Assignment No 1 (Matrices)

1. Given the matrices

2 − 3 4  − 2 1 − 3 2 
      2 3 1 
A =  3 2 2  B =  3 4  C =  1 − 4  D =  
1 −1 3  −1 5  6  1 − 2 − 3 
     2 

Find the following matrices if they exist, or explain why they don’t exist. (I stands for an
identity matrix of the appropriate size).
(a) 3A (b) -2B (c) A + B (d) B + C (e) A + 3I (f) B + 3I (g) AB
(h) BA (i) BC (j) CD (k) A2 (l) B2 (m) (BD)2

2. (a) Suppose A and B are matrices such that both AB and BA are defined. Show
that AB and BA are both square matrices.
(b) If A and B are square matrices such that AB = BA show that (A-B)(A+B) = A2-B2.
(c) Find two 2 x 2 matrices A, B for which (A - B)(A + B) ≠ A2 - B2
(d) Prove that (A + B)2 = A2 + B2 + 2AB if and only if AB = BA
3. Let A and B be two matrices such that AB is defined. By considering the general entry in
both sides of the equation, show that A( λ B) = λ (AB) where λ is any real number.

 1 0 1 1 2   2 2 
     
4. Let A =  0 1 1  B =  2 − 2  C =  3 − 2
 1 1 2 −1 4  − 2 4 
     
Show that AB = AC and deduce that matrices cannot in general be cancelled from products.

2 1
5. Let A =   Show that A2 = A + 5I and hence find A6 as a linear combination of A and I.
3 − 1
 0 1 0
 
6. N =  0 0 1 
 0 0 0
 
2
Find N2 and N3. Show that ( I + N )(I − N + N ) = I

7. Let A and B be n x n real matrices such that A2 = I, B2 = I and (AB)2 = I. Prove that AB = BA.

8. Let A be a 2 x 2 real matrix such that AX = XA for all 2 x 2 real matrices X. Show that A = αI
for some α ∈ R .
 1 − 2 3   7 0 3
   
9. Suppose A =  4 0 1  B =  2 − 1 6
 3 2 − 1  −1 0 5
   
(a) Write down a column vector v such that Av is the second column of A.

(b) Write down a row vector v such that vB is the third row of B.

(c) Write down a column vector v such that Av is the second column of AB.

(d) Write down a row vector v such that vB is the first row of AB.

10. Find the transposes of the following matrices:

 1 − 2  2 − 5 4 3  1 4 2
     
A − 3 0  B =  − 4 6 5 5  C =  4 − 3 6 
 4 5   5 0 8 6  2 6 7
   