Math 4AI Final Exam Study Guide

Your final exam is Thursday, December 18th. The exam will be a combination of computational
problems, conceptual questions and theoretical problems. All of the theoretical problems will be take
directly from this handout - you will be asked to prove one or more theorems directly from the list
below, and solve one or more conceptual problems very similar to those listed below. If you fully
understand everything on this study guide - you should be prepared for the exam.
Computational and Conceptual Skills: For each of the following skills, you should find an example
problem in your notes or in the WikiGlossary that is an application of the skill. For your final exam,
you should know everything listed from the midterm study guide...
...how to describe lines, planes and k planes parametrically.
...what the span of some collection of vectors is, what a spanning set is and what it means for a
collection of vectors to span a given set.
...how to determine if a collection of vectors is linearly dependent or linearly independent.
...how to use matrices to solve linear systems of equations and how to describe the solutions
parametrically.
...how to find the RREF form of a matrix, what a pivot is and how that information is helpful.
...how to understand the solution space to a system of linear equations geometrically.
...what conditions imply that a linear system of equations has no solutions, one solution or many
solutions.
...how to describe the relationship between solutions to nonhomogeneous systems and solutions
to their associated homogeneous systems.
...how matrix multiplication works and basic properties.
...how to determine if a subset of Rn is a subspace.
...what a basis is, how to find one and its connection to the dimension of a subspace.
Formula for 3x3 inverse

...how to compute the inverse of a matrix.

...how to compute the determinant of a 2 2 or 3 3 matrix and what the determinant tells you
about the matrix-mapping.
...how the determinant of a matrix is changed by row/column operations.
...how to find the row space, column space and kernel of a matrix and how these subspaces are
aected by row operations.
...how to find the rank and nullity of a matrix and the relationship between these values.
...what it means for the determinant to be multiplicative.
1

Plus material weve covered since the midterm, including...

...how to use cofactor expansion to compute the determinant of an n n matrix.
...connections between the determinant of a matrix and whether or not the matrix is invertible.
...what a linear transformation is and how to prove a mapping is or is not a linear transformation.
...how to find the matrix of a linear transformation.
...how to find the kernel and image of a linear transformation.
...how to find the coordinates of a vector with respect to a new basis and how to find the standard
coordinates of a vector from the coordinates in the new basis.
...how to find the matrix of a linear transformation with respect to a new basis and vice versa.
...how to determine the geometry of a matrix transformation.
...how to find the eigenvalues, eigenvectors and eigenspaces associated with a given matrix.
...basic algebraic properties of eigenvalues/vectors (e.g. how the eigenstu of a matrix A compares to the eigenstu of A2 )
...how to determine if a matrix is diagonalizable and, if it is diagonalizable, how to diagonalize
it.
Conceptual Problems: Dont stop at these problems. If you find one is especially difficult, try to
find more like it in the exploration packets (or ask Dr. Thoren or Arielle for more practice problems).
1. Is it possible that all solutions of a homogeneous system of ten linear equations in twelve variables
are multiples of one fixed nonzero solution? Discuss.
2. Let

1
6 3
A=6
4 2
0

3
1
2
0

2
2
4
0

3
0
07
7
65
6

(a) Find the image and kernel of A. What is the rank of A? What is the nullity of A?
(b) For which vectors ~b does the system A~x = ~b have a solution?
3. Find the dimensions of the following sets
82 3 2 3 2 3 2 39
2
1
5 =
< 1
4
5
4
5
4
5
4
3 , 7 ,
4 , 175
(a) Span
:
;
0
3
3
6

1
2
(b)
,
0
3

(c) Ker(TA ), where TA is the linear transformation given by the matrix

2
3
4
0
2
5
45 .
A = 42
0
0
5
82 3 2 3 2 39
2
1 =
< 1
4. Let B = 435 , 4 55 , 4 0 5 .
:
;
4
6
1
(a) Show that B is a basis for R3 .

(b) Find the coordinates for the vectors

2 3 2 3 2 3
4
0
2
425 , 4 55 , 4 4 5
0
0
5
with respect to the basis B.
2
3
4
0
2
5
4 5. Compute [T ]B
(c) Let [T ]S = 42
0
0
5

(d) Compute det([T ]S ) and det([T ]B ). Did you get the same value? *Explain why this happened.
5. Diagonalize the matrix A from problem 3 part (c). Compute the determinant of the diagonal
matrix.
6. Construct and example of a 3 3 matrix with two distinct eigenvalues and only two eigenvector
directions.
7. Let

82 3 2 39
0 =
< 1
4
5
4
2 , 25 .
V = Span
:
;
0
1

Find the matrix for the linear transformation that stretches vectors in V to double their length
and leaves the z direction unchanged. What are the eigenvalues and eigenspaces of this matrix?
8. Give a geometric description of the linear transformations given by the following matrices:

Eigenvalues,
1
2
1
2
Eigenvectors.
(a)
(c)
2
1
2
5
Determinant.
3
If incomplete, some kind 2
1
3
2
0
of
a
shear.
2
3
6 3
1 1 1
1
2 07
7
(d) 6
4
4
5
2
2
4 65
(b) 0 1 1
0 0 1
0
0
0 6
9. Let T : P2 ! P3 be defined by T (p) = q where q(x) = xp(x). Show that T is a linear
transformation and then find the matrix for T in the canonical bases for P2 and P3 .
3

10. A 3 3 is upper triangular if it can

2
a b
40 d
0 0

be written
3
c
e 5 , where a, b, c, d, e, f 2 R.
f

what
constitutes
such a
proof?

(a) Show that the upper triangular matrices form a vector subspace of M33 .

(b) Find a basis for the upper triangular matrices. What is the dimension of this subspace?
Theorems: If you get stuck trying to prove one of these, find a supporting example.
~ 2 Span{~~v1 , ~v2 , ~v3 , ~v4 }
1. Suppose {~v1 , ~v2 , ~v3 , ~v4 } is linearly dependent. Show that each vector w
can be expressed in more than one way as a linear combination of the vectors ~v1 , ~v2 , ~v3 , ~v4 .
2. Show that if B is an invertible n n matrix, then the rank of BA equals the rank of A for any
n k matrix A.
3. Let A be an n n matrix. Show that if ~v1 and ~v2 are eigenvectors for A associated with distinct
eigenvalues, then ~v1 and ~v2 are linearly independent.
4. Suppose A is a square matrix and
is an eigenvalue of A. Show that the collection of all
eigenvectors of A associated with forms a subspace.
5. Let A be an n n matrix. Show that the determinant of A is equal to the product of the
eigenvalues of A.
6. Let T : Rn ! Rk . Show that dim(Im(T )) + dim(Ker(T )) = n.
7. Use the vector space axioms from your notes to prove that in any abstract vector space V,
0~v = ~0. Verify that this holds for the vector space from problem 6.14 (d) in your notes.
8. Let V be an abstract vector space and let T : V ! V be a linear transformation on V. Show
that T (~0) = ~0.
Will we be given the vector space axioms?

Formula for inverses

Cofactor expansions