CS101 Introduction of computing

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MTH501 - Linear Algebra FAQs By www.virtualians.pk

Question: Is there any difference between a space and a linear space and between a linear
space and a subspace, and between a space and a subspace.

Answer: Sometimes, space is used as an abbreviation for the three dimensional linear
space. If a linear space is a subset of an other linear space, one calls it a "linear subspace". But it
is still a linear space. Since any linear space is also a subspace of itself, it is also a "linear
subspace". The additional "sub" can be used to stress that something is contained in something
else.

Question: What is the major diagonal of a matrix?

Answer: The major diagonal of a matrix is the set of elements where the row number is
equal to the column number i.e. M where i=j ij In the case of the identity matrix, only the
elements on the major diagonal are set to 1, while all others are set to 0.

Question: What is the identity matrix?

Answer: The identity matrix is matrix in which has an identical number of rows and
columns. Also, all the elements in which i=j are set one. All others are set to zero.

Question: What are the advantages of using matrices?

Answer: One of the first questions asked about the use of matrices in computer animation
is why they should be used at all in the first place. Intuitively, it would appear that the overhead
of for-next loops and matrix multiplication would slow down an application. Arguments that
resolve these objections can be pointed out. These include the use of CPU registers to handle
loop counters on-board data caches to optimize memory accesses. Advantages can also be
pointed out. By following a mathematical approach to defining 3D algorithms, it is possible to
predict and plan the design of a 3D animation system. Such mathematical approaches allow for
the implementation of character animation, spline curves and inverse kinematics. However, one
objection that frequently comes up is that it would be quicker to just multiply each pair of
coordinates by the rotation coefficients for that axis, rather than perform a full vector-matrix
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multiplication. i.e. Rotation in X transforms Y and Z Rotation in Y transforms X and Z Rotation

in Z transforms X and Y

Question: What is the "order" of a matrix?

Answer: The "order" of a matrix is another name for the size of the matrix. A matrix with
M rows and N columns is said to have order m x n.

Question: In matrices, is AB = BA? (Matrix multiplication is commutative or not)

Answer: or may not be. But in general matrix multiplication is not commutative.

Question: What is the system of equation?

Answer: A system of equations is a collection of two or more equations with the same set
of unknowns. The equations in the system can be linear or non-linear.

Question: What is the system of linear equations?

Answer: A system of linear equation is a group of linear equations which have the same
set of variables.

Question: What is the solution set of the system of linear equations?

Answer: The solution set to a system of linear equation must satisfy all the equations in
the system.

Question: What is the consistency of the system of linear equations?

Answer: The equations of a linear system are consistent if they possess a common
solution, and inconsistent (no solution) otherwise.

Question: What is homogenous system of linear equations?

Answer: Let Ax = b be a system of linear equations. This system of equations is called a

homogeneous system of linear equations if and only if b = 0. The important idea behind
homogeneous systems of linear equations is that they always have at least one solution which is
called the trivial solution.

Question: What is trivial solution?

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CS101 Introduction of computing
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Answer: If a system of linear equations has origin (zero) as a solution that is called trivial
solution. The solution other than origin (zero) is called non-trivial solution.

Question: Why we use matrices to solve system of linear equations?

Answer: Many books on linear algebra will introduce matrices via systems of linear
equations. We tried a different approach. We hope this way you will appreciate matrices as a
powerful tool useful not only to solve linear systems of equations. Basically, the problem of
finding some unknowns linked to each others via equations is called a system of equations.

Question: What is a matrix?

Answer: An m×n matrix A is a rectangular array of real numbers with m rows and n
columns. (Rows are horizontal and columns are vertical.) The numbers m and n are the
dimensions of A. The real numbers in the matrix are called its entries. The entry in row i and
column j is called aij or Aij.

Question: How can we write Matrix Form of a System of Linear Equations?

Answer: An important application of matrix multiplication is this: The system of linear

equations a11x1 + a12x2 + a13x3 + . . . + a1nxn = b1 a21x1 + a22x2 + a23x3 + . . . + a2nxn =
b2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . am1x1 + am2x2 + am3x3 + . . . + amnxn = bm can be rewritten as the
matrix equation AX = B where A = a11 a12 a13 ... 1n a21 a22 a23
... a2n .... ... am1 am2 am3 . . . amn X = [x1, x2, x3, . . . ,
xn]T and B = [b1, b2, x3, . . . , bm]T

Question: What is homogenous system of linear equations?

Answer: Let Ax = b is a system of linear equations. This system is called homogeneous if

and only if b=0. The important idea behind homogeneous systems of linear equations is that they
always have at least one solution which is called the trivial solution.

Question: What is leading entry?

Answer: The first nonzero element of any row is 1. This element is called a leading 1.

Question: What is free entry?

Answer: For any nonzero row, a free entry is any nonzero entry that follows the leading
entry, that is, the free entry and the leading entry are in the same row but the free entry is a
column that comes after the leading entry column.

