Chapter 2 Answers to Exercises

Lecturer of Math203: Dr Kai Du

April 12, 2016
1. The sets in (a) and (d) are subspaces of R2 . The set in (b) or (c) is not a subspace of R2 .
2. The sets in (b) and (c) are subspaces of R3 . The set in (a) or (d) is not a subspace of R3 .
3. Take any vectors v1 + w1 and v2 + w2 in V + W , where v1 , v2 V and w1 , w2 W , and take any scalars
a and b. Then we have
a(v1 + w1 ) + b(v2 + w2 ) = av1 + aw1 + bv2 + bw2
= (av1 + bv2 ) + (bw1 + bw2 )
Since V and W are vector spaces, we know that av1 + bv2 V and bw1 + bw2 W . Thus
(av1 + bv2 ) + (bw1 + bw2 ) V + W
Therefore, V + W is also a subspace of Rn .
4. (See Example 2.2.2) The reduced row echelon form of A is given by


1 0 1 2
U=
0 1
2
3
Solving the system U x = 0 we have that
x1 x3 2x4

x2 + 2x3 + 3x4

thus,
x1

x3 + 2x4

x2

2x3 3x4

If we set x3 = a and x4 = b, then

2
1
a + 2b

2a 3b

= a 2 + b 3
x=

0
1
a
b
1
0

Thus,
N (A) = Span{[1, 2, 1, 0]T , [2, 3, 0, 1]T }
Moreover, dim N (A) = 2.
5. (See Remark in Page 43) A set including three linearly independent vectors in R3 can span R3 .
(a) Since

 1

 0

 0

0
1
1

1
0
1




 = 1 6= 0



these vectors are linearly independent, so they forms a spanning set for R3 .
1

(b) The set is a spanning set for R3 .

(c) The set is not a spanning set for R3 , since these three vectors are linearly dependent:


 2 2
4 

 1 1
2  = 0

 2
2 4 
(d) The set is not a spanning set for R3 , since it only contains two vectors.
6. First we can check that x and y are linearly independent.
(a) Since x, y, a are linearly independent (by computing the determinant of [x, y, a]), we have
a
/ Span(x, y)
(b) Since x, y, b are linearly independent (by computing the determinant of [x, y, b]), we have
b Span(x, y)
(c) By elementary row operation, we have
 T  
x
1
=
2
aT
and

yT
bT


=

3
9

2
6

3
6

4 2
2 5

1
0

0
1

1
0

0
1

0.6
1.2
0.8
1.1

These two reduced row echelon forms are not the same, so by Theorem 2.2.4,
Span(x, a) 6= Span(y, b)
7. (See Examples 2.3.4 and 2.3.5)
(a) Since

 1

 1

 1

0
2
5

1
3
6




=0



from Theorem 2.3.2, the given vectors are linearly dependent.

(b) Using the elementary row operations, we compute

1
1 1 2 4
0
3 1 2 0
3
0 7 14
0

1 2 4
3 1 2
0 0 0

There is a zero row in the resulting matrix, so by Theorem 2.3.2, the given vectors are linearly dependent.
8. If the conclusion is not true, i.e., v1 , v2 , . . . , vk are linearly dependent, then there are scalars c1 , c2 , . . . , ck ,
not all zero, such that
c1 v1 + c2 v2 + + ck vk = 0
Taking ck+1 = 0, . . . , cm = 0, we have
c1 v1 + c2 v2 + + ck vk + ck+1 vk+1 + + cm vm = 0
That means v1 , v2 , . . . , vm are linearly independent, yielding a contridiction. Thus, v1 , v2 , . . . , vk are linearly
independent.

9. We compute
y1 (v1 + v2 ) + y2 (v2 + v3 ) + y3 (v3 + v1 )

y1
= [v1 + v2 , v2 + v3 , v3 + v1 ] y2
y3

1 0 1
y1
= [v1 , v2 , v3 ] 1 1 0 y2
0 1 1
y3
Since

is a nonsingular matrix, we have

1 0
1 1
0 1

1
1
0

0
1
1

1
0
1

1
y1
0 y2 = 0 if and only if
1
y3

y1
y2 = 0
y3

Therefore, v1 , v2 , v3 are linearly independent if and only if v1 +v2 , v2 +v3 , v3 +v1 are linearly independent.
10. (See Example 2.4.2)
(a) Compute the row echelon form of associated matrix:
T

x
3 3 6
1
yT = 2
2
4 0
4 4 8
0
zT

1 2
0
0
0
0

There is only one nonzero row in the resulting matrix, so the dimension of Span(x, y, z) is 1.
(b) Compute the row echelon form of associated matrix:

T
1 1 2
x
3 3 6
7
0
yT 2
2
4
1
3

T=
z 4 4 8 0
0
0
T
2
1
3
0
0
0
w
There is two nonzero rows in the resulting matrix, so the dimension of Span(x, y, z) is 2.
(c) From (b), the set {[1, 1, 2]T , [0, 1, 37 ]T } forms a basis for Span(x, y, z, w).
11. Let dim U = k and {u1 , . . . , uk } be a basis for U , and let dim V = m and {v1 , . . . , vm } be a basis for
V . Since U V = {0}, we know that there is not any nonzero element in U , which can be written as a
linear combination of v1 , . . . , vm , so u1 , . . . , uk , v1 , . . . , vm are linearly independent. From the definition of
U + V , every element in U + V can be written as a linear combination of u1 , . . . , uk , v1 , . . . , vm . This means
{u1 , . . . , uk , v1 , . . . , vm } forms a basis for U + V , so
dim(U + V ) = dim U + dim V
12. (a) Compute the row echelon form of associated matrix:

T
x1
1 2 2 3
1
xT2 = 2 5 4 1 0
1 3 2 1
0
xT3

0
1
0

2
0
0

0
0
1

There is no zero row in the resulting matrix. By Theorem 2.3.2, x1 , x2 , x3 are linearly independent.
(b) The idea is to add a row to the above reduced row echelon form so that the new 4 4 matrix is nonsingular.
We note

1 0 2 0
0 1 0 0

det
0 0 0 1 = 1 6= 0
0 0 1 0
so we can take x4 = [0, 0, 1, 0]T (transposing the row we just added).
3

13. The reduced row echelon form of A is

1
U = 0
0

1
0
0

0
1
0

0
0
1

(a) rank(A) = 3. By the Rank-Nullity Theorem 2.5.6, the nullity of A is 4 rank(A) = 1.

(b) (See Example 2.5.5) The leading 1s occur in the first, third and fourth columns. Thus, the first, third and
fourth column vectors of A:

1
1
2

2 , 3 , 1

1
0
5
forms a basis for R(A).
(c) (See Example 2.4.3) The set {[1, 1, 0, 0]T } forms a basis for N (A).
14. (See Examples 2.5.3&4, 2.5.8&9)
(a) The rank is 2 and the nullity is 1.
(b) The rank is 3 and the nullity is 1.
(c) The rank is 3 and the nullity is 1.
15. By the definition of matrix rank,
rank(A) = dim R(A) n
and
rank(A) = dim R(AT ) m
Thus,
rank(A) min{m, n}