E0 219 - Linear Algebra Final Exam

Course Instructor : Prof. R. Vittal Rao

Date : November 29, 2010 Duration : 180 min Maximum Marks : 100

Name of the student :

Department : SR No :

Instructions: The test will be evaluated ONLY based on what is written on the question paper. Write
all your FINAL answers in the question paper and submit it at the end of the test. Please ensure you have
all the 16 pages (back-to-back) of the question paper. The test is divided into 4 sections - ‘Multiple Choice
Questions’, ‘True or False’ type questions, ‘Fill in The Blanks’ and ‘Questions for Detailed Working’. All
questions are compulsory. For the first three sections, please provide the final answer ONLY. For the last
section, final answers along with proper justification need to be provided. Please use rough sheets for any
calculations. Please DO NOT submit the rough sheets.

Assume standard data whenever you feel that the given data is insufficient. However, please do quote
your assumptions explicitly.

I Multiple Choice Questions

Note: 1 12 marks for the correct answer, − 12 for a wrong answer and 0 marks for not at-
tempted. Only one answer is correct. Please write the choice code a, b, c or d in the answer
box provided.

1. Let V be a vector space over a field F and dim V = 12. Let S be a subset of V which
is l.i. and has 11 vectors. Which of the following is FALSE?

(a) There must exist a l.i. subset S1 of V such that S ( S1 and S1 is not a basis for
V.
(b) Every nonempty subset S1 of S is l.i.
(c) There must exist a l.d. subset S1 of V such that S ( S1 .
(d) dim V > dim L[S].

Ans:

2. Let V be a vector space over a field F and dim V = n. Let S be a subset of V having
n vectors. Consider the following statements.
(I) S is a basis for V (II) S is a spanning set for V (III) S is l.i.
Then

(a) (I) ⇔ (II) is true, but (II) ⇔ (III) is FALSE.

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 (b) (I) ⇔ (III) is true, but (II) ⇔ (III) is FALSE.
(c) (II) ⇔ (III) is true, but (I) ⇔ (II) is FALSE.
(d) (I) ⇔ (II) ⇔ (III)

Ans:

3. Let V = R3 be equipped with the inner product (x, y) = x1 y1 + 2x2 y2 + 3x3 y3 . In this
inner product space (V, (·, ·)), which of the following pairs of vectors is orthonormal?

       
1 0 1 0
(a) u =  0 , v =  1  (b) u =  0 , v =  √12 
       

0 0 0 0

       
√1 1 1 0
3
√1
 1 
(c) u =  , v =  0  (d) u =  0 , v =  2 
     
3
0 0 0 0

Ans:

4. Let W be a subspace of a finite dimensional inner product space (V, (·, ·)) and W ⊥ its
orthogonal complement. If W1 is subspace of V such that x ∈ W1 ⇒ (x, u) = 0, ∀u ∈
W ⊥ . Then,

(a) dim W1⊥ ≤ dim W ⊥ (b) dim W1⊥ ≤ dim W

(c) dim W1⊥ ≥ dim W ⊥ (d) dim W1⊥ ≥ dim W

Ans:

5. If A ∈ R5×5 and x 6= θ5 , then the vectors x, Ax, A2 x, A3 x, A4 x, A5 x are

(a) l.i.
(b) l.d.
(c) l.i. if and only if A is symmetric
(d) l.i. or l.d. cannot be determined from the given data

Ans:

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6. If A ∈ Rm×n , B ∈ Rn×p and C = AB, then Rank of C is

(a) = Rank A (b) = Rank B

(c) ≤ Rank A but can be > Rank B (d) ≤ Rank A and Rank B

Ans:

7. Let A ∈ R10×10 and its characteristic polynomial be CA (λ) = (λ − λ1 )k1 (λ − λ2 )k2

(where λ1 , λ1 ∈ R, λ1 6= λ2 ) and if rank of A − λ1 I is (10 − k1 ), then

(a) A must be diagonalizable over R

(b) A is not necessarily diagonalizable over R
(c) Diagonalizability of A over R depends on the value of k2
(d) A is diagonalizable for all values of k2 such that k1 + k2 = 10

Ans:

8. Let A, B ∈ Cn×n be Hermitian matrices and let C1 = A + B, C2 = iA + (2 + 3i)B

and C3 = AB. Then, among the three matrices C1 , C2 , C3 , which are/is necessarily
Hermitian?

(a) Only C1 (b) Only C2

(c) Only C3 (d) All three of them

Ans:

9. Let A ∈ Rn×n be a positive semidefinite matrix. Then which of the following state-
ments is FALSE?

(a) (Ax, y) = (x, Ay), ∀x ∈ Rn , y ∈ Rn (b) (Ax, x) = (x, Ax), ∀x ∈ Rn

(Ax,x)
(c) (x,x)
> 0, ∀x ∈ Rn and x 6= θn (d) All eigenvalues of A are real and ≥ 0

Ans:

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10. If A ∈ R5×8 and nullity of AT A is 3, then nullity of AT is

(a) 3 (b) 2 (c) 5 (d) 0

Ans:

11. If A ∈ R10×8 has rank 8, then

(a) there exists at least one b ∈ R10 for which the system Ax = b has infinite number
of least square solutions
(b) for every b ∈ R10 , the system Ax = b has infinite number of solutions
(c) there exists at least one b ∈ R10 such that the system Ax = b has a unique least
square solution
(d) for every b ∈ R10 , the system Ax = b has a unique solution

Ans:

12. Let A ∈ Rm×n and A† its pseudo inverse. Consider the following four statements:
(I) νA† = νAT (II) ρA† = ρAT (III) ρA† = ρA (IV) νA† = νA
Which of the above four statements is FALSE?

