Mathematics for AI

Problem Set: Linear Algebra

March 02, 2023

1. Using a vector-projection approach, find the best-fitting line ŷ = Ĉ + D̂t through

(−1, 1), (0, 0), (1, 1).

(solution: Ĉ = 23 , D̂ = 0; ŷ = 32 ).

2. The table
year revenue (in millions of SAR)
0 2
1 6
2 0
4 5
gives the revenue in millions of SAR of a company X in four different years.
(a) Sketch a scatter plot of the data.
(b) Using a vector-projection approach, find a curve of the form y = C + Dt + Et2
that best fits the data.
(solution: (Ĉ, D̂, Ê) = ( 361 229 15
110 , − 220 , 44 ); ŷ =
361
110 − 229
220 t + 15 2
44 t )
(c) Compute the error that one would make if using the best-fitting parabola
determined in (b) to find the revenue of the company X in year 4.
(d) Based on (b), predict the revenue of the company X in year 5.

3. Without calculating the value of the angle θ between v = [2 1 − 1]T and w =

[3 − 4 1]T , explain whether 0 ≤ θ < π/2, or θ = π/2 or π/2 < θ ≤ π.

4. Let L be the z-axis and P the xy-plane in R3 .

a) is the union of P with L a vector space in R3 ?

1
 b) is the intersection of P with L a vector space in R3 ?

5. The least-square linear fit to three points (0, b1 ), (1, b2 ), and (2, b3 ) is C + Dt for
C = 1 and D = −2. That is, the fit is the line 1 − 2t. In this question, the goal
is to work backwards from this fit to the unknown values b = (b1 b2 b3 )T at the
coordinates t = 0, 1, 2.
a) Write down the explicit equations that b must satisfy for 1 − 2t to be the
least-squares linear fit.
b) If all the points fall exactly on the line 1 − 2t, what are the components of b?
Check that this b satisfies the normal equations.
c) More generally, if all the points (a1 , b1 ), . . . , (an , bn ) fall exactly on any straight
line, then b is a linear combination of which vectors?

Some of the following problems are chosen from Strang’s book: Introduction to Linear
Algebra, 5th International Edition, 2016, Author: Gilbert Strang, Wellesley-Cambridge
Press.