Topics 4.1 & 4.2 Revision Notes Matrices IB Math SL Topics 4.1 & 4.

IB Math SL Topics 4.1 & 4.2 Revision Notes Matrices IB Math SL

Basics of Matrices MULTIPLICATION BY A SCALAR.

A matrix is a rectangular arrangement of numbers in rows and columns.
To multiply a matrix by a scalar, you multiply each entry in the matrix by the scalar.
The numbers inside the matrix are called the elements.
2 4  1   8 16  4 
A  3 5  2 4A  12 20  8 
The size of the matrix are the dimensions (or “order”) of the matrix. The dimensions of the matrix are
always the number of rows by the number of columns.
0 6  3  0 24  12
Some matrices have special names because of their dimensions or entries.
Name Description Example
Row matrix
A matrix with only 1 row.
3  2 0 4 The product of two matrices A and B is defined provided the number of columns in A is equal to the
number of rows in B.
1
Column matrix A matrix with only 1 column. 3 If A is an m x n matrix and B is an n x p matrix, then the product AB is an m x p matrix.
 
4  1 5 A · B = AB
A matrix with the same number of 2 0 1 
Square matrix   m×n n×p m×p
rows and columns.
1  3 6
equal
0 0
0 0
Zero matrix A matrix whose entries are all zeros.  
0 0
To find the element in the first row, first column multiply the corresponding elements in the first row
of A and the first column of B. Then add.
Two matrices are equal if their dimensions are the same and the entries in corresponding positions are
equal. Multiply a 3×2 by a 2×2
a b  ag  bi ah  bj 
ADDITION AND SUBTRACTION  c d    g h    cg  di ch  dj 
   i j  
Matrices can be added, subtracted, multiplied by a scalar or multiplied by another matrix.  e f     eg  fi eh  fj 
 

To add or subtract matrices the dimensions must be exactly the same. Multiplying two 2×2 matrices
a b   e f  ae  bg af  bh
a b   e f  a  e b  f   c d    g h   ce  dg cf  dh 
c d    g 
h  c  g d  h 
     
  
Multiplying two 3×3 matrices
a b   e f  a  e b  f   a b c   j k l  aj  bm  cp ak  bn  cq al  bo  cr 
c d    g 
h  c  g d  h  d e f   m n o  dj  em  fp dk  en  fq dl  eo  fr 
        
 g h i   p q r   gj  hm  ip gk  hn  iq gl  ho  ir 

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Topics 4.1 & 4.2 Revision Notes Matrices IB Math SL

IDENTITY MATRIX
The number 1 is the multiplicative identity for real numbers because 1·a = a and a·1 = a. For matrices,
the n×n identity matrix is the matrix that has 1’s on the main diagonal and 0’s elsewhere.
2×2 identity matrix 3×3 identity matrix
1 0 0
1 0 0 1 0 
0 1   
 
0 0 1
If A is any n × n matrix and I is the n × n identity matrix, then IA = A and AI = A.

Properties of matrix operations

Let A, B, and C be matrices with the same dimensions and let k be a scalar.
Associative property of addition (A + B) + C = A + (B + C)

Commutative property of addition A+B=B+A

Distributive property of addition k(A + B) = kA + kB

Distributive property of subtraction k(A – B) = kA – kB

Associative property of matrix multiplication A(BC) = (AB)C

Left distributive property A(B + C) = AB + AC

Right distributive property (A + B)C = AC + BC

Associative property of scalar multiplication k(AB) = (kA)B = A(kB)

Notice that the commutative property of multiplication is missing. This is very important: matrix
multiplication is not, in general, commutative AB ≠ BA.