MTH 331 S1/2011-12_ LLR 1

MATH 331 Linear Algebra

Introduction to Matrices

A matrix is a rectangular array of real numbers. (The plural of matrix is matrices)
Each number in the matrix is an element (or entry) of the matrix.
The following are examples of matrices:
1 2 1
0 4 3
(
(


3.6 0
2
2 2
3
0.4 1.5 1
t (
(

(
(


| |
7
125
346
(
(


7.2
0.4
1.3
0
(
(
(
(
(


The order (or size) of a matrix is described by the number of rows (horizontal lines ) and
the number of columns (vertical lines ) i.e. Number of rows Number of columns.
The order of matrix (a) above is written 2 3 (Number of rows first, number of columns
second). We read this as 2 by 3.
We use capital letters to represent matrices. For example, we can represent the matrices
above as
A =
1 2 1
0 4 3
(
(

B =
3.6 0
2
2 2
3
0.4 1.5 1
t (
(

(
(

C =
| |
7 D =
125
346
(
(

E =
7.2
0.4
1.3
0
(
(
(
(
(


B is a 3 3 matrix; C is a 1 1 matrix; D is a 2 1 matrix; E is a 4 1 matrix.
A matrix with the same number of rows and columns is called a square matrix.
The matrix B above is a square matrix. The order of matrix is 3, or it is a matrix of order
3.
Equality of matrices
Two matrices are equal if they have the same order (size) and corresponding elements are
equal.
For example:
, , , , ,
a b c p q r
a p b q c r d s e t f u
d e f s t u
( (
= = = = = = =
( (


MTH 331 S1/2011-12_ LLR 2
A matrix with all elements equal to zero is called a zero matrix. The following are examples
of zero matrices:

0 0 0
0 0 0
(
(

,
0 0 0
0 0 0
0 0 0
(
(
(
(

,
| |
0 0 0 ,
0
0
(
(

,
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
(
(
(
(
(

,
| |
0
We use 0 to denote a zero matrix. e.g. 0 =
0 0 0
0 0 0
0 0 0
(
(
(
(


The main diagonal (or principal diagonal) of a square matrix consist of the elements that are
from the top left corner to the bottom right corner (i.e. they lie in Row 1 Column 1, Row 2
Column 2, Row3 Column 3, and so on). The main diagonal elements are shown in bold in
the matrix below.
4 2 3
1 7 2
6 3 0
9 8 2
(
(

(
(
(

1
0
4
-9

An identity matrix is any square matrix whose main diagonal elements are all 1s with all
other elements equal to zero. We usually denote the identity matrix with the letter I .
We use I
n
to represent an n n identity matrix. The following are examples of identity
matrices:

2 3 4
1 0 0 0
1 0 0
1 0 0 1 0 0
, 0 1 0 ,
0 1 0 0 1 0
0 0 1
0 0 0 1
I I I
(
(
(
(
(
(
= = =
(
(
(

(
(



Since the off-diagonal entries are all zeros, the identity matrix may be written as follows,
especially for matrices of large orders.
4 6
1
1 1
1 1
,
1 1
1 1
1
0
0
0
0
I I
(
(
(
(
(
(
(
= =
(
(
(
(
(

(


MTH 331 S1/2011-12_ LLR 3
Operations with matrices
Addition
If A and B are any two matrices of the same order (size), then we can add the two matrices by
adding their corresponding elements. The resulting matrix A + B will also have the same
order (size).
Example:
A =
0 3 2
5 1 0
4 1 6
(
(

(
(

B =
3 2 1
2 6 2
7 4 7
(
(
(
(


A + B =
0 3 3 2 2 1 3 1 3
5 2 1 6 0 2 7 5 2
4 7 1 4 6 7 11 5 1
+ + ( (
( (
+ + + =
( (
( ( + + +


Subtraction
If A and B are any two matrices of the same order (size), then we can subtract B from A by
subtracting the elements of B from the corresponding elements of A. The resulting matrix A
B will also have the same order (size).
Example: For A and B in the example above
A B =
0 3 3 ( 2) 2 1 3 5 1
5 2 1 6 0 2 1 7 2
4 7 1 4 6 7 3 3 13
( (
( (
=
( (
( (


Multiplication by a scalar
When discussing matrices, we usually refer to numerical quantities (real numbers) as scalars.
We can multiply a matrix by scalar. If A is any matrix, and r is any scalar (real number), then
the product of A and r is the matrix rA which is obtained by multiplying each element of A
by r.
Example A =
1 2 1
0 4 3
(
(


