Problem 669

(a) Suppose that a $3\times 3$ system of linear equations is inconsistent. Is the coefficient matrix of the system nonsingular?

(b) Suppose that a $3\times 3$ homogeneous system of linear equations has a solution $x_1=0, x_2=-3, x_3=5$. Is the coefficient matrix of the system nonsingular?

(c) Let $A$ be a $4\times 4$ matrix and let
$\mathbf{v}=\begin{bmatrix} 1 \\ 2 \\ 3 \\ 4 \end{bmatrix} \text{ and } \mathbf{w}=\begin{bmatrix} 4 \\ 3 \\ 2 \\ 1 \end{bmatrix}.$ Suppose that we have $A\mathbf{v}=A\mathbf{w}$. Is the matrix $A$ nonsingular?

Problem 668

Consider the system of differential equations
\begin{align*}
\frac{\mathrm{d} x_1(t)}{\mathrm{d}t} & = 2 x_1(t) -x_2(t) -x_3(t)\\
\frac{\mathrm{d}x_2(t)}{\mathrm{d}t} & = -x_1(t)+2x_2(t) -x_3(t)\\
\frac{\mathrm{d}x_3(t)}{\mathrm{d}t} & = -x_1(t) -x_2(t) +2x_3(t)
\end{align*}

(a) Express the system in the matrix form.

(b) Find the general solution of the system.

(c) Find the solution of the system with the initial value $x_1=0, x_2=1, x_3=5$.

Problem 667

(a) Find all solutions of the linear dynamical system
$\frac{\mathrm{d}\mathbf{x}}{\mathrm{d}t} =\begin{bmatrix} 1 & 0\\ 0& 3 \end{bmatrix}\mathbf{x},$ where $\mathbf{x}(t)=\mathbf{x}=\begin{bmatrix} x_1 \\ x_2 \end{bmatrix}$ is a function of the variable $t$.

(b) Solve the linear dynamical system
$\frac{\mathrm{d}\mathbf{x}}{\mathrm{d}t}=\begin{bmatrix} 2 & -1\\ -1& 2 \end{bmatrix}\mathbf{x}$ with the initial value $\mathbf{x}(0)=\begin{bmatrix} 1 \\ 3 \end{bmatrix}$.

Happy New Year 2018!!

Here are several mathematical facts about the number 2018.

Problem 665

Let $\mathbf{P}_2$ be the vector space of polynomials of degree $2$ or less.

(a) Prove that the set $\{ 1 , 1 + x , (1 + x)^2 \}$ is a basis for $\mathbf{P}_2$.

(b) Write the polynomial $f(x) = 2 + 3x – x^2$ as a linear combination of the basis $\{ 1 , 1+x , (1+x)^2 \}$.

Problem 664

Let $V$ be the vector space of $k \times k$ matrices. Then for fixed matrices $R, S \in V$, define the subset $W = \{ R A S \mid A \in V \}$.

Prove that $W$ is a vector subspace of $V$.

Problem 663

Let $\R^2$ be the $x$-$y$-plane. Then $\R^2$ is a vector space. A line $\ell \subset \mathbb{R}^2$ with slope $m$ and $y$-intercept $b$ is defined by
$\ell = \{ (x, y) \in \mathbb{R}^2 \mid y = mx + b \} .$

Prove that $\ell$ is a subspace of $\mathbb{R}^2$ if and only if $b = 0$.

Problem 662

For what real values of $a$ is the set
$W_a = \{ f \in C(\mathbb{R}) \mid f(0) = a \}$ a subspace of the vector space $C(\mathbb{R})$ of all real-valued functions?

Problem 661

Let $C(\mathbb{R})$ be the vector space of real-valued functions on $\mathbb{R}$.

Consider the set of functions $W = \{ f(x) = a + b \cos(x) + c \cos(2x) \mid a, b, c \in \mathbb{R} \}$.

Prove that $W$ is a vector subspace of $C(\mathbb{R})$.

Problem 660

Let $V$ be the vector space of $n \times n$ matrices, and $M \in V$ a fixed matrix. Define
$W = \{ A \in V \mid AM = MA \}.$ The set $W$ here is called the centralizer of $M$ in $V$.

Prove that $W$ is a subspace of $V$.

Problem 659

Fix the row vector $\mathbf{b} = \begin{bmatrix} -1 & 3 & -1 \end{bmatrix}$, and let $\R^3$ be the vector space of $3 \times 1$ column vectors. Define
$W = \{ \mathbf{v} \in \R^3 \mid \mathbf{b} \mathbf{v} = 0 \}.$ Prove that $W$ is a vector subspace of $\R^3$.

Problem 658

Let $V$ be the vector space of $n \times n$ matrices with real coefficients, and define
$W = \{ \mathbf{v} \in V \mid \mathbf{v} \mathbf{w} = \mathbf{w} \mathbf{v} \mbox{ for all } \mathbf{w} \in V \}.$ The set $W$ is called the center of $V$.

Prove that $W$ is a subspace of $V$.

Problem 657

Suppose that $M, P$ are two $n \times n$ non-singular matrix. Prove that there is a matrix $N$ such that $MN = P$.

Problem 656

Suppose that an $n \times m$ matrix $M$ is composed of the column vectors $\mathbf{b}_1 , \cdots , \mathbf{b}_m$.

Prove that a vector $\mathbf{v} \in \R^n$ can be written as a linear combination of the column vectors if and only if there is a vector $\mathbf{x}$ which solves the equation $M \mathbf{x} = \mathbf{v}$.

Problem 655

Consider the matrix $M = \begin{bmatrix} 1 & 4 \\ 3 & 12 \end{bmatrix}$.

(a) Show that $M$ is singular.

(b) Find a non-zero vector $\mathbf{v}$ such that $M \mathbf{v} = \mathbf{0}$, where $\mathbf{0}$ is the $2$-dimensional zero vector.

Problem 654

Suppose $M$ is an $n \times n$ upper-triangular matrix.

If the diagonal entries of $M$ are all non-zero, then prove that the column vectors are linearly independent.

Does the conclusion hold if we do not assume that $M$ has non-zero diagonal entries?

Problem 653

Write the vector $\begin{bmatrix} 1 \\ 3 \\ -1 \end{bmatrix}$ as a linear combination of the vectors
$\begin{bmatrix} 1 \\ 0 \\ 0 \end{bmatrix} , \, \begin{bmatrix} 2 \\ -2 \\ 1 \end{bmatrix} , \, \begin{bmatrix} 2 \\ 0 \\ 4 \end{bmatrix}.$

Problem 652

Prove that any set of vectors which contains the zero vector is linearly dependent.

Problem 651

(a) Find a function
$g(\theta) = a \cos(\theta) + b \cos(2 \theta) + c \cos(3 \theta)$ such that $g(0) = g(\pi/2) = g(\pi) = 0$, where $a, b, c$ are constants.

(b) Find real numbers $a, b, c$ such that the function
$g(\theta) = a \cos(\theta) + b \cos(2 \theta) + c \cos(3 \theta)$ satisfies $g(0) = 3$, $g(\pi/2) = 1$, and $g(\pi) = -5$.

Problem 650

Find a quadratic function $f(x) = ax^2 + bx + c$ such that $f(1) = 3$, $f'(1) = 3$, and $f^{\prime\prime}(1) = 2$.

Here, $f'(x)$ and $f^{\prime\prime}(x)$ denote the first and second derivatives, respectively.