Let $A$ be a $2\times 2$ real symmetric matrix.
Prove that all the eigenvalues of $A$ are real numbers by considering the characteristic polynomial of $A$.
The following problems are Midterm 1 problems of Linear Algebra (Math 2568) at the Ohio State University in Autumn 2017.
There were 9 problems that covered Chapter 1 of our textbook (Johnson, Riess, Arnold).
The time limit was 55 minutes.
This post is Part 3 and contains Problem 7, 8, and 9.
Check out Part 1 and Part 2 for the rest of the exam problems.
Problem 7. Let $A=\begin{bmatrix}
-3 & -4\\
8& 9
\end{bmatrix}$ and $\mathbf{v}=\begin{bmatrix}
-1 \\
2
\end{bmatrix}$.
(a) Calculate $A\mathbf{v}$ and find the number $\lambda$ such that $A\mathbf{v}=\lambda \mathbf{v}$.
(b) Without forming $A^3$, calculate the vector $A^3\mathbf{v}$.
Problem 8. Prove that if $A$ and $B$ are $n\times n$ nonsingular matrices, then the product $AB$ is also nonsingular.
Problem 9.
Determine whether each of the following sentences is true or false.
(a) There is a $3\times 3$ homogeneous system that has exactly three solutions.
(b) If $A$ and $B$ are $n\times n$ symmetric matrices, then the sum $A+B$ is also symmetric.
(c) If $n$-dimensional vectors $\mathbf{v}_1, \mathbf{v}_2, \mathbf{v}_3$ are linearly dependent, then the vectors $\mathbf{v}_1, \mathbf{v}_2, \mathbf{v}_3, \mathbf{v}_4$ is also linearly dependent for any $n$-dimensional vector $\mathbf{v}_4$.
(d) If the coefficient matrix of a system of linear equations is singular, then the system is inconsistent.
Let $A$ and $B$ be $n\times n$ skew-symmetric matrices. Namely $A^{\trans}=-A$ and $B^{\trans}=-B$.
(a) Prove that $A+B$ is skew-symmetric.
(b) Prove that $cA$ is skew-symmetric for any scalar $c$.
(c) Let $P$ be an $m\times n$ matrix. Prove that $P^{\trans}AP$ is skew-symmetric.
(d) Suppose that $A$ is real skew-symmetric. Prove that $iA$ is an Hermitian matrix.
(e) Prove that if $AB=-BA$, then $AB$ is a skew-symmetric matrix.
(f) Let $\mathbf{v}$ be an $n$-dimensional column vecotor. Prove that $\mathbf{v}^{\trans}A\mathbf{v}=0$.
(g) Suppose that $A$ is a real skew-symmetric matrix and $A^2\mathbf{v}=\mathbf{0}$ for some vector $\mathbf{v}\in \R^n$. Then prove that $A\mathbf{v}=\mathbf{0}$.
Let $\mathbf{v}$ be a nonzero vector in $\R^n$.
Then the dot product $\mathbf{v}\cdot \mathbf{v}=\mathbf{v}^{\trans}\mathbf{v}\neq 0$.
Set $a:=\frac{2}{\mathbf{v}^{\trans}\mathbf{v}}$ and define the $n\times n$ matrix $A$ by
\[A=I-a\mathbf{v}\mathbf{v}^{\trans},\]
where $I$ is the $n\times n$ identity matrix.
Prove that $A$ is a symmetric matrix and $AA=I$.
Conclude that the inverse matrix is $A^{-1}=A$.
(a) Suppose that $A$ is an $n\times n$ real symmetric positive definite matrix.
Prove that
\[\langle \mathbf{x}, \mathbf{y}\rangle:=\mathbf{x}^{\trans}A\mathbf{y}\]
defines an inner product on the vector space $\R^n$.
(b) Let $A$ be an $n\times n$ real matrix. Suppose that
\[\langle \mathbf{x}, \mathbf{y}\rangle:=\mathbf{x}^{\trans}A\mathbf{y}\]
defines an inner product on the vector space $\R^n$.
Prove that $A$ is symmetric and positive definite.
Let $A$ be a real symmetric $n\times n$ matrix with $0$ as a simple eigenvalue (that is, the algebraic multiplicity of the eigenvalue $0$ is $1$), and let us fix a vector $\mathbf{v}\in \R^n$.
(a) Prove that for sufficiently small positive real $\epsilon$, the equation
\[A\mathbf{x}+\epsilon\mathbf{x}=\mathbf{v}\]
has a unique solution $\mathbf{x}=\mathbf{x}(\epsilon) \in \R^n$.
(b) Evaluate
\[\lim_{\epsilon \to 0^+} \epsilon \mathbf{x}(\epsilon)\]
in terms of $\mathbf{v}$, the eigenvectors of $A$, and the inner product $\langle\, ,\,\rangle$ on $\R^n$.
(University of California, Berkeley, Linear Algebra Qualifying Exam)
Let $A$ be an $n\times n$ real symmetric matrix.
Prove that there exists an eigenvalue $\lambda$ of $A$ such that for any vector $\mathbf{v}\in \R^n$, we have the inequality
\[\mathbf{v}\cdot A\mathbf{v} \leq \lambda \|\mathbf{v}\|^2.\]
Let $A$ be a square matrix such that
\[A^{\trans}A=A,\]
where $A^{\trans}$ is the transpose matrix of $A$.
Prove that $A$ is idempotent, that is, $A^2=A$. Also, prove that $A$ is a symmetric matrix.
Recall that a complex matrix is called Hermitian if $A^*=A$, where $A^*=\bar{A}^{\trans}$.
Prove that every Hermitian matrix $A$ can be written as the sum
\[A=B+iC,\]
where $B$ is a real symmetric matrix and $C$ is a real skew-symmetric matrix.
A real symmetric $n \times n$ matrix $A$ is called positive definite if
\[\mathbf{x}^{\trans}A\mathbf{x}>0\]
for all nonzero vectors $\mathbf{x}$ in $\R^n$.
(a) Prove that the eigenvalues of a real symmetric positive-definite matrix $A$ are all positive.
(b) Prove that if eigenvalues of a real symmetric matrix $A$ are all positive, then $A$ is positive-definite.
Let
\[A=\begin{bmatrix}
2 & -1 & -1 \\
-1 &2 &-1 \\
-1 & -1 & 2
\end{bmatrix}.\]
Determine whether the matrix $A$ is diagonalizable. If it is diagonalizable, then diagonalize $A$.
That is, find a nonsingular matrix $S$ and a diagonal matrix $D$ such that $S^{-1}AS=D$.