CorePure1 Chapter 6 ::

Matrices
jfrost@tiffin.kingston.sch.uk
www.drfrostmaths.com
@DrFrostMaths

Last modified: 14th September 2018

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Chapter Overview
Those who have done either IGCSE Further Mathematics would have encountered some of this
content. Otherwise it will be completely new!

1:: Understand matrices and 2:: Multiply Matrices

perform basic operations  “Given that and , determine the matrix .”
(adding, scalar multiplication)

3:: Find the determinant or 4:: Solve simultaneous equations using matrices.
inverse of a matrix.
 “Use matrices to solve the following
 “If , determine .” simultaneous equations:

Teacher
  Notes: The matrices chapter from the old FP1 has largely been
split into two, with the latter half (Chapter 7) dedicated to transformations.
matrices from the old FP3 has been moved here. There is some new
discussion about the consistency of systems of equations.
Introduction
1 0 −2
A matrix (plural: matrices) is simply an ‘array’ of numbers, e.g.   (3 3 0 )
On a simple level, a matrix is just a way to organise values into rows and columns, and represent
these multiple values as a single structure.

But the power of matrices comes from them representing linear transformations/functions (which
we will particularly see in Chapter 7). We can
1. Represent linear transformations using matrices (e.g. rotations, reflections and enlargements)
2. Use them to solve linear simultaneous equations.

Matrices are particularly useful in

3D graphics, as matrices can be
used to carry out
rotations/enlargements (useful for
changing the camera angle) or
project into a 2D ‘viewing’ plane.
 (Just for Fun) Using matrices to represent data
This is a scene from the film Good Will?Hunting.
Maths professor Lambeau poses a “difficult”* problem for his graduate students from
algebraic graph theory, the first part asking for a matrix representation of this graph. Matt
Damon anonymously solves the problem while on a cleaning shift.

  an ‘adjacency matrix’, the

In
number in the th row and th
column is the number of
edges directly connecting
node (i.e. dot) to dot

?
* It really isn’t.
 (Just for Fun) Using matrices to represent data
In my 4th year undergraduate dissertation, I used matrices to help ‘learn’ mark schemes from
GCSE biology scripts*. Matrix algebra helped me to initially determine how words (and more
complex semantic information) tended to occur together with other words.

* Shameless Brag Opportunity: I won the “Best

Undergraduate Dissertation Prize” for this!
(Just for Fun) And matrices in Statistics…
In Stats Year 2, you have/will come across the Normal Distribution, where you need
to specify the variance. This can be extended to 2D (and beyond) by using a
“covariance matrix”, where each number in the matrix gives the extent to which each
axis varies with each other.

1D 2D
Matrix Fundamentals
#1 Dimensions of Matrices
The dimension of a matrix is its size, in terms of its number of
rows and columns (in that order).

Matrix Dimensions

 
2 ×3

 
3 ×1
?

 
1× 3
?
Matrix Fundamentals
#2 Notation/Names for Matrices
A matrix can have square or curvy brackets*.

Matrix Column Vector Row Vector

A matrix with one column is simply a vector in the usual sense!

* The textbook only uses curvy.

Matrix Fundamentals
#3 Variables for Matrices
If the value of a variable is a matrix, we use bold, capital letters
(In contrast, vectors use bold, lowercase letters)

 
1
𝐀= 6
−3 ( )
Matrix Fundamentals
#4 Adding/Subtracting Matrices
Simply add/subtract the corresponding elements of each matrix.
They must be of the same dimension.

?
Matrix Fundamentals
#5 Scalar Multiplication
A scalar is a number which can ‘scale’ the elements inside a matrix.
 Fro Side Note: You
first encountered
this at GCSE, in the
1 ? context of vectors.
is the vector
‘scaled’ by the
scalar 3.

2 ?

3 ?
Matrix Fundamentals
#6 Special Matrices
A matrix is square if it has the same number of rows as columns.

  3 1 4
 1
(3
2
4 ) ( 2
−3
2
4
5
3 )
A zero matrix is one in which all its elements are 0. The dimensions are usually
clear from the context.

  0 0 0
𝟎= 0
0( 0
0
0
0 )
  identity matrix is a square matrix which has 1’s in the ‘leading diagonal’ (starting
A
top-left) and 0 elsewhere. Again, the dimensions depend on the context.

  1 0 0 We will see the significance of

𝐈= 0
0( 1
0 1 )
0 ,𝐈=
1
0 ( 0
1 ) the identity matrix when we
cover matrix multiplication
imminently.
Exercise 6A
Pearson Pure Mathematics Year 1/AS
Pages 97-99

(Classes in a rush could probably get away with skipping this exercise)
Matrix Multiplication

Now repeat the process with the first row and second column.