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CS101 Introduction of computing
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Question: What is linearly independence of vectors?

Answer: In linear algebra, a set of elements of a vector space is linearly independent if

none of the vectors in the set can be written as a linear combination of finitely many other
vectors in the set. For instance, in three-dimensional Euclidean space R3, the three vectors (1, 0,
0), (0, 1, 0) and (0, 0, 1) are linearly independent, while (2, -1, 1), (1, 0, 1) and (3, -1, 2) are not
(since the third vector is the sum of the first two). Vectors which are not linearly independent are
called linearly dependent. The columns of a square matrix A are linearly independent only if
det(A) ? 0.

Question: What is linear transformation?

Answer: A function f that maps one vector space into another vector space with the same
scalars, and satisfies f(a*x + b*y) = a*f(x)+b*f(y), is a linear transformation.

Question: Where do the zero vectors get mapped to under a linear transformation?

Answer: It may be mapped on zero but it depends on origin of the transformation.

Question: What is the scalar product of a constant and a matrix?

Answer: If [A] is n × n matrix and k is any real number, then the scalar product of k and
[A] is another n × n matrix [B] where bij = kaij

Question: Do non-square matrices have diagonal entries?

Answer: Yes.

Question: How do we find the inverse of a matrix?

Answer: If [A] is n × n matrix, then [A]-1 is n × n matrix according to the definition of

inverse a matrix [A][A]-1 = I

Question: Is there another way to find the inverse of a matrix?

Answer: Yes, there are many ways to find inverse. To find the inverse of small matrices
we use [A]-1 = 1 adj (A) det (A)

Question: If the inverse of a square matrix [A] exists, is it unique?

Answer: Yes.

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Question: Define the determinant of a matrix?

Answer: The determinant of a matrix is a single unique real value corresponding to a

matrix. For a matrix [A], the determinant is denoted by |A| or det(A).

Question: Is there any relationship between det(AB), and det(A) and det(B)?

Answer: Yes. det(AB) = det(A) det (B)

Question: What is partitioned (block) matrix?

Answer: A block matrix or a partitioned matrix is a partition of a matrix into rectangular

smaller matrices called blocks. Looking at it another way, the matrix is written in terms of
smaller matrices written side-by-side. A block matrix must conform to a consistent way of
splitting up the rows, and the columns: we group the rows into some adjacent 'bunches', and the
columns likewise. The partition is into the rectangles described by one bunch of adjacent rows
crossing one bunch of adjacent columns. In other words, the matrix is split up by some horizontal
and vertical lines that go all the way across.

Question: What is matrix factorization?

Answer: A factorization of a matrix A is an equation that expresses A as a product of two

or more matrices

Question: What does diagonally dominant means?

Answer: A symmetric matrix where the absolute value of the entries in the main diagonal
is not less than the sum of the absolute values of the rest of the row.

Question: What is the determinent of A, if A is triangulated matrix?

Answer: If A is triangular, then det A is the product of the entries on the main diagonal of
A.

Question: deos row replacment change the determinant?

Answer: No, A row replacement operation on A does not change the determinant.

Question: Does row interchanges chnages the sign of determinant?

Answer: Yes, A row interchange changes the sign of the determinant.

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Question: Is two matrices have the same characteristic polynomial?

Answer: yes, If n x n matrices A and B are similar, then they have the same characteristic
polynomial.

Question: Is a matrix having distinct eigen values diagonalizable?

Answer: Yes, An n x n matrix with n distinct eigen values is diagonalizable.

Question: Is a matrix invertible, if it has zero eigen value?

Answer: No, If the eigen value of a square matrix is zero then A is not invertible.

Question: When does a linear transformation called an isometry?

Answer: A linear transformation T called an isometry if for any u and v in V, T(u) . T(v) =
u.v

Question: When a linear transformation is linear?

Answer: A transformation T of V is linear if and only if for all u, v in V and for any Real
numbers a, b the following hold: T(a u + b v) = a T (u) + b T (v).

Question: What is the null space of a alinear transformation?

Answer: The null-space of a linear transformation T is the set of all vectors v such that T
(v) = 0.

Question: What is nullity of a linear transformation?

Answer: The dimension of the null-space is called the nullity of the linear transformation
T.

Question: When does a vector in vector space is an eigen vector with respect to a linear
transformation?

Answer: T is a linear transformation of a vector space V. u is called an eigenvector or

characteristic vector with respect to T if and only if u is not 0 and there is a real number c such
that T (u) = c.u

Question: What is the trace of a matrix?

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Answer: Trace of a matrix is the sum of main diagonal elements of that matrix.

Question: When should be a linear equation Ax = b has a solution?

Answer: The equation Ax = b has a solution if and only if b is a linear combination of the
column of A.

Question: Why ||c. v|| = |c|. ||v||?

Answer: This is ||c. v|| = ||c||. ||v|| where c is any scalar so ||c|| = |c|

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