UNIT 2: Linear systems, matrices and determinants.

Exercise 1. Given the matrices    

2 1 −1 1 −1
A= and B=
1 0 −1 2 5
find, if possible, A · B and B · A.
Exercise 2. Determine the rank of the following matrix:
 
1 3 1 0
 2 −1 1 1 
A=
 −1

11 1 −2 
−1 1 1 3

Exercise 3. Find the inverse of the following matrix, if it exists:

 
1 3 4
P =  −2 −5 −3 
1 4 10

Exercise 4. Given the matrix  

−2 4 2 1
 4 2 1 −2 
A= 
 2 1 −2 4 
1 −2 4 2
calculate, if possible, A2 and A−1 .
Exercise 5. (a) Let A, B ∈ Mn (R) be two given symmetric matrices such that also AB is symmetric. Show that
AB = BA.
−1 t
(b) Let A ∈ Mn (R) be a non-singular (invertible) matrix. Prove that (At ) = (A−1 ) .
Exercise 6. For each of the following matrices A ∈ Mn (R), find the values of x that solve the equation |A − xI| = 0, and
then use them to factorize the polynomial p(x) = |A − xI| in the form

p(x) = a (x − x1 )n1 (x − x2 )n2 . . . (x − xk )nk

where a ∈ R, x1 , . . . , xk ∈ C and n1 + n2 + . . . + nk = n with ni ≤ 1.

 
        1 1 0 0
−1 0 0 3 −1 0 8 2 1 4 −1 −1
1   0 1 1 0 
 3 1 0 ,  0 2 0 , 1 7 3 ,  2 1 −1  , 
 1

10 0 0 1 
4 3 −3 1 −1 3 1 1 6 1 2 −1
0 0 1 1

Exercise 7. Consider the following two linear equations:


2x − 3y + 4z = 1
4x + 3y + 3z = 3

(a) Write an additional linear equation so that the resulting system is inconsistent.
(b) Write an additional linear equation so that the resulting system is consistent underdetermined.
(c) Write an additional linear equation so that the resulting system is consistent, uniquely determined.
Exercise 8. Determine if the following system is consistent. If so, solve it.

 4x − 3y + 3z = 0
6x + y − 9z = 9
2x − 5y − 6z = 5


Exercise 9. Solve the following linear systems:

 
 2x − 4y
 = −10 
 2x − 4y = −8
x − 3y + t = −4 x − 3y + t = −2
 

 x − z + 2t = 4 
 x − z + 2t = 9
3x − 4y + 3z − t = −11 3x − 4y + 3z − t = −15
 

1
Exercise 10. Solve the following linear systems using Gauss-Jordan elimination.
 
 x − 2y + z = 7  x + 3y − z + t = 1
2x − 5y + 2z = 6 −2x + y + 2z = 7
3x + 2y − z = 1 y − t = 0
 

Exercise 11. Find the coefficients of a polynomial p(x) of degree 3, whose graph goes through the points (−1, 0), (1, 4),
(2, 3) and (3, 16).
 
−1 2
Exercise 12. Determine which matrices in M2 (R) commute with A = .
2 0
Exercise 13. Solve the linear system

 x − y + 2z = α
−3x + (α + 3)y + (β − 8)z = 1 − 3α
5x + (2α − 5)y + (α + 2β + 6)z = 5α + 2


depending on the values of the real parameters α and β.

Exercise 14. Find the values of the real parameter α for which the following linear system is consistent and undetermined.
For such values of α, solve the system.

 (α + 3)x − y + z = 0
5x + (α − 3)y + z = 0
6x − 6y + (α + 4)z = 0


Exercise 15. Consider three bars of 100 g, whose compositions (in grams) are given in the following chart:
Gold Silver Cupper
Bar 1 20g 30g 50g
Bar 2 30g 40g 30g
Bar 3 40g 50g 10g
How much weight of each bar should be taken to make a new bar with 42 g of gold, 57 g of silver and 51 g of
cupper?
Exercise 16. An aeronautic company has 10 airplanes destined to charter flights for managers of large companies and
sports teams. Its planes are of three types: model A is a reactor with a capacity for 30 passengers and whose
crew consists of 3 pilots; the model B is a twin-engine turboprop with capacity for 20 passengers and its
crew consists of 2 pilots; model C is a small taxi-plane with capacity for 4 passengers and a pilot. Yesterday
morning all the planes took off full, and there were 140 passengers and 17 pilots. How many aircrafts of each
model has the company?

Exercise 17. A company has purchased a batch of material for the production of its products, consisting of iron, steel and
zinc for an amount of 50000$ (without taxes). The value of zinc it is 6000$ less than iron and steel together.
Considering that iron pay with a surcharge of 6% VAT (value-added taxes), steel at 12% and zinc at 30%
and the total invoice with taxes is 59240$, calculate the amount invested in each metal.
Exercise 18. A mining company has three mines with the following percentages of compositions of ore:
Nickel (Ni) % Copper (Cu) % Iron (Fe) %
Mine A 1 2 3
Mine B 2 5 7
Mine C 1 3 1
How many tons of each mine should be used to obtain 7 tons of nickel, 18 tons of copper and 16 iron?