University of Toronto

Department of Mathematics
MAT223H1F
Linear Algebra I
Solutions to Midterm Exam I
October 19, 2012
D. Penneys, K. Ra, D. Rowe, S. Uppal, O. Yacobi
Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes
1 of 7
[10] 1. Suppose that the given matrix is the coecient matrix of a homogeneous system of
linear equations in the variables x
1
, x
2
, x
3
, x
4
, x
5
, x
6
already in RREF. Determine the
number of parameters in the general solution and write out the general solution in
parametric form.

1 2 0 0 0 3
0 0 1 5 0 4
0 0 0 0 1 1
0 0 0 0 0 0

Solution. Parameters of the general solution correspond to columns without leading 1s in

the RREF matrix. Here there are three parameters, corresponding to the second, fourth,
and six columns. The independent variables are therefore x
2
, x
4
, and x
6
. For the others, the
RREF matrix gives us the relations:
x
1
+ 2x
2
3x
6
= 0 x
1
= 2x
2
+ 3x
6
x
3
5x
4
+ 4x
6
= 0 x
3
= 5x
4
4x
6
x
5
+ x
6
= 0 x
5
= x
6
Using r, s, and t to denote parameters for x
2
, x
4
, and x
6
, we obtain the general solution:
x
1
= 2r + 3t,
x
2
= r,
x
3
= 5s 4t
x
4
= s
x
5
= t
x
6
= t
2 of 7
[10] 2. A system of linear equations has augmented matrix

1 a b 1
1 1 0 a
1 0 1 b

(a) Show that there innitely many values of a and b such that the system has a unique
solution.
(b) Show that there are only two values of a and b for which the system has innitely many
solutions. What are these values?
Solution.
(a) We proceed by attempting to transform the matrix into REF form:

1 a b 1
1 1 0 a
1 0 1 b

r
1
r
3

1 0 1 b
1 1 0 a
1 a b 1

r
2
r
2
r
1

r
3
r
3
r
1

1 0 1 b
0 1 1 a b
0 a b 1 1 b

r
3
r
3
ar
2

1 0 1 b
0 1 1 a b
0 0 b 1 + a 1 b a
2
+ ab

If the number b 1 + a = 0, we can multiply the third row by (b 1 + a)

1
to get
a matrix in REF form with all columns having a leading 1. In that case the system
would have a unique solution. There are innitely many such possibilities for a and
b, for instance we can take a = t, b = t with t any real number, in which case
b 1 + a = t 1 t = 1 = 0.
(b) For there to be innitely many solutions, we must have b 1 + a = 0 otherwise as in
(a) there would be a unique solution. Furthermore, from the third row of the REF
matrix we must also have 1 b a
2
+ ab = 0. In that case:
b 1 + a = 0 b = 1 a
1 b a
2
+ ab = 0 1 (1 a) a
2
+ a(1 a) = 0
2a 2a
2
= 0 a(1 a) = 0
Therefore either a = 0 and b = 1, or a = 1 and b = 0. In either case there will
be innitely many solutions with one parameter corresponding to the third column
without a leading 1.
3 of 7
[10] 3. Let A =

0 2
1 1

. Write A and A
1
as a product of elementary matrices.
Solution. We proceed by augmenting A with a 2 2 identity matrix and performing row
operations:
[A|I] =

0 2 1 0
1 1 0 1

r
1
r
2

1 1 0 1
0 2 1 0

r
2
(1/2)r
2

1 1 0 1
0 1
1
2
0

r
1
r
1
r
2

1 0
1
2
1
0 1
1
2
0

I|A
1

Now by performing each of the row operations above to the 2 2 identity matrix, we obtain
the elementary matrices
E
1
=

0 1
1 0

, E
2
=

1 0
0
1
2

, E
3
=

1 1
0 1

Since performing a row operation is equivalent to left muliplying by the corresponding ele-
mentary matrix, we have
A
1
= E
3
E
2
E
1
=

1 1
0 1

1 0
0
1
2

0 1
1 0

,
from which we also get
A = (E
3
E
2
E
1
)
1
= E
1
1
E
1
2
E
1
3
.
Applying the inverse of the same row operations to the identity matrix gives the inverse
elementary matrices:
E
1
1
=

0 1
1 0

, E
1
2
=

1 0
0 2

, E
1
3
=

1 1
0 1

.
Therefore
A =

0 1
1 0

1 0
0 2

1 1
0 1

.
4 of 7
[10] 4. For each given set W below, determine whether W is a subspace of R
3
. Justify your
answers.
(i) W = {(x, y, z) | x + y 0}
(ii) W = {(x, y, z) | x 2y = z}
(i) We apply the subspace test:
The zero vector in R
3
is (x, y, z) = (0, 0, 0). Then x + y = 0 + 0 0, so W
contains (0, 0, 0).
Let v, w W, with v = (x, y, z) and w = (x

