Mathematics and Applied Mathematics

Mathematical Sciences

Study Guide

WTW 211
Linear Algebra

2022
Semester 1

© Copyright reserved
 DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS AND APPLIED MATHEMATICS

Vision

The Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics strives to be internationally

recognised for academic excellence through the depth of its research and teaching, and to
be locally relevant through its role in the development of the community it serves.

Mission

The Department is an academic unit of the University of Pretoria, entrusted with the
development of mathematical skills, knowledge and insights. Its mission is to
 be actively, visibly and notably involved in research at the forefront of the
mathematical fields in which it has strength and expertise
 offer postgraduate training, up to doctoral and postdoctoral level, in its chosen fields
of research expertise
 at undergraduate and honours level, engage in mathematical training in support of its
own and other academic programmes of the University

Through its activities, the Department intends to

 contribute to the deep understanding of complex mathematical structures and their
applications
 deliver graduates with considerable mathematical skills and the desire to be involved
in problem solving
 intellectually and materially enhance the community and South African society by its
relevant research outputs and involvement in projects that depend on its
mathematical expertise
 ORGANISATION

1. Prerequisites
For admittance to this module, you must have a pass in WTW 124.

2. Textbook
Linear Algebra, A Modern Introduction by David Poole, 4th edition, BROOKS/COLE Cen-
gage Learning, 2015

3. Lecturers
Dr SY Madanha (Module Coordinator) Botany Building 2-18 sesuai.madanha@up.ac.za
Dr TT Le Botany Building 2-14 tung.le@up.ac.za
Dr Dr AJ van Zyl Mathematics Building 2-26 gusti.vanzyl@up.ac.za
4. Course Administrator
Ms Tamaryn du Preez Mathematics Building 2-6 tamaryn.dupreez@up.ac.za

All administrative queries related to absence from tests, marks, exam entrance, ClickUP
etc. should be directed to Ms Tamaryn du Preez.

5. Lectures
See ClickUP.

6. Announcements
Announcements will be made on the WTW 211 ClickUP website. The announcements may
also be repeated in the lectures and tutorial classes. It is important that you check your UP
e-mail address at least once a day.

7. Evaluation
The examination and test instructions in the yearbook must be followed meticulously.

(a) Material for tests and the exam

Material for tests and the exam will be posted on ClickUP. In the tests and the exam,
there will be a mixture of questions designed to test the following aspects:
(1) Your understanding of basic ideas, definitions and theory;
(2) Your ability to perform routine calculations and prove assigned theorems;
(3) The depth of your understanding of the module material by proving new results
and/or solving new problems;
(4) Your ability to write mathematics correctly and clearly.
(b) Absence from tests
You must notify the Module Administrator within three days of the semester test if
you were absent due to illness or some other valid reason. You must present convincing
proof of the reason for your absence, for example a medical certificate.
Valid original sick notes are accepted if issued by a medical doctor registered at the
Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA). The only other type of sick note
that is accepted are those issued by an Advanced Practice Nurse (a registered nurse with
a postgraduate qualification) as determined by the South African Nursing Council who
has a BHCF practice number, provided that the diagnosis falls only within their specific
field of specialisation. An affidavit will only be accepted if supported by substantiating
documentation, e.g. case report or criminal charge with case number obtained from a
police station, valid medical certificate for injuries, a death certificate for a funeral, etc.
Please note that submission of fraudulent sick notes and affidavits is a criminal offense,
which will lead to disciplinary action and may result in dismissal.
If you miss a semester test (and you have an acceptable excuse) then you may write
the sick test towards the end of the semester. The scope of this test will consist of the
combined scopes of the first and second semester tests.
In the case of the exam, the relevant faculty office should be informed of the absence.
(c) Disciplinary cases
The policy of the Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics is to refer all
cases where there is even the slightest suspicion of dishonesty, without exception, to the
university’s disciplinary committee.
(d) Semester test dates
The semester test dates will be available on the UP Website and may also be announced
in class and/or on ClickUP.
(e) Tutorials
In preparation for each tutorial class, you are expected to:
(i) Prepare the theoretical part thoroughly before the tutorial class.
(ii) Do all the relevant exercises for the tutorial class beforehand and use the tutorial
class itself to sort out any problems.
Tutorial attendance is compulsory. Once you sign up for a tutorial session, you will
attend that session every week on Hatfield campus.
There will be at least one graded assessment every week. Provisional possible assess-
ments to take place within a tutorial:
1. Homework: Select set of exercises from the textbook to be submitted at the start of
the tutorial.
2. Tutorials: Set of problems to be completed in the tutorial and submitted at the end
of the tutorial.
3. Class tests: A short test to take place during the tutorial on WTW211 work.
NB: This may change due to unforeseen circumstances, eg. if lockdown level
changes. Such change will be announced on ClickUP.
 Late registration or missing tutorials will negatively influence your semester mark. Take
note that all tutorial queries must be reviewed and handled by your tutor leader. Tuto-
rial queries must be lodged within the tutorial that scripts are distributed. Late tutorial
queries will be ignored.
(f) Semester marks
The provisional semester mark is calculated as follows:
Semester test 1: 35 %
Semester test 2: 35 %
Homework, class tests, tutorials: 30 %
Total: 100 %
This may change due to unforeseen circumstances, ie. if lockdown level changes. If you
submitted necessary documents for admittance to the sick test, the mark you obtain for
the sick test will be substituted. The sick test can only replace only one semester
test.
(g) Examination admission
In order to be admitted to the exam, you must obtain a semester mark of at least 40%.
(h) Final mark
The provisional final mark is calculated as follows:
Semester mark: 60 %
Exam mark: 40 %
Total: 100 %
This may change due to unforeseen circumstances, ie. if lockdown level changes. In
order to pass the course, a final mark of 50% as well as an exam mark of at least 40%
is required.
(i) Supplementary exam
A supplementary exam is granted if a student has a final mark of between 40% and
49%, and either a semester mark or an exam mark of more than 50%, or if a
student has a final mark of 50% or more, but an exam mark of less than 40%.
FLY@UP encourages students to make use of the available UP resources in order to finish their
degrees in the shortest possible time.

