STAT 243 Review Exercises December 3, 2010

These review exercises are not to be turned in. They will be discussed in the review session
on Friday December 3.

1. For each of the following statements indicate whether the assertion made is True or False.
If you believe the statement to be True, give a short argument to support your claim. If you
believe the statement to be False, provide a counterexample (an example showing that the
statement is false) and a similar Salvage statement that is True. (More substantial salvage
statements will get more credit.)

(a) Let P be an n × n matrix (with real entries) whose columns v1 , . . . , vn are orthogonal.
The absolute value of det(P ) is the product of the lengths kv1 k, . . . , kvn k of the columns of P .

(b) If {ui }i≤n and {vi }i≤n are two orthonormal bases of a real inner product space, then
the n × n matrix  
hu1 , v1 i hu1 , v2 i . . . hu1 , vn i
 hu2 , v1 i hu2 , v2 i . . . hu2 , vn i 
A= 
 ... 
hun , v1 i hun , v2 i . . . hun , vn i
is an orthogonal matrix.

(c) If two square matrices A and B have the same characteristic polynomial then they are
similar. Note: Recall that two matrices A, B are said to be similar if there is an invertible
matrix S such that B = SAS −1 .

2. Let
2 1
 
0 3 3
P =  13 0 2
3
2 1
3 3
0

(a) Find the eigenvalues of P . Hint: Finding one of them should be easy.

(b) Find limn→∞ P n .

3. A set L is called a lattice in a vector space V if there is a basis {v1 , . . . , vn } for V such that
L is the set of linear combinations of the basis vectors with integer coefficients:
X n  

L= ci vi  each ci is an integer .

i=1
For example, the set of points in R3 with integer coordinates is a lattice in R3 , because
it consists of all linear combinations of the standard basis vectors {e1 , e2 , e3 } with integer
coefficients.
(a) Show that the set

{ (x1 , x2 , x3 ) ∈ R3 | x1 , x2 , x3 are integers, and x1 + x2 + x3 is even }

is a lattice in R3 . (In crystallography, it is known as the “face-centered cubic lattice”.)

(b) Let L be a lattice in a vector space V , and let T : V → V be a linear transformation

such that T (u) ∈ L for every vector u ∈ L. Prove that there is a basis B = {b1 , . . . , bn } of V
relative to which the matrix of T has integer entries.

(c) Let X be a line through the origin in R3 , and let T be a rotation about the axis X
through the angle 2π/5. Compute the trace of T . Why is this number the same no matter
what the axis of rotation is? (That is, explain why, if Y is another line through the origin and
S is a rotation about the axis Y through the angle 2π/5, then the trace of T equals the trace
of S.) Is this number an integer?
(d) Let L be a lattice in R3 , and let T : R3 → R3 be a linear transformation such
that T (u) ∈ L for every vector u ∈ L. Using parts (b) and (c), prove that T cannot be a
rotation through the angle 2π/5. (This result can be used to show that no crystal has fivefold
symmetry.)