# Tagged: exam

## Problem 299

Find the inverse matrix of
$A=\begin{bmatrix} 1 & 1 & 2 \\ 0 &0 &1 \\ 1 & 0 & 1 \end{bmatrix}$ if it exists. If you think there is no inverse matrix of $A$, then give a reason.

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

## Problem 298

Let
$\mathbf{v}_1=\begin{bmatrix} 1 \\ 5 \\ -1 \end{bmatrix}, \mathbf{v}_2=\begin{bmatrix} 1 \\ 4 \\ 3 \end{bmatrix}, \mathbf{v}_3=\begin{bmatrix} 1 \\ 2 \\ 1 \end{bmatrix}, \mathbf{b}=\begin{bmatrix} 2 \\ 13 \\ 6 \end{bmatrix}.$ Express the vector $\mathbf{b}$ as a linear combination of the vector $\mathbf{v}_1, \mathbf{v}_2, \mathbf{v}_3$.

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

## Problem 297

Let $A, B, C$ be the following $3\times 3$ matrices.
$A=\begin{bmatrix} 1 & 2 & 3 \\ 4 &5 &6 \\ 7 & 8 & 9 \end{bmatrix}, B=\begin{bmatrix} 1 & 0 & 1 \\ 0 &3 &0 \\ 1 & 0 & 5 \end{bmatrix}, C=\begin{bmatrix} -1 & 0\ & 1 \\ 0 &5 &6 \\ 3 & 0 & 1 \end{bmatrix}.$ Then compute and simplify the following expression.
$(A^{\trans}-B)^{\trans}+C(B^{-1}C)^{-1}.$

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

## Problem 296

Solve the following system of linear equations and give the vector form for the general solution.
\begin{align*}
x_1 -x_3 -2x_5&=1 \\
x_2+3x_3-x_5 &=2 \\
2x_1 -2x_3 +x_4 -3x_5 &= 0
\end{align*}

(The Ohio State University, linear algebra midterm exam problem)

## Problem 295

Determine all possibilities for the number of solutions of each of the system of linear equations described below.

(a) A system of $5$ equations in $3$ unknowns and it has $x_1=0, x_2=-3, x_3=1$ as a solution.

(b) A homogeneous system of $5$ equations in $4$ unknowns and the rank of the system is $4$.

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

## Problem 265

For a real number $a$, consider $2\times 2$ matrices $A, P, Q$ satisfying the following five conditions.

1. $A=aP+(a+1)Q$
2. $P^2=P$
3. $Q^2=Q$
4. $PQ=O$
5. $QP=O$,

where $O$ is the $2\times 2$ zero matrix.
Then do the following problems.

(a) Prove that $(P+Q)A=A$.

(b) Suppose $a$ is a positive real number and let
$A=\begin{bmatrix} a & 0\\ 1& a+1 \end{bmatrix}.$ Then find all matrices $P, Q$ satisfying conditions (1)-(5).

(c) Let $n$ be an integer greater than $1$. For any integer $k$, $2\leq k \leq n$, we define the matrix
$A_k=\begin{bmatrix} k & 0\\ 1& k+1 \end{bmatrix}.$ Then calculate and simplify the matrix product
$A_nA_{n-1}A_{n-2}\cdots A_2.$

(Tokyo University Entrance Exam 2007)

## Problem 235

Suppose that a real symmetric matrix $A$ has two distinct eigenvalues $\alpha$ and $\beta$.
Show that any eigenvector corresponding to $\alpha$ is orthogonal to any eigenvector corresponding to $\beta$.

(Nagoya University, Linear Algebra Final Exam Problem)

## Problem 216

Let
$A=\begin{bmatrix} 1 & 3 & 3 \\ -3 &-5 &-3 \\ 3 & 3 & 1 \end{bmatrix} \text{ and } B=\begin{bmatrix} 2 & 4 & 3 \\ -4 &-6 &-3 \\ 3 & 3 & 1 \end{bmatrix}.$ For this problem, you may use the fact that both matrices have the same characteristic polynomial:
$p_A(\lambda)=p_B(\lambda)=-(\lambda-1)(\lambda+2)^2.$

(a) Find all eigenvectors of $A$.