, y

, z

). Then v + w = (x + x

, y +
y

, z + z

), and we have
(x + x

) + (y + y

) = (x + y) + (x

+ y

) 0,
since x + y 0 and x

+ y

0. Therefore v + w W, so W is closed under

vector addition.
Let v = (x, y, z) W and r R. Then rv = (rx, ry, rz). For rv to belong to W
we must have rx + ry = r(x + y) 0. But if x + y > 0 this is only true if r 0.
In fact we can make a counterexample by taking
v = (1, 1, 0), r = 1.
Then v W, but rv = (1, 1, 0) W. X
W is not a subspace of R
3
because it is not closed under scalar multiplication.
(ii) We have:
If (x, y, z) = (0, 0, 0), then x 2y = z. Therefore W contains the zero vector of
R
3
.
Let v, w W with v = (x, y, z), w = (x

, y

, z

). Then for
v + w = (x + x

, y + y

, z + z

),
we have
(x + x

) 2(y + y

) = (x 2y) + (x

2y

) = z + z

.
Therefore v + w W. This shows W is closed under vector addition.
Suppose v = (x, y, z) W and r R. Then rv = (rx, ry, rz) and
rx 2(ry) = r(x 2y) = rz,
so rv W. Thus W is closed under scalar multiplication.
Therefore by the subspace test, W is a subspcae of R
3
.
5 of 7
[10] 5. Let S = {(3, 2, 2, 3), (3, 2, 1, 2), (3, 2, 0, 1)}.
(a) Is S linearly independent or linearly dependent?
(b) Is (3, 2, 2, 1) Span(S)?
Justify your answers.
Solution.
(a) Suppose that for a, b, c R we have
a(3, 2, 2, 3) + b(3, 2, 1, 2) + c(3, 2, 0, 1) = (0, 0, 0, 0).
In other words
3a + 3b + 3c = 0, 2a + 2b + 2c = 0, 2a + b = 0, 3a + 2b + c = 0.
From the third equation b = 2a. Substituting for b in the fourth equation gives
3a 4a + c = 0 c = a.
Taking a = 1 gives b = 2 and c = 1, we check that
(3, 2, 2, 3) 2(3, 2, 1, 2) + (3, 2, 0, 1) = 0.
This shows that S is linearly dependent.
(b) Consider the equation
a(3, 2, 2, 3) + b(3, 2, 1, 2) + c(3, 2, 0, 1) = (3, 2, 2, 1).
We will try to solve for a, b, and c. We have the non-homogenous system of equations
3a + 3b + 3c = 3, 2a + 2b + 2c = 2, 2a + b = 2, 3a + 2b + c = 1.
Again, from the third equation b = 22a, and substituting for b in the fourth equation
gives
3a + 2(2 2a) + c = 1 3a + 4 4a + c = 1 c = a 3.
The rst two equations are equivalent to a + b + c = 1. Substituting for b and c we
get
a + (2 2a) + (a 3) = 1,
which is true for any a. Thus taking a = 1, we have b = 0, c = 2. We check that
(3, 2, 2, 3) 2(3, 2, 0, 1) = (3, 2, 2, 1).
Therefore (3, 2, 2, 1) Span(S).
6 of 7
[5] 6. Let S = {v
1
, v
2
, . . . , v
n
} be a linearly independent set of vectors in a vector space V
and let x / Span(S). Prove that the set {v
1
, v
2
, . . . , v
n
, x} is linearly independent.
Solution.
Suppose there are numbers a
0
, a
1
, ..., a
n
such that
a
0
x + a
1
v
1
+ a
2
v
2
+ ... + a
n
v
n
= 0. ()
We must show that all a
i
are zero. From the above equation we have
a
0
x = a
1
v
1
+ a
2
v
2
+ ... + a
n
v
n
.
If a
0
= 0, we could divide both sides by a
0
to get
x =
a
1
a
0
v
1
+
a
2
a
0
v
2
+ ... +
a
n
a
0
v
n
.
But this would show that x Span(S) which is given to be false, therefore we must have
a
0
= 0. Then a
0
x = 0 also, and equation () gives
a
1
v
1
+ a
2
v
2
+ ... + a
n
v
n
= 0.
Since S is linearly independent, the above implies
a
1
= a
2
= ... = a
n
= 0.
Therefore we have shown that () implies
a
0
= a
1
= a
2
= ... = a
n
= 0.
In other words {v
1
, v
2
, ..., v
n
, x} is linearly independent.
7 of 7