1. (5 points each) State whether the following are true or false.

If false, give a
counterexample.
a. det(A + B) = det A + det B.
Solution:
1

False. Counterexample: A = 0
0
0
0

0
3
0

0
1
0

0
0 , B =
1

1
0

0
2
0

0
0 . Then A + B =
2

0 . But det A = 1, det B = -4, and det (A + B) = 0.

3

b. An nn matrix A has n pivot positions if dim( Nul A) = 0.

Solution:
True. Follows from the Invertible Matrix Theorem.

c. The set of all solutions of a system of m homogeneous equations in n unknowns is a

subspace of Rn.
Solution:
True. This is just a rephrasing of the definition of the null space of a matrix, which is a
subspace.

d. Suppose (B C)D = 0 for suitable matrices B, C, and D, with D 0. Then B = C.

Solution:
1

False. Counterexample: B =
2
0
0

0
and (B C)D =
1

0
0

2
1
,C=

4
2

0
; but B C.
0

2
1
,D=

5
0

0
. Then B C =
0

 1
2
2. Let A =
3

3
3
7

10
21
27

0
1
with A ~
2

1
0

1
0
0

4
0
0

0
1
.
1

a. (10 points) Find a basis for Col A. What is dim(Col A)?

Solution:
The basis for Col A is given by the pivot columns of A. Therefore:
1
2 0
2
3 1

Basis (Col A) = { ,
3
3 2

5
7 3

} and the dimension of Col A is 3.

b. (15 points) Find a basis for Nul A. What is dim(Nul A)?

Solution:
Put A into RREF to find a general solution to Ax = 0 and then write that solution in
parametric vector form to find the basis.
1
0
A ~
0

0
1
0
0

11
4
0
0

0
0
. Thus a general solution is x =
1

11x3
4x
3

= x3

11
4

.
1

11
4
}. It follows that dim(Nul A) = 1.
And a basis for Nul A is therefore {
1

c. (5 points) What does a solution to Ax = 0 look like?

Solution:
A general solution is just a linear combination of the vectors in the basis of Nul A. Thus,
11a
4a
, for a R.
a solution looks like x =
a

d. (5 points) Is the linear transformation T: R4 R4 defined by T(x) = Ax one-to-one?

Why or why not?
Solution:
A linear transformation is one-to-one if and only if the only solution to Ax = 0 is the
trivial solution. Since we have nontrivial solutions to Ax = 0 (given in part c.), this
transformation cannot be one-to-one.

 a
b
3. (20 points) Suppose H = { : c = a + 2b, d = a 3b with a, b, c, d R}. (i.e., H is
c

d
a

b
the set of all vectors v in R4 such that v =
). Is H a subspace of R4?
a 2b

a 3b

Solution:
Check the 3 properties for a subset to be a subspace:
(i) 0 H since we can let a = 0 and b = 0.
(ii) Given u, v H, is u + v H?

a1
b1

Since u, v H, u and v look like: u =

,v=

a1 2b1

a1 3b1

Then u + v =

a2
b2

(a1, a2, b1, b2 R).

a 2 2b2

a 2 3b2

a1 a 2

b1 b2
H, by definition of elements of H.
(a1 a 2 ) 2(b1 b2 )

(a1 a 2 ) 3(b1 b2 )

(iii) Given u H, is cu H, for c R?

Again, u H looks like u =

a
b
. Then cu =
a 2b

a 3b

which is an element of H by definition of H.

Therefore, yes, H is a subspace of R4.

ca

cb

c(a 2b)

c(a 3b)

ca

cb
,
(ca ) 2(cb)

(c) a 3(cb)

4. (15 points) Find a formula for det(rA) (in terms of det A) for an nn matrix A and a
scalar r.
Solution:
Let A = [aij] and B = [bij]. Then rA = B, where bij = r aij.
Multiplying every entry of A by r is the same as multiplying every row of A by r.
Therefore, when we computer det(rA), we can factor out an r for every row of A. Since
A is an nn matrix, there are n rows.
Thus, det(rA) = rndet A.

 cos( )
5. (15 points) Show that A =
sin( )

sin( )
is invertible and find A-1.
cos( )

Solution:
A is invertible if and only if det A 0.
So we compute det A = cos2() + sin2() = 1. Since this is nonzero, A is invertible.

Formula for A-1 =

Thus, A-1 =

1
1

1 d

det A c

cos( )
sin( )

b
.
a

sin( )
cos( )
=

cos( )
sin( )

sin( )
.
cos( )

6. Given vectors a1 and a2 in R2:

DISCLAIMER: I did the best I could to graph these vectors this is just roughly
where they should be, because LaTex is dumb and wont let me do non-integer
slopes and stuff.
a. (5 points) Draw a1 + a2 on the figure above. Remember to label it.

b. (10 points) On the figure above, draw the image of x =

under the transformation
2
T: R2 R2 with standard matrix A = a1

a 2 . Remember to label it.

Solution:
T is defined by T(x) = Ax = a1

x1

a 2 = x1a1 + x2a2.
x2

3
) = 3a1 2a2.
2

Therefore, T(

c. (10 points) If a1 =
and a2 = 1 , what is the area of the parallelogram
2

determined by 0, a1, and a2?
Solution:
The area of the parallelogram is the absolute value of the determinant of the matrix
whose columns are a1 and a2.
1

Thus {Area of the parallelogram} = det 2

11

= 11.

7. (20 points) Suppose S = { v1, v2, v3 } is a linearly independent set of vectors in R3. Is
T = { w1, w2, w3 }, where w1 = v1 + v2 ,w2 = v1 + v3 , w3 = v2 + v3, a linearly independent
set?
Solution:
A set of vectors { v1, v2, v3 } is linearly independent if and only if a1v1 + a2v2 + a3v3 = 0
implies a1 = 0, a2 = 0, and a3 = 0.
So we look at c1w1 + c2w2 + c3w3 = 0:
0 = c1w1 + c2w2 + c3w3 = c1(v1 + v2) + c2(v1 + v3) + c3(v2 + v3)
= (c1 +c2) v1 + (c1 +c3) v2 + (c2 +c3) v3
So we get the equation (c1 +c2) v1 + (c1 +c3) v2 + (c2 +c3) v3 = 0.
v1, v2, v3 linearly independent (c1 +c2) = 0, (c1 +c3) = 0, and (c2 +c3) = 0.
We now have a system of linear equations does it have a nontrivial solution?

To solve it, we look at the augmented matrix: A =

0 0

1
0

1 0
1 0

0 0

0
0

1 0
2 0

This matrix has a pivot in every column, which implies that the only solution to Ax = 0 is
the trivial solution. Therefore, c1 = 0, c2 = 0, and c3 = 0.
Thus { w1, w2, w3 }is a linearly independent set.

8. (Bonus problem, 5 points) Let A and B be nn matrices. Show that if Ax = Bx for all x
Rn, then A = B. (Hint: Since the statement is true for all x Rn, what are some nice
vectors?)
Solution:
1
0
n
Since we have Ax = Bx for all x R , let x = e1 = .

Then Ax = a1, where a1 is the first column of A. And Bx = b1, where b1 is the first column
of B.
0


Similarly, we can let x = ei = 1 , where the 1 is in the ith row.


0

Then we will have Ax = ai, where ai is the ith column of A. And Bx = bi, where bi is the ith
column of B.
So we have ai = bi for every i = 1, , n. Since the columns of A are equal to the
corresponding columns of B, we have that the corresponding entries of each pair of
columns are also equal. Thus the entries of A are equal to the corresponding entries of B.
i.e., aij = bij for every i, j = 1, , n. Therefore A = B.