THE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG

DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS

MATH2101 Linear Algebra I

Tutorial 4 solution
1. (a) Yes. As E1 and E2 are invertible, E1 E2 is also invertible and hence rank(E1 E2 ) = n.
1 0 −1 0
(b) No. For example, E1 = [ ] and E2 = [ ] are elementary, but E1 E2 = −I2 is not
0 −1 0 1
elementary.
1 0 0 1 0 1
(c) No. For example, E1 = [ ] and E2 = [ ] are elementary, but E1 E2 = [ ] is
0 −1 1 0 −1 0
not triangular.
2. (a) Yes. For any u = (u1 , u2 , u3 )T and v = (v1 , v2 , v3 )T , we have

T (u+v) = T ((u1 +v1 , u2 +v2 , u3 +v3 )T ) = (u1 +v1 , u1 +v1 +u2 +v2 , u1 +v1 +u2 +v2 +u3 +v3 )T
= (u1 , u1 + u2 , u1 + u2 + u3 )T + (v1 , v1 + v2 , v1 + v2 + v3 )T = T (u) + T (v)
and
T (cu) = T ((cu1 , cu2 , cu3 )T ) = (cu1 , cu1 +cu2 , cu1 +cu2 +cu3 )T = c(u1 , u1 +u2 , u1 +u2 +u3 )T = cT (u).
⎛1 0 0⎞
The standard matrix is (T (e1 ) T (e2 ) T (e3 )) = ⎜1 1 0⎟.
⎝1 1 1⎠
(b) No. A linear transformation must map 0 to 0, which is not the case in this part.
(c) No. T ((2, 2, 2)T ) = (4, 2)T ≠ 2(1, 1)T = 2T ((1, 1, 1)T ) and so it is not a linear transforma-
tion.
3. If T (x) = T (y), then
x = T (T (x)) − T (x) = T (T (y)) − T (y) = y.
So T is injective.
For any x ∈ R3 , we have
x = T (T (x)) − T (x) = T (T (x) − x)
since T is linear. This shows x belongs to the range of T . Thus, T is surjective.
1 1
4. (a) A = [1 0], B = [ ], C = [ ] .
1 2
T T T T
(b) We see that T ([0 1] ) = T ([1 1] ) − T ([1 0] ) = [0 −1 −1] .
⎡1 0 ⎤
⎢ ⎥
⎢ ⎥
Let A = [T (e1 ) T (e2 )] = ⎢1 −1⎥. Then T ∶ R2 → R3 can be defined by T (x) = Ax for
⎢ ⎥
⎢0 −1⎥
⎣ ⎦
all x ∈ R2 . It is easy to see that T is the required linear transformation.
5. (a) True. Note that
(AB T )((B −1 )T A−1 ) = A(B T (B −1 )T )A−1 = A(B −1 B)T A−1 = AA−1 = I.
This shows AB T has a right inverse and hence it is invertible.
(b) True. An elementary matrix is invertible. Therefore, the equation Ax = b is the same as
x = A−1 b, which shows it has a unique solution.
1 1
(c) False. Consider A = B = C = D = [1]. Then M = [ ] is non-invertible.
1 1