(a) Only (I) (b) Only (IV)

(c) Only (II) and (III) (d) Only (I) and (IV)

Ans:

13. If A ∈ Rm×n and b 6∈ RA , under which of the following conditions will the system
Ax = b have a unique least square solution?
(a) ρA < m < n (b) ρA < n < m
(c) ρA = m = n (d) ρA = n < m

Ans:

14. Let A ∈ Rm×n . Among the matrices A† , AT and A† AA† which have/has the same
rank as A?
(a) Only A† and AT (b) Only A† and A† AA†
(c) Only AT and A† AA† (d) All three of them

Ans:

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II True or False?
Note: 1 mark for the correct answer, − 21 for the wrong answer and 0 marks for no attempt.

1. If u, v, w are l.i. vectors in Fn3 and the vectors φ, ψ, η are defined as φ = u + v, ψ =

2v + w, η = u + w, then φ, ψ, η are also l.i.

Ans:

2. If S1 and S2 are non-empty l.i. subsets of a vector space V s.t. S1 ∩ S2 = ∅, then

S1 ∪ S2 is also l.i.

Ans:

3. In R9 (with the usual inner product), we can find a subspace W s.t.

dim W = dim W ⊥ .

Ans:

4. If W1 and W2 are subspaces of Rn , (with the usual inner product) s.t.

dim W1⊥ = dim W2⊥ , then dim W1 must be equal to dim W2 .

Ans:

5. If A, B ∈ Rn×n , then Rank(A + B) ≤ RankA + RankB.

Ans:

6. Let u1 , u2 , u3 be l.i. vectors in an inner product space (V, (·, ·)), and let v1 , v2 , v3 be
in V s.t. (
1 if i = j
(vi , uj ) =
0 if i 6= j
Then v1 , v2 , v3 are l.i.

Ans:

7. If A ∈ Cn×n has n orthonormal eigenvectors then A must be Hermitian.

Ans:

8. If A ∈ R10×8 has rank 8, and A† is its pseudo inverse, then for every b ∈ / RA , the
† †
vector x = A AA b represents the unique optimal least square solution of the system
Ax = b.

Ans:

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III Fill in The Blanks
Note: 3 marks for a correct answer and 0 for a wrong answer or not attempted.

1. If A ∈ R10×12 has rank 8, then nullity of A† is .

2. Let x, y, z be orthonormal vectors in an inner product space (V, (·, ·)). Then,

||x + y||2 + ||y + z||2 + ||z + x||2 = .

3. For the matrix

 
1 2 0
3×3
2 1 0 ∈ F5 ,
 

0 0 3

the eigenvalues and their a.m. are .

4. Let A ∈ R3×4 and let

   
1 0
1 0
U =  ,V =  
   
0 1
0 1

be a basis for the nullspace of AT A.

 
b1
b 
 2
Then for b =   ∈ R4 , the system AT x = b has a solution if and only if b1 , b2 , b3 , b4
 b3 
b4
satisfy the condition(s) .

5. Let A ∈ R5×5 and w1 , w2 , w3 , w4 , w5 be l.i. eigenvectors of A and

5
X 5
X
w= jwj implies Aw = (j 2 + j)wj
j=1 j=1

then the characteristic polynomial of A is .

6. If A ∈ R8×5 has rank 3, then nullity of (A† )T is .

7. Let A ∈ Rm×n . If x ∈ Rn be written as x = xr + xn where xr ∈ RAT A and xn ∈ NA ,

then (A† AA† A)x = .

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IV Questions for Detailed Working
Note: There are five questions in this section. All of them are compulsory. Please write the
answers within the space provided. Extra sheets for final answers is discouraged.

1. In the vector space R2×2 (of all 2 × 2 real matrices over the field of real numbers)
consider

W = {A ∈ R2×2 : A is symmetric and Trace A = 0}

Answer the following: (4+4+2 marks)

(a) Show that W is a subspace of R2×2 .

(b) Find a basis for W .
(c) What is the dimension of W ?

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2. Consider the vector space R5 with the usual inner product. Let W be a subspace of
of R5 as defined below.
 
α
 β 
(   )
 
W = x ∈ R5 : x =  α + β  ; α, β ∈ R

α − β 
 
α+β

Answer the following: (3+5+2 marks)

(a) Find a basis of W .

(b) Apply Gram-Schmidt orthonormalization to the basis in (a) to find an orthonor-
mal basis for W .
(c) Find the dimensions of W and W ⊥ .

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  
1 0 1
3. Given that the matrix A = 1 −1 0 has an eigenvalue λ = 1 and that φ1 =
 

0 0 1
 
2
1  
√ 1 is a unit eigenvector corresponding to this eigenvalue, find the Schur de-
5
0
composition of A. (10
marks)

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4. A = R4×3 has the singular value decomposition
1
A = 4v1 uT1 + v2 uT2
2
where u1 , u2 are orthonormal in RAT and v1 , v2 are orthonormal in RA .
Answer the following: (2+4+4 marks)

(a) What is the rank of A?

(b) Find the characteristic polynomial of AT A.
(c) For the system,

Ax = 3v1 − 4v2

find the optimal solution.

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5. The following data about A ∈ R5×4 is given:

(i) The characteristic polynomial of AT A is (λ − 9)(λ − 4)λ2 .

   
1 1
1 1
  1 −1

(ii) u1 = √   and u2 = √   are respectively eigenvectors corresponding

3 1 2 0 
0 0
to the eigenvalues λ1 = 9 and λ2 = 4 for the matrix AT A.
√  √ 
3 2
√   √ 
 3 − 2
√   
(iii) Au1 =  3 ; Au2 =  0 
  
 0   0 
   
0 0

Using the above data and SVD, find the matrix A. (10 marks)

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