Roll No.

Name: Marks: /10

Class Work 4 ME681A (2017-18 I) 17 Aug 2017

We want to prove the basic result that row rank and column rank of a matrix are
equal. Suppose A is an m n real matrix having column rank r, with the rst r
columns linearly independent. We will represent the columns of A as a 1 , a2 etc (as
we usually do) and its rows as b1 , b2 etc. As we write the j-th column as a linear
combination of the rst r columns as
r

aj = ckj ak j,
k=1

we nd that all the coecients (ckj ) form a matrix, say C, for which we will represent
the columns as c1 , c2 etc and rows as d1 , d2 etc.

1. What is the size of matrix C? (1)

2. From the equation given above, extract the expression for a ij , a general element
of A. (1)
3. Now, write out bi , the i-th row of A, using the above expression. (2)
4. Express bi as a linear combination of d1 , d2 etc. (2)
5. Make a statement of exactly what we have proved till now regarding the number
of linearly independent rows of A. (2)
6. Supply your argument for completing the proof of the desired result. (2)