University of Auckland

Department of Economics

ECON 381 Microeconomics 2007 SC

Mid-Term Test

Thursday 13th September

TOTAL TIME ALLOWED 1 HOUR AND 30 MINUTES plus 5 minutes reading time.
Please answer ALL questions.

1. (25 marks) Linear functions.

Let f : R2 R2 be a linear function that first reflects the vector in the line x2 = x1 and
then rotates it 270 counterclockwise.

(a) What is the matrix that represents this function using the standard basis for R2 ?
(12 marks)
(b) Let
3 2
, and
2 2
be a new set of basis vectors for R2 . What is the matrix that represents f when R2
is described in terms of the new basis vectors? (13 marks)

2. (25 marks) The systems of linear equations.

(a) Solve the following systems of equations by matrix inversion.
2x1 + 5x2 + 4x3 = 20
x1 + 3x2 + 2x3 = 11
2x1 + 10x2 + 9x3 = 40

(12 marks)

(b) Solve the following systems of equations by Cramers rule.

5x1 + 2x2 + 3x3 + 2 = 0
2x1 2x2 + 5x3 = 0
3x1 + 4x2 + 2x3 + 10 = 0

(13 marks)

3. (25 marks) Implicit function theorem.

Consider the system of equations:
y12 + y2 = x1 x2
y1 y2 = x21 + x22

Calculate yi /xj for i, j = 1, 2. (25 marks)

CONTINUED

1
4. (25 marks) Let e1 , e2 , e3 be a standard basis for R3 and let f : R3 R3 be a linear func-
tion. What will happen to the matrix of this linear function if we interchange two basis
vectors ei and ej ?

[Note: If the problems sounds too abstract, you can try to solve it for particular values of
i and j and/or a particular matrix A and get a partial credit.]