Now repeat for the next row of the left matrix...

1 0 3 -2 5 1 -11 16
2 8 4 3
7 -1 0 2
1
0
7
3
 
¿ 42 61
8 -3 50 -6

 We start with the first row and first column, and sum the products of each pair.

In Chapter 9 (Vectors), you will see that this is finding the “dot/scalar product”
of the two vectors.
 
Matrix Multiplication involving

 We earlier saw the identity matrix . What do you notice about…

 
1 0 3 2 3? 2
( )( ) ( ) =
0 1 1 0 1? 0
 In general for all matrices .

 So the identity matrix is a bit like the ‘1’ of matrix multiplication,
e.g. ; multiplying by 1 has no effect, and multiplying by has no effect.

For this reason, is known as the ‘identity’ of multiplication over numbers.

And is known as the ‘identity’ of addition over numbers, given that
for all .
Test Your Understanding

  1 2 3 = 1
a ( 3 4 )( −1 ) ()
?5

  1 2 2 0 −1 = 8 4 1
b ( 3 4 )( 3 2 1 ) (
18
?8 1 )
1 2 72
10
 
1 ?
()
  N2
c ( 3 4
= ) (
15? 22 ) ( 1 2 3 ) 2 =( 14 )
N3
3 ?
N1
?
Matrix Fundamentals
#7 Matrix Multiplication
Matrix multiplications are not always valid: the dimensions have to agree.

Dimensions of Dimension of Dimensions of (if valid)

23 34 24 ?
13 23 Not valid. ?
62 24 64 ?
13 31 11 ?
75 75 Not valid.
?
10  10 10  9 10  9 ?
33 33 33 ?

Note that only square matrices (i.e. same width as height) can be raised to a power.
Exercise 6B
Pearson Pure Mathematics Year 1/AS
Pages 101-103
Determinant of a matrix
In Chapter 7, you will see that matrices can be thought of as a function
that can transform a point, eg:
 1 2
(3 4 )
  1 2 1 3 (3,7)
 
( 3 4 )( ) ( )
1
=
7
(1,1)
 
A question might naturally be whether there is an ‘inverse
function/transformation’ that can retrieve the original point: (3,7)
 

  ? ? 3 1
( ? ? )( ) ( )
7
=
1 (1,1)
 
 ? ?
(? ) ?
 This matrix would be known as the inverse of .

 
With quadratics, we used to the word ‘discriminant’ for because it ‘discriminates’
between the different cases of 0, 1, 2 roots.
Analogously, the ‘determinant’ or for a matrix ‘determines’ whether it has an inverse of
not.
Determinants
  The determinant of a matrix is

 If , then is a singular matrix and it does not have an inverse.

 If , then is a non-singular matrix and it has an inverse.

Quickfire Questions:

1
-2
?
-2
3 ?
3
-2
?
-2
?
Test Your Understanding So Far
 [Textbook]

Given that is singular, find the value of .

 
?

Edexcel FP1(Old) Jan 2010 Q5

?
?
  
Determinants of matrices

(note the minus for

  𝑎 𝑏 𝑐 the middle one)

| 𝑑
𝑔
𝑒
h |
𝑓 =𝑎
𝑖
𝑎
𝑒
| | |
h
 
𝑓
𝑖
−𝑏
𝑑
𝑔
𝑏
 
𝑓
𝑖
+𝑐
𝑑
| |
𝑔
𝑐
 
𝑒
|
h

3 1 4
|2 2 5
−3 4 3
=3
2 5
4 3
−1
| 2 5
?
−3 3
+4
2 2
| | | | |
−3 4 |
Test Your Understanding
 
Determine .

det ( 𝐴 )=1 ( 10+48 ) −2? ( 8−6 ) +0 ( 32+5 )

 

 where is a constant.
Given that is singular, find the possible values of .

 
If singular, .
Solving:
?
Minors
 The minor of an element in a matrix is the determinant of the matrix that remains
after the row and column containing that element have been crossed out.

 Minor of 0:

?
  1 2 0
( 4
−1
5
8
−6
2 )  Minor of -6:

 Minor of 5:

?
Exercise 6C
Pearson Pure Mathematics Year 1/AS
Pages 106-108
 
Inverting a matrix
  earlier saw that the inverse of a matrix (written ) ‘undoes’ the effect of the
We
matrix. Thus:
?
as multiplying something by a matrix followed by its inverse has no overall effect
(i.e. the same as the identity matrix).

