286 Chapter 9 Operators, Matrices, and Group Theory

both a and x by the factor to maintain a valid equation. The goal of the operations
is to transform Eq. (9.51) into

E(A−1 ) = D (9.53)

so that A−1 will be the same matrix as D.

In order to carry out the procedure conveniently, we write the matrix A and
the matrix E explicitly side by side and carry out operations on each element of
the same row in each matrix. For example, we might multiply every element in a
given row of A by some constant and multiply every element in the same row of E
by the same constant. This is an example of a row operation. If we carry it out we
still have a valid equation. Another row operation that we can apply is to subtract
one row of A from another row of A, element by element, while doing the same
thing to E. This amounts to subtracting the left-hand sides of pairs of equations and
subtracting at the same time the right-hand sides of the equations, which produces
valid equations. We can then replace one of the row by the difference of two rows.
Successive application of these two row operations is sufficient to transform the
left factor of a matrix product into the identity matrix. If we apply them in the
appropriate way to Eq. (9.51), we can transform it into Eq. (9.53). We illustrate
the procedure in the following example.

EXAMPLE 9.10 Find the inverse of the matrix

 
2 1 0
 
A =  1 2 2 .
0 1 1

SOLUTION
Our version of Eq. (9.51) is

    
2 1 0 (A−1 )11 (A−1 )12 (A−1 )13 1 0 0
    
 1 2 1   (A−1 )21 (A−1 )22 (A−1 )23  =  0 1 0  .
0 1 2 −1 −1
(A )22 (A )32 (A )33−1 0 0 1
In order to carry out the row operations we write the two matrices on which we operate side by
side and perform the same operations on the same row of both matrices. The matrix that is not
operated on, A−1 , is not written. We don’t know what its elements are so we couldn’t operate on
it.  
..
 2 1 0 . 1 0 0 
 .. 
 
1 2 1 . 0 1 0
 
..
0 1 2 . 0 0 1

It is usual to clear out the columns from left to right. We first want to get a zero in the place of a21 ,
which is now equal to 1. We multiply the first row by 12 , obtaining
 
.
1 0 .. 1 0 0
 1 2 2 
 .. 
 
 1 2 1 . 0 1 0 .
 
.
0 1 2 .. 0 0 1
We subtract the first row from the second and replace the second row by this difference. The result
is
Section 9.3 Matrix Algebra 287

 
1 . . 1 0 0
1 2 0 . 2 
 . 
 
 0 32 1 .. − 12 1 0  .
 
.
0 1 2 .. 0 0 1

We say that we have used the element a11 as the pivot element in this procedure. The left column
is now as we want it to be. We now use the a22 element as the pivot element to clear the second
column. We multiply the second row by 13 and replace the first row by the difference of the first
row and the second to obtain
 
1
.. 2 1
 1 0 −3 . 3 −3 0 
 .. 
 1 0
0 2 1 1 . − 16 .
 3 3 
.
0 1 2 .. 0 0 1
We now multiply the second row by 2, subtract this row from the third row, and replace the third
row by the difference. The result is
 
1 .
. 2 −1 0
 1 0 −3 . 3 3 
 . 
 2 .. − 1 2 0
0 1 .
 3 3 3 
.
4 .. 1 −2 1
0 0 3 3 3
We now multiply the third row by 12 in order to use the a33 element as the pivot element. We
subtract the third row from the second and replace the second row by the difference, obtaining
 
1 .
. 2 −1
 1 0 −3 . 3 3 0 
 . 
 .
0 1 0 .. − 12 1 − 12 
 
.
2 .. 1 −1 1
0 0 3 6 3 2
We now multiply the third row by 12 , add it to the first row, and replace the first row by the sum.
The result is
 
.. 3 1 1
1 0 0 . 4 −2 4 
 .. 
 
0 1 0 1
. −2 1 − 12  .
 
.. 1
0 0 13 . 12 − 16 1
4

The final row operation is multiplication of the third row by 3 to obtain

 
.. 3 1 1
1 0 0 . 4 −2 4 
 .. 
 
 0 1 0 . −2 1 1 − 12  .
 
.
0 0 1 .. 1 −1
4 2
3
4
We now reconstitute the matrix equation by placing the identity matrix on the left to the left of the
A−1 matrix. This produces a matrix equation such that the left-hand side of the equation is EA−1
and the right-hand side is the right half of the double matrix. Therefore, the right half of this double
matrix is A−1 :  
3 −1 1
4 2 4
 
A−1 =  − 12 1 − 12  .
1 1 3
4 −2 4