 Think carefully before dropping modules (after the closing date for amendments or
cancellation of modules).
 Make responsible choices with your time and work consistently.
 Aim for a good semester mark. Don’t rely on the examination to pass.

Faculty student advisors Library

www.library.up.ac.za

Student Provides counselling and therapeutic 012 420 2333

Counselling Unit support to students.
SA Depression and Offers two 24-hour telephonic counselling 0800 747 747
Anxiety Group and referrals to traumatised staff and
(SADAG) students.
AMATO Counselling of vulnerable women that find 079 919 4948/084 740 5418 (for
themselves in a pregnancy crisis. emergencies after hours)
Student Health Promotes and assists students with health 012 420 5233/3423
Services and wellness.
The Careers Office Provides support for UP students and careerservices@up.ac.za
graduates as they prepare for their careers. 012 420 2315

Department of 24-hour Operational Management Centre 012 420-2310 / 012 420-2760.

Security Services 24-hour Operational Manager cell 083 65 0476.
Crisis Line 0800 006 428
Department of Enquiries concerning studies, 012 420 2371/4001
Student Affairs accommodation, food, funds, social Roosmaryn Building, Hatfield
activities and personal problems. campus
Centre for Identifies and provides training of student 012 420 4391
Sexualities, AIDS peer counsellors.
and Gender
Disability Unit Provides specialised services to students 012 420 2064
with disabilities.
Fees and funding http://www.up.ac.za/enquiry 012 420 3111
www.up.ac.za/fees-and-funding
IT Helpdesk 012 420 3051

Green Route From 18:00 till 06:00 Security Officers are available to escort you (on foot) to
and from your residence or campus anywhere east of the Hatfield campus
through to the LC de Villiers terrain.
Departure point is next to the ABSA ATM next to the Merensky Library.
Phone the Operational Management Centre if you need a Security Officer to
fetch you from the residence to the campus.
FLY@UP | The Finish Line is Yours | www.up.ac.za/fly@up | email: fly@up.ac.za

Academic support
 LEARNING AND STUDY ACTIVITIES

1. Contact and learning time.

This module carries a weight of 12 credits, indicating that, on average, a student should spend
some 120 hours to master the required skills (including time for preparation for and writing of
tests and the examination). This means that, on average, you should devote some 8.5 hours
of study time per week to this module. The scheduled contact time is approximately 3.5
hours per week, which means that another 5 hours per week of own study time should be
devoted to the module.

