LINEAR ALGEBRA

IMPA - SUMMER 2016

INSTRUCTOR: EMANUEL CARNEIRO

Exam 1 - January 19th, 2016 - Duration: 3h

Problem 1. [10 points]
Assign TRUE (T) or FALSE (F) to the items below. No justification is needed.
Each correct answer is worth +1 point. Each wrong answer is worth -1 point. You
can leave one or more items in blank (worth 0 point) if you wish.
( ) The set {(1, 2, 3), (1, −4, 1), (−1, 16, 3)} is a basis of R3 .
( ) Let V be a vector space (not necessarily finite dimensional) over a field F.
Let S ⊂ V be a linearly independent set. There exists a basis B of V that
contains S.
( ) The set S = {(z1 , z2 ) ∈ C2 ; z13 = z23 } is a finite union of subspaces of C2
(seen as a vector space over C).
( ) The real vector space of multilinear and alternating forms f : R7 ×R7 ×R7 →
R has dimension 35.
( ) Let f be a (real-valued) multilinear and alternating form on Rn × Rn ×
. . . × Rn (with n copies). Then f is a multiple of the determinant.
( ) Let V = {a + bx + cx2 + dx3 ; a, b, c, d ∈ R} be the vector space of real
polynomials of degree at most 3. Let S ⊂ V be the subspace formed by the
polynomials P ∈ V such that
Z 1
P (x)(x2 + 1) dx = 0.
−1
3
The set {x, x } is a basis of S.
( ) Let F = Z5 be the field with 5 elements. There are 53 (53 − 1)(53 − 5)
surjective linear transformations T : F3 → F3 .
( ) The matrices
 
1 2 0 −1  
 5 4 1 0  1 2 1 0
T =  −1 0 3 2  .
 3 0 1 2  and S =

−1 4 11 6
1 1 0 0
have the same rank.

Date: 19 de janeiro de 2016.

2000 Mathematics Subject Classification. XX-XXX.
Key words and phrases. XXX-XXX.
1
2 EMANUEL CARNEIRO

( ) Let V be a finite dimensional vector space over a field F with dim V = n. Let
B = {α1 , α2 , . . . , αn } be a base of V , and consider the linear transformation
T : V → V such that T (αj ) = αj+1 for j = 1, 2, . . . , n − 1 and T (αn ) = 0.
Then T n = 0 but T n−1 6= 0.
( ) In the previous item, let n = 4. The matrix that represents the operator
A = T + I in the base B = {α1 , α2 , α3 , α4 } is
 
1 0 0 0
 1 1 0 0 
T =  0 1 1 0 


0 0 1 1
Note: I denotes the identity operator.
Problem 2. [5 points]
Let V be a finite dimensional vector space over a field F with dim V = n.
(i) Let V1 and V2 be subspaces of V . Prove that
dim(V1 ∩ V2 ) = dim V1 + dim V2 − dim(V1 + V2 )
(ii) Let S ⊂ V be a subspace with dim S = k < n. For each r ∈ N with
1 ≤ r ≤ n − k, prove that S is the intersection of m subspaces of V , each
with dimension n − r, for some m ∈ N.
(iii) If n = 2016, k = 1000 and r = 5, what is the minimum value of m in item
(ii)? Justify your answer.

Problem 3. [5 points]
In the Euclidean space R3 consider the ellipsoid:
2x21 + 3x22 + 4x23 = 1.
Does there exist a 2-dimensional subspace of R3 which intersects the ellipsoid in a
circle? If no, justify your answer. If yes, give an example and justify.

Problem 4. [5 points]
(i) Let A and B be real n × n matrices. Prove that tr(AB) = tr(BA) (recall
that the trace of a matrix CP
= [Cij ]1≤i,j≤n is the sum of the entries of the
n
main diagonal, i.e. tr(C) = i=1 cii ).
(ii) Let S be the subspace of Mn×n (the space of n × n real matrices) generated
by the matrices of the form AB − BA, with A, B ∈ Mn×n . Find the
dimension of S (with proper justification).
Problem 5. [5 points]
Let M7×7 denote the vector space of real 7 × 7 matrices. Let A be a diagonal
matrix in M7×7 that has +1 in four diagonal positions and −1 in three diagonal
positions. Define the linear operator T on M7×7 by T (X) = AX − XA. What is
the dimension of the range of T ?
IMPA - Estrada Dona Castorina, 110, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil 22460-320
E-mail address: carneiro@impa.br