# Tagged: length of a vector

## Problem 689

For this problem, use the complex vectors
$\mathbf{w}_1 = \begin{bmatrix} 1 + i \\ 1 – i \\ 0 \end{bmatrix} , \, \mathbf{w}_2 = \begin{bmatrix} -i \\ 0 \\ 2 – i \end{bmatrix} , \, \mathbf{w}_3 = \begin{bmatrix} 2+i \\ 1 – 3i \\ 2i \end{bmatrix} .$

Suppose $\mathbf{w}_4$ is another complex vector which is orthogonal to both $\mathbf{w}_2$ and $\mathbf{w}_3$, and satisfies $\mathbf{w}_1 \cdot \mathbf{w}_4 = 2i$ and $\| \mathbf{w}_4 \| = 3$.

Calculate the following expressions:

(a) $\mathbf{w}_1 \cdot \mathbf{w}_2$.

(b) $\mathbf{w}_1 \cdot \mathbf{w}_3$.

(c) $((2+i)\mathbf{w}_1 – (1+i)\mathbf{w}_2 ) \cdot \mathbf{w}_4$.

(d) $\| \mathbf{w}_1 \| , \| \mathbf{w}_2 \|$, and $\| \mathbf{w}_3 \|$.

(e) $\| 3 \mathbf{w}_4 \|$.

(f) What is the distance between $\mathbf{w}_2$ and $\mathbf{w}_3$?

## Problem 687

For this problem, use the real vectors
$\mathbf{v}_1 = \begin{bmatrix} -1 \\ 0 \\ 2 \end{bmatrix} , \mathbf{v}_2 = \begin{bmatrix} 0 \\ 2 \\ -3 \end{bmatrix} , \mathbf{v}_3 = \begin{bmatrix} 2 \\ 2 \\ 3 \end{bmatrix} .$ Suppose that $\mathbf{v}_4$ is another vector which is orthogonal to $\mathbf{v}_1$ and $\mathbf{v}_3$, and satisfying
$\mathbf{v}_2 \cdot \mathbf{v}_4 = -3 .$

Calculate the following expressions:

(a) $\mathbf{v}_1 \cdot \mathbf{v}_2$.

(b) $\mathbf{v}_3 \cdot \mathbf{v}_4$.

(c) $( 2 \mathbf{v}_1 + 3 \mathbf{v}_2 – \mathbf{v}_3 ) \cdot \mathbf{v}_4$.

(d) $\| \mathbf{v}_1 \| , \, \| \mathbf{v}_2 \| , \, \| \mathbf{v}_3 \|$.

(e) What is the distance between $\mathbf{v}_1$ and $\mathbf{v}_2$?

## Problem 639

Let $\mathbf{v}$ be an $n \times 1$ column vector.

Prove that $\mathbf{v}^\trans \mathbf{v} = 0$ if and only if $\mathbf{v}$ is the zero vector $\mathbf{0}$.

## Problem 564

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 $A\mathbf{v}=\mathbf{0}$.

## Problem 551

Let $\mathbf{v}$ be a vector in an inner product space $V$ over $\R$.
Suppose that $\{\mathbf{u}_1, \dots, \mathbf{u}_n\}$ is an orthonormal basis of $V$.
Let $\theta_i$ be the angle between $\mathbf{v}$ and $\mathbf{u}_i$ for $i=1,\dots, n$.

Prove that
$\cos ^2\theta_1+\cdots+\cos^2 \theta_n=1.$

## Problem 527

A square matrix $A$ is called idempotent if $A^2=A$.

(a) Let $\mathbf{u}$ be a vector in $\R^n$ with length $1$.
Define the matrix $P$ to be $P=\mathbf{u}\mathbf{u}^{\trans}$.

Prove that $P$ is an idempotent matrix.

(b) Suppose that $\mathbf{u}$ and $\mathbf{v}$ be unit vectors in $\R^n$ such that $\mathbf{u}$ and $\mathbf{v}$ are orthogonal.
Let $Q=\mathbf{u}\mathbf{u}^{\trans}+\mathbf{v}\mathbf{v}^{\trans}$.

Prove that $Q$ is an idempotent matrix.

(c) Prove that each nonzero vector of the form $a\mathbf{u}+b\mathbf{v}$ for some $a, b\in \R$ is an eigenvector corresponding to the eigenvalue $1$ for the matrix $Q$ in part (b).

## Problem 381

Consider the matrix
$A=\begin{bmatrix} 3/2 & 2\\ -1& -3/2 \end{bmatrix} \in M_{2\times 2}(\R).$

(a) Find the eigenvalues and corresponding eigenvectors of $A$.

(b) Show that for $\mathbf{v}=\begin{bmatrix} 1 \\ 0 \end{bmatrix}\in \R^2$, we can choose $n$ large enough so that the length $\|A^n\mathbf{v}\|$ is as small as we like.

(University of California, Berkeley, Linear Algebra Final Exam Problem)

## Problem 366

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

(a) Find an orthonormal basis of the null space of $A$.

(b) Find the rank of $A$.

(c) Find an orthonormal basis of the row space of $A$.

(The Ohio State University, Linear Algebra Exam Problem)

## Problem 254

Let $\mathbf{a}$ and $\mathbf{b}$ be vectors in $\R^n$ such that their length are
$\|\mathbf{a}\|=\|\mathbf{b}\|=1$ and the inner product
$\mathbf{a}\cdot \mathbf{b}=\mathbf{a}^{\trans}\mathbf{b}=-\frac{1}{2}.$

Then determine the length $\|\mathbf{a}-\mathbf{b}\|$.
(Note that this length is the distance between $\mathbf{a}$ and $\mathbf{b}$.)

## Problem 214

Find the inverse matrix of the matrix
$A=\begin{bmatrix} \frac{2}{7} & \frac{3}{7} & \frac{6}{7} \\[6 pt] \frac{6}{7} &\frac{2}{7} &-\frac{3}{7} \\[6pt] -\frac{3}{7} & \frac{6}{7} & -\frac{2}{7} \end{bmatrix}.$

## Problem 202

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

(The Ohio State University Linear Algebra Exam Problem)

## 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)

Let $A_1, A_2, \dots, A_m$ be $n\times n$ Hermitian matrices. Show that if
$A_1^2+A_2^2+\cdots+A_m^2=\calO,$ where $\calO$ is the $n \times n$ zero matrix, then we have $A_i=\calO$ for each $i=1,2, \dots, m$.