2. Use of calculators
Calculators are not allowed during tests (including class tests) and exams.

3. Course Content
Linear Algebra WTW 211 is organized into the following headings: Review and inverse ma-
trices; Spanning sets and linear independence; Subspaces, dimension and rank; Introduction
to linear transformations; Eigenvalues and eigenvectors of n × n matrices; and Similarity and
Diagonalization.

The course content is the material of the textbook Poole, sections 2.1-2.3, 3.1-3.3, 3.5, 3.6,
4.1-4.4, additional class notes, as well as all preliminary material that is needed to understand
these sections.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

The learning objectives of Linear Algebra 211 include, but is not restricted to, the following:

1. Review and inverse matrices (3 12 lectures)

[Poole sections 2.1 pp.57-62, 2.2 pp. 64-76, 3.1 pp. 138-152, 3.2 pp. 154-161, 3.3 pp. 163-178
and 4.2 pp. 263-281.]
After completion of this unit, the student should be able to

(a) use the basic concepts involved in the direct solution of a system of linear equations, in-
cluding that of the elementary row operations, row equivalence of matrices, row echelon
and reduced row echelon forms, and Gauss and Gauss-Jordan elimination.
(b) define rank using the row echelon form, and apply the Rank Theorem.
(c) use the standard matrix operations such as in Theorems 3.1 and Theorem 3.2, and the
standard properties of determinants such as in Theorems 4.1-4.11.
(d) demonstrate that matrix multiplication is not commutative.
(e) review the consistency of the homogeneous system Ax = 0, introduce eigenvalues/eigenvectors
through homogeneous system [A − αIn ]x = 0.
(f) prove the relationships between the invertibility of a matrix A, the uniqueness of the
solution of Ax = b for b in Rn , the uniqueness of the solution of the system Ax = 0, the
reduced row echelon form of A, and the possibility to write A as a product of elementary
matrices.
(g) state the definitions of all the concepts appearing in the theorems in these sections, and
use the theory to solve problems as in the exercises.

Exercises: 2.1, pp. 63-64, nos. 28, 32, 38; 2.2 pp. 79-82, nos. 2, 3, 6, 8, 30, 36; 3.1 pp.
152-153, nos. 1, 5, 22, 35; 3.2 pp. 161-162, nos. 34, 36, 37, 42; 3.3, pp. 178-180, nos. 3, 6,
17, 18, 19, 44; 4.1, pp. 260, nos.1, 2, 7, 8; 4.2, pp. 281-283, nos. 2, 15, 32, 36.
2. Spanning sets and linear independence (4 21 lectures)
[Poole, Section 2.3, pp. 88-97 and class notes]
After completion of this unit, the student should be able to
(a) Demonstrate that a system Ax = b is consistent if and only if b is a linear combination
of the columns of A.
(b) define the span of a set of vectors.
(c) define what it means for a set of vectors to be linearly dependent.
(d) characterize the linear independence of a set of vectors in the “A implies B” form.
(e) prove that a set of vectors is linearly dependent if and only if at least one of the vectors
is a linear combination of the others.
(f) prove the theorem that relates the linear dependence of the columns of a matrix A to
the existence of a non-trivial solution of the equation Ax = 0.
(g) prove the theorem that relates the linear independence of the rows of a matrix A to the
rank of A.
(h) prove that a set of m vectors in Rn is linearly dependent if m > n.
(i) apply the above-mentioned theory to solve problems as in the exercises.
Exercises 2.3, pp. 97-99, Nos 2, 4, 8, 12, 17, 20, 21, 24, 29, 43, 46, 48.
3. Subspaces, basis, dimension, and rank (7 12 lectures)
[Poole, Section 3.5, pp. 191-209 and class notes]
After completion of this unit, the student should be able to
(a) prove that certain fundamental sets are subspaces of Rn , such as the span of a set of
vectors and the null space of a matrix.
(b) prove the theorem that relates the row equivalence of matrices to their row spaces.
(c) prove the theorem that states that any two bases for a subspace have the same number
of elements, by using the Overcrowding Lemma stated below.
(d) find bases for the important subspaces that are associated to every matrix: row space,
column space and null space.
(e) state and apply the Rank Theorem.
(f) prove the theorem that relates the rank of AT A to that of A, and that finds a condition
equivalent to the invertibility of AT A.
(g) prove the Fundamental Theorem of Invertible Matrices 3.27
(h) prove the theorem that states that there is exactly one way to write a vector in a
subspace S with basis B, as a linear combination of the elements of B.
(i) find the coordinates of a given vector v with respect to a given basis B.
(j) prove the Overcrowding Lemma, and the theorem following it giving various sufficient
conditions for a set to be a basism or extendable to a basis, as stated below.
(k) use the theory in this section to solve problems such as in the exercises.
(l) define the concepts of this section, such as row space, column space, null space, rank,
dimension and basis
Additional theorems (to be proved in class):
1. Overcrowding Lemma: Let W be a supspace of Rn and C = {v1 , v2 , · · · , vk } be a
subset of W . If W has a basis with m elements and k > m then C is linearly dependent.
2. Theorem: If W is an m−dimensional subspace of Rn , then:
 ˆ Any linearly independent subset of W consisting of m vectors is a basis for W .
ˆ Any subset of W consisting of m vectors which spans W is a basis for W .
ˆ Any linearly independent subset of W can be extended to a basis for W .
ˆ Every subspace of Rn has a basis.