(b) Find all eigenvectors of $B$.

(c) Which matrix $A$ or $B$ is diagonalizable?

(d) Diagonalize the matrix stated in (c), i.e., find an invertible matrix $P$ and a diagonal matrix $D$ such that $A=PDP^{-1}$ or $B=PDP^{-1}$.

(Stanford University Linear Algebra Final Exam Problem)

## Problem 202

Show that eigenvalues of a Hermitian matrix $A$ are real numbers.

(The Ohio State University Linear Algebra Exam Problem)

## Problem 200

Let
$A=\begin{bmatrix} 5 & 2 & -1 \\ 2 &2 &2 \\ -1 & 2 & 5 \end{bmatrix}.$

Pick your favorite number $a$. Find the dimension of the null space of the matrix $A-aI$, where $I$ is the $3\times 3$ identity matrix.

Your score of this problem is equal to that dimension times five.

(The Ohio State University Linear Algebra Practice Problem)

## Problem 194

Find the value(s) of $h$ for which the following set of vectors
$\left \{ \mathbf{v}_1=\begin{bmatrix} 1 \\ 0 \\ 0 \end{bmatrix}, \mathbf{v}_2=\begin{bmatrix} h \\ 1 \\ -h \end{bmatrix}, \mathbf{v}_3=\begin{bmatrix} 1 \\ 2h \\ 3h+1 \end{bmatrix}\right\}$ is linearly independent.

(Boston College, Linear Algebra Midterm Exam Sample Problem)

## Problem 191

Let
$A=\begin{bmatrix} 1 & -1\\ 2& 3 \end{bmatrix}.$

Find the eigenvalues and the eigenvectors of the matrix
$B=A^4-3A^3+3A^2-2A+8E.$

(Nagoya University Linear Algebra Exam Problem)

## Problem 190

Prove that the matrix
$A=\begin{bmatrix} 1 & 1.00001 & 1 \\ 1.00001 &1 &1.00001 \\ 1 & 1.00001 & 1 \end{bmatrix}$ has one positive eigenvalue and one negative eigenvalue.

(University of California, Berkeley Qualifying Exam Problem)

## Problem 189

Let $C$ be a $4 \times 4$ matrix with all eigenvalues $\lambda=2, -1$ and eigensapces
$E_2=\Span\left \{\quad \begin{bmatrix} 1 \\ 1 \\ 1 \\ 1 \end{bmatrix} \quad\right \} \text{ and } E_{-1}=\Span\left \{ \quad\begin{bmatrix} 1 \\ 2 \\ 1 \\ 1 \end{bmatrix},\quad \begin{bmatrix} 1 \\ 1 \\ 1 \\ 2 \end{bmatrix} \quad\right\}.$

Calculate $C^4 \mathbf{u}$ for $\mathbf{u}=\begin{bmatrix} 6 \\ 8 \\ 6 \\ 9 \end{bmatrix}$ if possible. Explain why if it is not possible!

(The Ohio State University Linear Algebra Exam Problem)

## Problem 182

Let $T$ be a linear transformation from the vector space $\R^3$ to $\R^3$.
Suppose that $k=3$ is the smallest positive integer such that $T^k=\mathbf{0}$ (the zero linear transformation) and suppose that we have $\mathbf{x}\in \R^3$ such that $T^2\mathbf{x}\neq \mathbf{0}$.

Show that the vectors $\mathbf{x}, T\mathbf{x}, T^2\mathbf{x}$ form a basis for $\R^3$.

(The Ohio State University Linear Algebra Exam Problem)

## Problem 181

Suppose that $\begin{bmatrix} 1 \\ 1 \end{bmatrix}$ is an eigenvector of a matrix $A$ corresponding to the eigenvalue $3$ and that $\begin{bmatrix} 2 \\ 1 \end{bmatrix}$ is an eigenvector of $A$ corresponding to the eigenvalue $-2$.
Compute $A^2\begin{bmatrix} 4 \\ 3 \end{bmatrix}$.

(Stanford University Linear Algebra Exam Problem)

## 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 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 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 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)