## Problem 180

Suppose the following information is known about a $3\times 3$ matrix $A$.
$A\begin{bmatrix} 1 \\ 2 \\ 1 \end{bmatrix}=6\begin{bmatrix} 1 \\ 2 \\ 1 \end{bmatrix}, \quad A\begin{bmatrix} 1 \\ -1 \\ 1 \end{bmatrix}=3\begin{bmatrix} 1 \\ -1 \\ 1 \end{bmatrix}, \quad A\begin{bmatrix} 2 \\ -1 \\ 0 \end{bmatrix}=3\begin{bmatrix} 1 \\ -1 \\ 1 \end{bmatrix}.$

(a) Find the eigenvalues of $A$.

(b) Find the corresponding eigenspaces.

(c) In each of the following questions, you must give a correct reason (based on the theory of eigenvalues and eigenvectors) to get full credit.
Is $A$ a diagonalizable matrix?
Is $A$ an invertible matrix?
Is $A$ an idempotent matrix?

(Johns Hopkins University Linear Algebra Exam)

## Problem 179

Prove that $\sqrt[m]{2}$ is an irrational number for any integer $m \geq 2$.

## Problem 178

Let
$\begin{bmatrix} 0 & 0 & 1 \\ 1 &0 &0 \\ 0 & 1 & 0 \end{bmatrix}.$

(a) Find the characteristic polynomial and all the eigenvalues (real and complex) of $A$. Is $A$ diagonalizable over the complex numbers?

(b) Calculate $A^{2009}$.

(Princeton University, Linear Algebra Exam)

## Problem 177

Let $R$ be a principal ideal domain (PID). Let $a\in R$ be a non-unit irreducible element.

Then show that the ideal $(a)$ generated by the element $a$ is a maximal ideal.

## Problem 176

Let $A$ be an $n \times n$ matrix. We say that $A$ is idempotent if $A^2=A$.

(a) Find a nonzero, nonidentity idempotent matrix.

(b) Show that eigenvalues of an idempotent matrix $A$ is either $0$ or $1$.

(The Ohio State University, Linear Algebra Final Exam Problem)

## Problem 175

Let $R$ be a principal ideal domain (PID) and let $P$ be a nonzero prime ideal in $R$.
Show that $P$ is a maximal ideal in $R$.

## Problem 174

Let $R$ be a commutative ring and let $P$ be an ideal of $R$. Prove that the following statements are equivalent:

(a) The ideal $P$ is a prime ideal.

(b) For any two ideals $I$ and $J$, if $IJ \subset P$ then we have either $I \subset P$ or $J \subset P$.

## Problem 173

Let $R$ be a commutative ring. An ideal $I$ of $R$ is said to be irreducible if it cannot be written as an intersection of two ideals of $R$ which are strictly larger than $I$.

Prove that if $\frakp$ is a prime ideal of the commutative ring $R$, then $\frakp$ is irreducible.

## Problem 172

Let $R$ be a commutative ring.

Then prove that $R$ is a field if and only if $\{0\}$ is a maximal ideal of $R$.

## Problem 171

Let $R$ be a commutative ring with $1 \neq 0$.
An element $a\in R$ is called nilpotent if $a^n=0$ for some positive integer $n$.

Then prove that if $a$ is a nilpotent element of $R$, then $1-ab$ is a unit for all $b \in R$.

## Problem 170

Prove that the rings $2\Z$ and $3\Z$ are not isomorphic.

## Problem 169

Find all the values of $x$ so that the following matrix $A$ is a singular matrix.
$A=\begin{bmatrix} x & x^2 & 1 \\ 2 &3 &1 \\ 0 & -1 & 1 \end{bmatrix}.$

## Problem 168

Let
$A=\begin{bmatrix} 1 & -x & 0 & 0 \\ 0 &1 & -x & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & 1 & -x \\ 0 & 1 & 0 & -1 \end{bmatrix}$ be a $4\times 4$ matrix. Find all values of $x$ so that the matrix $A$ is singular.

## Problem 167

Let $G, G’$ be groups. Suppose that we have a surjective group homomorphism $f:G\to G’$.
Show that if $G$ is an abelian group, then so is $G’$.

## Problem 166

Let $V$ be the vector space of all $2\times 2$ matrices. Let $W$ be a subset of $V$ consisting of all $2\times 2$ skew-symmetric matrices. (Recall that a matrix $A$ is skew-symmetric if $A^{\trans}=-A$.)

(a) Prove that the subset $W$ is a subspace of $V$.

(b) Find the dimension of $W$.

(The Ohio State University Linear Algebra Exam Problem)

## Problem 165

Let $P_2$ be the vector space of all polynomials of degree two or less.
Consider the subset in $P_2$
$Q=\{ p_1(x), p_2(x), p_3(x), p_4(x)\},$ where
\begin{align*}
&p_1(x)=1, &p_2(x)=x^2+x+1, \\
&p_3(x)=2x^2, &p_4(x)=x^2-x+1.
\end{align*}

(a) Use the basis $B=\{1, x, x^2\}$ of $P_2$, give the coordinate vectors of the vectors in $Q$.

(b) Find a basis of the span $\Span(Q)$ consisting of vectors in $Q$.

(c) For each vector in $Q$ which is not a basis vector you obtained in (b), express the vector as a linear combination of basis vectors.

(The Ohio State University Linear Algebra Exam Problem)

## Problem 164

Let $T:\R^4 \to \R^3$ be a linear transformation defined by
$T\left (\, \begin{bmatrix} x_1 \\ x_2 \\ x_3 \\ x_4 \end{bmatrix} \,\right) = \begin{bmatrix} x_1+2x_2+3x_3-x_4 \\ 3x_1+5x_2+8x_3-2x_4 \\ x_1+x_2+2x_3 \end{bmatrix}.$

(a) Find a matrix $A$ such that $T(\mathbf{x})=A\mathbf{x}$.

(b) Find a basis for the null space of $T$.

(c) Find the rank of the linear transformation $T$.

(The Ohio State University Linear Algebra Exam Problem)

## Problem 163

Let $\Z$ be the additive group of integers. Let $f: \Z \to \Z$ be a group homomorphism.
Then show that there exists an integer $a$ such that
$f(n)=an$ for any integer $n$.

## Problem 162

Let $\mathbf{u}_1, \mathbf{u}_2, \mathbf{u}_3$ are vectors in $\R^n$. Suppose that vectors $\mathbf{u}_1$, $\mathbf{u}_2$ are orthogonal and the norm of $\mathbf{u}_2$ is $4$ and $\mathbf{u}_2^{\trans}\mathbf{u}_3=7$. Find the value of the real number $a$ in $\mathbf{u_1}=\mathbf{u_2}+a\mathbf{u}_3$.

(The Ohio State University, Linear Algebra Exam Problem)

## Problem 161

Let $f: H \to G$ be a surjective group homomorphism from a group $H$ to a group $G$.
Let $N$ be a normal subgroup of $H$. Show that the image $f(N)$ is normal in $G$.