THE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG

DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS

MATH2101 Linear Algebra I

Tutorial 4

1. Given two n × n elementary matrices E1 and E2 , is it true that the product E1 E2 must
(a) have rank n?
(b) be elementary?
(c) be triangular?
Give your reason briefly to support your answer.
2. For each of the mapping T below,

• determine whether or not T is a linear transformation and

• if T is a linear transformation, write down its standard matrix.

(a) T ∶ R3 → R3 where T ((x, y, z)T ) = (x, x + y, x + y + z)T ;

(b) T ∶ R3 → R3 where T ((x, y, z)T ) = (2023, 0, 2101)T ;
(c) T ∶ R3 → R2 , T ((x, y, z)T ) = (xy, z)T

3. Let T ∶ R3 → R3 be a linear transformation satisfying T (T (x)) = T (x) + x for any x ∈ R3 .

Prove that T is injective and surjective.
4. Give an example for each of the following, or explain why no example exists.

(a) A matrix A such that there exist two distinct matrices B and C satisfying AB = AC = I.
T T T
(b) A linear transformation T ∶ R2 → R3 which sends [1 0] to [1 1 0] and [1 1] to
T
[1 0 −1] .

5. Prove or disprove the following.

(a) If A and B are invertible matrices of the same size, then AB T is invertible.
(b) If A is an n × n elementary matrix, then the system Ax = b has a unique solution for any
b ∈ Rn .
(c) If A, B, C and D are invertible matrices of the same size, then the block matrix defined
A B
by M = [ ] is invertible.
C D