Exercises 3.5, pp. 209-211, Nos 2-4, 6, 8, 11, 14-17, 20, 21, 25, 30, 32, 33, 38, 40, 42, 44, 46,
58, 59, 62-64.

4. Introduction to linear transformations (5 lectures)

[Poole, Section 3.6, pp. 211-223 and class notes]
After completion of this unit, the student should be able to

(a) work with common linear transformations such as rotations, reflections and projections.
(b) find the standard matrix of a given linear transformation.
(c) explain the function concepts of composition and inverse, and relate the invertibility of
a function to it being one-to-one and onto.
(d) apply the theorem on the standard matrix of a composition of linear transformations,
to problems such as in the exercises.
(e) prove the theorem on the standard matrix of the inverse of a linear transformation, and
apply it to problems such as in the exercises.

Exercises 3.6, pp. 223-225, Nos 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 12, 18, 20, 22, 24, 29, 32, 36, 40, 42, 44, 50, 53,
54.

5. Eigenvalues and eigenvectors of n × n matrices (4 lectures)

[Poole, Section 4.1, pp. 254-260, Section 4.3, pp. 292-298]
After completion of this unit, the student should be able to

(a) find the eigenvalues of matrices, and their corresponding eigenspaces and algebraic and
geometric multiplicities.
(b) prove that the eigenvalues of a triangular matrix are the entries on its main diagonal.
(c) prove that a square matrix A invertible if and only if 0 is not an eigenvalue of A.
(d) prove the theorems on the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of An , n ∈ N.
(e) prove that if the eigenvalues of a matrix are distinct then any set of corresponding
eigenvectors is linearly independent.
(f) apply the theory in this section to solve problems such as in the exercises.

Exercises 4.1, pp. 260-262, Nos 4, 6, 8, 12, 14, 16, 20, 22, 36. Exercises 4.3, pp. 298-300, Nos
2, 10, 14, 17, 18, 20, 22, 24, 25.

6. Similarity and diagonalization (3 21 lectures)

[Poole, Section 4.4, pp. 301-309]
After completion of this unit, the student should be able to

(a) state what it means for matrices A and B to be similar, and for a matrix A to be
diagonalizable.
(b) apply the equivalence class properties of similarity, as expressed in Theorem 4.21
(c) prove and apply the basic properties of similar matrices such as in Theorem 4.22.
(d) prove that an n × n matrix A is diagonalizable if and only A has n linearly independent
eigenvectors, and find the matrices that diagonalize A.
(e) prove the theorem on the linear independence of certain eigenspaces related to distinct
eigenvalues of a matrix.
(f) use the theory to explain why an n × n matrix with n distinct eigenvalues is diagonal-
izable.
(g) state and apply the inequality that relates the geometric and algebraic multiplicities of
an eigenvalue.
(h) apply the diagonalization theorem, for example to determine if a matrix is diagonaliz-
able.
(i) apply the theory in this section to examples such as in the exercises or discussed in
class.

Exercises 4.4, pp. 309-311, Nos 1, 4, 6, 8, 14, 20, 23, 28, 30, 32, 40, 42, 44, 46, 52.