii) Let E be the elementary matrix corresponding to swapping rows 1 and 2 in a 3 × 3
matrix. Calculate (EB)−1 .

Page 3 of 6 pages
MAST10007 Semester 1, 2019

Question 4 (10 marks)

Let a = (1, 1, 1), b = (1, −1, 1) and c = (1, −1, −1).

(a) Find the vector form of the line in the direction of c that passes through the point (0, 2, 4).

(b) Find the cartesian form of the plane that passes through the point (3, 2, 1) and contains
the vectors a and b.

(c) Calculate the area of the parallelogram specified by the vectors a and b.

(d) Calculate the volume of the parallelepiped formed by the vectors a, b and c.

Question 5 (9 marks)
 
1 −1
(a) Let B = . Let W ⊂ M2,2 be specified by
1 2

W = {A ∈ M2,2 | AB = BA}.

Use the subspace theorem to prove that W is a subspace of M2,2 .

(b) Let
V = {(x, y)|x = 2y} ∪ {(x, y)|x = −y}.
Show that V is not a subspace of R2 .

Question 6 (12 marks)

(a) Let v1 , v2 , v3 , v4 ∈ R4 . Let A be the 4 × 4 matrix whose kth column is given by [vk ].
Suppose that  
1 0 −2 0
0 1 3 0
A∼ 0 0 0 1


0 0 0 0

(i) Are v1 , v2 , v3 , v4 linearly dependent? Give a reason. If so, write one vector as a
linear combination of the other vectors.
(ii) Determine a basis for the column space of A.
 T
(iii) If Ax = 0 for x = 2 −3 1 0 , determine the solution space of A.

(b) Let
S = Span {(2, −1, 1), (3, 1, 1), (1, 2, 0)}.

(i) Calculate the dimension of S.

(ii) Describe S geometrically.

Page 4 of 6 pages
MAST10007 Semester 1, 2019

Question 7 (9 marks)

(a) Let T : R2 → R2 be a linear transformation where T (1, 0) = (1, 0) and T (0, 1) = (−2, 1).

(i) Draw a diagram to show the effect of T on the unit square with vertices (0, 0), (1, 0), (0, 1)
and (1, 1). Clearly label the image of each vertex.
(ii) Determine T 2 (1, 0) and T 2 (0, 1), where T 2 denotes the transformation T applied
twice.

(b) Consider the linear transformation S : P2 → P1 given by

S(a0 + a1 x + a2 x2 ) = (a0 + a2 ) + a1 x.

The standard bases for P2 and P1 are {1, x, x2 } and {1, x} respectively. Determine the
standard matrix representation of S.

Question 8 (13 marks)

Consider the map T : R3 → R2 given by

T (x1 , x2 , x3 ) = (x2 − 2x3 , 3x1 + x3 ).

(a) Show that T is a linear transformation by verifying the two defining properties.

(b) Determine the image of T .

(c) Find a basis for the kernel of T .

(d) Is T injective? Give a reason.

(e) Is T surjective? Give a reason.

Question 9 (7 marks)

(a) Let S denote the standard basis of R2 and let B = {b1 , b2 } be some other basis of R2 .
Suppose that √ 
1 3 √ −1
PB,S = .
2 1 3

(i) Express x = (1, 1) as a linear combination of the vectors in B.

(ii) Calculate PS,B .
(iii) Determine b1 , b2 .

(b) Let U and V be two dimensional vector spaces with bases {u1 , u2 } and {v1 , v2 } respec-
tively. If
u1 = 2v1 − v2 and u2 = v1 + v2 ,
determine PU ,V .

Page 5 of 6 pages
MAST10007 Semester 1, 2019

Question 10 (12 marks)

Consider the matrix  √ 

1 − 3
√
A= .
3 1

(a) Find the eigenvalues of A.

(b) For each eigenvalue in part (a), find a corresponding eigenvector.

(c) Is A diagonalisable over R? Give a reason.

(d) Find an invertible matrix P and a diagonal matrix D such that A = P DP −1 .

(e) Write A2 in the form A2 = V F V −1 for some diagonal matrix F and invertible matrix V .

Question 11 (11 marks)

(a) Consider the inner product R2 → R defined by

 
T 1 1
hx, yi = [x] [y].
1 2

(i) Is it possible to find a vector u ∈ R2 such that hu, ui = −1? Give a reason.
(ii) Verify that {(1, 0), (−1, 1)} is an orthonormal set with respect to this inner product.
(iii) Let z ∈ R2 . Determine the scalars α1 , α2 ∈ R in terms of the inner product, if

z = α1 (1, 0) + α2 (−1, 1).

(b) Consider the plane U spanned by the vectors (1, 1, 0) and (0, 1, 1). Using the Gram-
Schmidt procedure, find an orthonormal basis for U with respect to the dot product.

Question 12 (9 marks)

A person has three tasks to complete. Let Y denote the number of tasks that remain to be
completed after X days. The following data has been collected:

X Y
1 3
2 1
4 1

(a) Using the method of least squares, find the line of best fit to the data.

(b) Draw the line of best fit on a graph, and mark in the data points.

(c) Use your answer to estimate the number of days it will take to complete the tasks.

End of Exam—Total Available Marks = 120

Page 6 of 6 pages