 ! If then

• is the ‘inverse’ of , so that if ,

Practising the Inverse

  1
 
𝑎 −
 
 
𝑏 Click to
𝑎𝑑 − 𝑏𝑐 −  𝑐 𝑑
    Froinverse

Divide by Swap NW-SE Make SW-NE

determinant. elements. elements negative.
Test Your Understanding
 
?

For what value of is singular? Given is not this value, find the
inverse. ?

? ?
Matrix Proofs Involving Inverse Exam Note: I couldn’t find
any (old spec) FP1
questions of this type.

 If and are non-singular matrices, prove that

 Let then
Fro
  Tip: You can rid of a matrix at the
front of the expression by multiplying
? the front of each side of the equation
by (to get ). You can similarly remove an
at the end by multiplying the end of
each side by .

 If and are non-singular matrices such that , prove that

𝐵𝐴𝐵=𝐼
 

?
Exercise 6D
Pearson Pure Mathematics Year 1/AS
Pages 110-111
Matrix Transpose
 !
is the transpose of a matrix , where the rows and columns are interchanged.
e.g. . An matrix becomes .

(Far beyond understanding

required for exam)
 Why transpose?

It is hard to have an exact conceptual sense of what the matrix transpose is.
But it allows a degree of algebraic manipulation:

When we multiply matrices we’re doing something called the ‘dot product’ (CP
Year 2) of each row of the first matrix and each column of the second.

Suppose we found the dot product of two vectors and and transformed the
first using a matrix :

If we wanted to transform the second vector instead, we’d have to use the
transpose of instead to end up with the same dot product:
e.g.
 
This has a number of practical consequences.
 
Inversing a matrix
 If , find .

The method we previously used was a specific case of a more general method
which can be used for matrices of any size:

 ! Step 1: Find det

  ( 𝑨 )=4 −6=− 2

 ! Step 2: Form a matrix of

Recap: The minor of each element
in a matrix is the determinant of
 1
(3 ) 2
4 ( 4 ¿ )
minors, the remaining matrix when the The
  minor of 1 is 4 because
row and column are crossed out. the determinant of is 4.

 𝑴 = 4 3
(2 ? )
1
!  Step 3: Form a matrix of A cofactor by definition is ‘a signed minor’.
cofactors,
We simply apply signs to each minor using
the following alternating pattern: (+ top left)
( +¿¿− +¿ )
 𝑴 = 4 3 4 −3
(2 ) 1
  =
𝑪
( −2 ? 1 )
 ! Step 4:  𝑨− 𝟏=− 1 4 −2
2 −3 ( 1 )
 
Inversing a matrix
 If , find .

 ! Step 1: Find det

  ( 𝑨 )=1 ( 1 ) −3 ( −2?) +1 ( −8 ) =−1

  1 −2 −8 Fro Tip: Note we’ve

!  Step 2: Form a matrix of
minors,
𝑴= 1
(
−1
−2
?1
−7
4 ) already found the top
row from above.

1 2 −8
!  Step 3: Form a matrix of
cofactors,
 
(
𝑪= −1
−1
−2
?
−1
7
4 )  
¿
  1 −1 −1 −1 1 1
 ! Step 4: 𝑨 −1
=
1
−1 ( 2
−8
−2
7
−1 = −2
4 8 )(
? 2
−7
1
−4 )
Doing with your Classwiz
 If , find .

 1. Mode  Matrix.

2. Select . This allows you to input your matrix, which will be saved
in a special variable ‘’.
3. Select 3 rows/cols and input each number, pressing = after each.
4. Press AC to start a calculation.
5. You want to write . To get the in your expression: OPTN for the
matrix menu, then select to insert it into your expression.
Use the special key on your calculator, because the general
power button will not work in matrix mode.
6. Press =, and look appropriately smug.
Further Example
 , and the matrix is such that .
(a) Show that .
(b) Find .

a  If then and hence .

?

?
Test Your Understanding

?
Exercise 6E
Pearson Pure Mathematics Year 1/AS
Pages 115-116
Frost Life StoriesTM
In the game Assassin’s Creed II, you encounter a variety of concentric ring picture
puzzles, which upon successfully completing, you unlock a segment of a secret video.
Rings are connected in pairs, and must be rotated together in their pairs. The aim is to
form a complete picture. Different possible pairs can be selected, for example, where
there just 3 rings, you could rotate A and B together, B and C together or C and A
together.
Only certain pairings are available.

Because I got stuck on one (this was back in

my uni days) and because I’m incredibly
uncool, I formed simultaneous equations
and used a matrix inverse to solve them,
which therefore told me how many times
to rotate each pair.