5A = 5
1 2 1
0 4 3
(
(

=
5 10 5
0 20 15
(
(

(Here r = 5 )
1.5A = 1. 5
1 2 1
0 4 3
(
(

=
1.5 3 1.5
0 6 4.5
(
(


(Here r = 1.5 )
Multiplication of Matrices
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We can only multiply one matrix by another matrix if the number of columns in the first
matrix is the same as the number of rows in the second matrix. The order in which we
multiply matrices will make a difference to the result.
Each element in the product matrix is found by adding the products of each element in a
given row in the first matrix by the corresponding element in the given column in the second
matrix.
The product matrix will have the same number of rows as the first matrix and the same
number of columns as the second matrix/
Multiplying a 2 3 matrix A by a 3 4 matrix B is possible and it gives a 2 4 matrix AB.

Note that multiplying B by A, in the reverse order is NOT possible.

This is how multiplication of matrices works:
As an example, let's take a general 2 3 matrix multiplied by a 3 2 matrix.
p q
a b c
r s
d e f
t u
(
(
(
(
(

(

The answer will be a 2 2 matrix.
We multiply and add the elements as follows. We work across the 1st row of the first matrix,
multiplying down the 1st column of the second matrix, element by element. We add the
resulting products. The result goes in the first row and first column of the answer matrix.
q
s
d e f
u
(
( (
(
=
( (
(

(

p
a b c ap+ br + ct *
r
* *
t

We do a similar process for the 1st row of the first matrix and the 2nd column of the second
matrix. The result goes in the first row and second column of the answer matrix.
p
ap+br +ct
r
d e f
t
(
( (
(
=
( (
(

(

q
a b c aq + bs + cu
s
* *
u

Now repeat the same process for the second row of the first matrix.
The 2nd row of the first matrix and the 1st column of the second matrix gives a result which
goes in the second row and first column of the answer matrix.

MTH 331 S1/2011-12_ LLR 5
q
a b c ap+br +ct aq+bs+cu
s
u
(
( (
(
=
( (
(

(

p
r
d e f dp+ er + ft *
t

Finally, we do the 2nd row of the first matrix and the 2nd column of the second matrix. The
result goes in the second row and second column of the answer matrix.
p
a b c ap+br +ct aq+bs+cu
r
dp+er + ft
t
(
( (
(
=
( (
(

(

q
s
d e f dq + es + fu
u

This is the product of the 2 matrices.
p q
a b c ap+br +ct aq+bs+cu
r s =
d e f dp+er + ft dq+es+ fu
t u
(
( (
(
( (
(

(


Examples
A =
1 2 1
0 4 3
(
(

B =
4 3
2 1
(
(

C =
1
1
7
(
(

(
(


(a) AB Not possible.
(b) BA =
4 3
2 1
(
(

1 2 1
0 4 3
(
(

=
4 0 8 12 4 9
2 0 4 4 2 3
+ + + (
(
+ + +

=
4 20 5
2 8 1
(
(


(c) AC =
1 2 1
0 4 3
(
(

1
1
7
(
(

(
(

=
1 2 7
0 4 21
(
(
+

=
8
17
(
(


The Transpose of a Matrix
If A is any m n matrix, then the transpose of A is denoted by A
T
and is defined by the n m
matrix whose first column is the first row of A,
second column is the second row of A,
third column is the third row of A,
and so on
Examples
A =
1 2 1
0 4 3
(
(

A
T
=
1 0
2 4
1 3
(
(
(
(


B =
4 3
2 1
(
(

B
T
=
4 2
3 1
(
(


C =
1
1
7
(
(

(
(

C
T
=
| |
1 1 7
MTH 331 S1/2011-12_ LLR 6

Rules for Operations on Matrices
The following rules apply to sums and scalar multiplication, if A, B and C are matrices of the
same order (size) and r and s are scalars.
a. A + B = B + A
b. (A + B) + C = A + (B + C)
c. A + 0 = A
d. r (A + B) = r A + r B
e. (r + s) A = r A + s A
f. r (sA) = (rs)A
The following rules apply to multiplication of matrices.
Let A be an m n matrix and let B and C have orders (sizes) for which the given sums and
and products can be performed. r is any scalar. I
m
is the identity matrix.
a. A(BC) = (AB)C
b. A(B + C) = AB + AC
c. (B + C)A = BA + CA
d. r (AB) = (r A)B = A(rB)
e. I
m
A = A = AI
m

If A and B be matrices such that the operations shown below can be performed, then the
following rules apply for the transpose of a matrix. r is any scalar
a. (A
T
)
T
= A
b. (A + B)
T
= A
T
+ B
T

c. ( rA )
T
= rA
T

d. (AB)
T
= B
T
A
T