We’ll see how we can do this.

Using Matrices For Simultaneous Equations
 ! If then

 [Textbook] Use an inverse matrix to solve the simultaneous equations:

 We can write using a matrix multiplication:

If we multiplied out the LHS it’s easy
?
Find inverse of LHS matrix: to see this gives us the equations in
the original question.

Use your calculator to find this directly.

?

?
Calculator Tip: You could check your answer
using the simultaneous equation solver.
Forming the equations yourself
[Textbook] A colony of 1000 mole-rats is made up of adult males, adult
females and youngsters. Originally there were 100 more adult females
than adult males.
After one year:
• The number of adult males had increased by 2%
• The number of adult females had increased by 3%
• The number of youngsters had decreased by 4%
• The total number of mole-rats had decreased by 20
Form and solve a matrix equation to find out how many of each type of
mole-rat were in the original colony.

  number of adult males

Let
number of adult females
number of youngsters “1000 mole-rats”

? “Originally 100 more adult females than adult males”

? “Total mole-rats after 1 year decreased by 20.”
?
 
100 adult males, 200 adult females, 700 youngsters in the
?
original colony.
Consistency of linear equations
From Pure Year 1 you are already familiar with the idea that the solution of a system of two
equations (with two unknowns) can be visualised by finding the point of intersection of two lines.
A system of linear equations is known as consistent if there is at least one set of values that
satisfies all the equations simultaneously (i.e. at least one point of intersection).

 
𝑥+2 𝑦=1  
𝑥−3 𝑦 =1  
𝑥−3 𝑦 =1
=0 𝑦 =1
 𝑥 + 2 𝑦 3 =1
𝑦 = 13  𝑥 − 𝑥  − =2 3 𝑦 2
3 𝑦 𝑥  − − 6 𝑦 =
𝑥  − 2  𝑥

 
System of equations  
System of equations  
System of equations
is consistent. It has is inconsistent. It is consistent. It has
one solution. has no solutions. infinitely many
The corresponding solutions.
matrix is non- Matrix is singular.
singular. Matrix is singular.
Extending consistency to 3 variables
 In Chapter 9 you will learn that just as gives the equation of a straight line, gives the
equation of a plane.
Again, we get solutions to the system of linear equations when all of the planes intersect:

Scenario 1: Planes all Scenario 2: Planes Scenario 3: Planes Scenario 4: Two of

meet at a single point. form a sheaf. form a prism. more planes parallel
System of equations They have a line of While planes intersect and non-identical.
consistent, and one intersection consisting in pairs, they don’t all Again, inconsistent, as
solution. of infinitely many intersect at any point. the parallel planes
points. System of System of equations is never intersect, and
equations consistent inconsistent. thus all equations
and infinitely many can’t be satisfied.
solutions. Any rows in the corresponding matrix which
are multiples of each other will be parallel.
Extending consistency to 3 variables
 In Chapter 9 you will learn that just as gives the equation of a straight line, gives the
equation of a plane.
Again, we get solutions to the system of linear equations when all of the planes intersect:

Scenario 5: Planes
represented by equations
are equivalent.
System of equations
consistent, and infinitely
many solutions.
Example
 [Textbook] A system of equations is shown below:

For each of the following values of , determine whether the system of equations is
consistent or inconsistent. If the system is consistent, determine whether there is a
unique solution or an infinity of solutions. In each case, identify the geometric
configuration of the plane corresponding to each value of .
(a) (b) (c)

Remember that the system of equations is consistent if the

corresponding matrix is non-singular, i.e. its determinant is non-0.

a : 
Matrix non-singular so a unique solution, i.e. planes meet at single point.
?
Example
 [Textbook] A system of equations is shown below:

For each of the following values of , determine whether the system of equations is
consistent or inconsistent. If the system is consistent, determine whether there is a
unique solution or an infinity of solutions. In each case, identify the geometric
configuration of the plane corresponding to each value of .
(a) (b) (c)

b  :
If the matrix is singular,
the system of equations
could still be consistent:
recall that we might have
a sheaf (i.e. planes
intersect at a line) or
? so system is consistent and
Equations (4) and (5) are consistent equations represent same
has an infinity of solutions. Planes meet at a sheaf. plane.
Eliminate one of the
variables. If resulting two
equations are consistent,
then system will be
consistent.
Test Your Understanding
 The system of equations is consistent and has a single solution. Determine the
possible values of .

 
To have a solution, we require that , thus .
?
Exercise 6F
Pearson Pure Mathematics Year 1/AS
Pages 120-121