MATRICES AND MATRIX

OPERATIONS

Week 1
SKILLS OBJECTIVES
1. Determine the size of a given matrix.
2. Identify the row vectors and column vectors of a given
matrix.
3. Perform the arithmetic operations of matrix addition,
subtraction, scalar multiplication and multiplication.
4. Compute the transpose of the matrix.
5. Compute the trace of the matrix.
6. Determine whether the product of two given matrices is
defined.
7. Compute matrix products using row-column method, the
column method and the row method.
8. Express the product of a matrix and a column vector as a
linear combination of the columns of the matrix.
9. Express a linear system as a matrix equation and identify
the coefficient matrix.
 For example, the following rectangular array with three rows
and seven columns might describe the number of hours that a
student spent studying three subjects during a certain week:
A matrix is a rectangular array of numbers. The numbers in the
array are called the entries in the matrix.
Examples of Matrices

1 2 2
1
(a) 3 0 (b) 2 1 0 3 (c) 0 1
2
1 4 0 0 0
1
(d) (e) 4
3
The size of a matrix is described in terms of the number of rows
and columns it contains. The given matrices have sizes as
follows:
(a) 3x2 (b) 1X4 (c) 3X3 (d) 2x1 (e) 1x1
 A matrix with only one column is called a column vector or a
column matrix. The 2x1 matrix (d) is a column matrix. In
general, a column matrix has a size of mx1.
A matrix with only one row is called a row vector or a row
matrix. The 1x4 matrix (b) is a row matrix. In general, a row
matrix has a size of 1xn.
Capital letters are used to denote matrices and lowercase
letters to denote quantities.
2 1 7
A= or C=
3 4 2
Numerical quantities are called scalars.
The entry that occurs in row I and column j of matrix A will be
denoted by thus for a 3x4 matrix , the entries are written
11 12 13 14
as A= 21 22 23 24
31 32 33 34
 In general an mxn matrix can be written as
11 12 1
21 22. 2
A=
1 2
When a compact notation is desired , the matrix can be written
as when its important to know the size , or when

the size need not be emphasized.
The letter of the matrix is matched with the letter denoting its
entries, thus for matrix B, the entry is denoted by for the
entry in row i and column j, and for matrix C the entry has a
notation .
The entry in row I and column j of a matrix A is also commonly
denoted by =
 5 2
For the matrix A= ,
3 1
()11 =5, ()12 = -2, ()21 = 3, ()22 = 1

OTHER TYPES OF MATRICES

A matrix A with n rows and n columns is called a square
matrix of order n and the shaded entries 11 , 22 , , are
said to be on the main diagonal of A.
 Null Matrix
A matrix whose all entries are zero
0 0 0 0 0
Examples: ,
0 0 0 0 0
Triangular Matrix
A special kind of square matrix where either all the
entries below or all the entries above the main diagonal are zero.
1 0 0
1 6
Examples: , 2 3 0
0 1
7 7 1
Diagonal Matrix
A special kind of square matrix whose off-main diagonal
entries are all zero.
3 0 0
Example: 0 2 0
0 0 8
Scalar Matrix
A diagonal matrix in which all terms in the main diagonal
are equal.
3 0 0
2 0
Examples: , 0 3 0
0 2
0 0 3
Identity Matrix
A special kind of square matrix where either all the
entries below or all the entries above the main diagonal are zero.
1 0 0
1 0
Examples: , 0 1 0
0 1
0 0 1
 If is any matrix, then the transpose of , denoted
by , is defined to be the matrix that results from
interchanging the rows and columns of ; that is, the first
column of is the first row of , the second column of is
the second row of , and so forth.
Examples:
 Symmetric Matrix
A special kind of square matrix that is equal to its
transpose. ( = )
1 7 3 1 7 3
Example: A= 7 4 5 = = 7 4 5
3 5 6 3 5 6

If A is a square matrix, then the trace of A, denoted by tr(A) is

defined to be the sum of the entries on the main diagonal of
A. The trace of A is undefined if A is not a square matrix.
Example. Find the trace of A in the previous example.

tr(A) = 1 + 4 + 6= 11
 OPERATIONS ON MATRICES
Consider the matrices
2 1 2 1 2 1 0
A= , B= , C=
3 3 5 3 4 0

If x= 5, then A = B, but for all other values of x the matrices A and

B are not equal. There is no value of x for which A = C since A
and C have different sizes.
Two matrices are defined to be equal if they have the same
size and their corresponding entries are equal.
The equality of two matrices A = and B = of the
same size can be expressed either by writing =
or by writing
= where the equalities hold for all values i and j.
Matrix Addition and Subtraction
If A and B are matrices of the same size , then the sum A+B is
the matrix obtained by adding the entries of B to the
corresponding entries of A, and the difference A-B is the
matrix obtained by subtracting the entries of B from the
corresponding entries of A. Matrices of different sizes cannot
be added or subtracted. In matrix notation,
If A = and B= have the same size, then
+ = + = + and
= =
If A is any matrix and c is any scalar, then the product cA is
the matrix obtained by multiplying each entry of the matrix A
by c. The matrix cA is said to be a scalar multiple of A.
If A = , then = c =c
Example: no.3 p.36
Consider the matrices
4 9
2 0 1 7 2
A= , B= , C = 3 0,
4 6 5 3 0
2 1
2 1 8 0 3 0
D= 3 0 2 E = 5 1 1
4 6 3 7 6 2

In each part, compute the given expression (where possible).

(a) D+E (b) D-E (c) 5A (d) -9D (e) 2B-C
(f) 7E-3D (g) 2(D+5E) (h) 2 +C (i) ( )
(j)(2 -3 ) (k) tr(D) (l) tr(D-E) (m) 2tr(4B)
 Matrix Multiplication
The definition of matrix multiplication requires that the
number of columns of the first factor be the same as the
number of rows of the second factor in order to form the
product . If this condition is not satisfied, the product is
undefined. A convenient way to determine whether a product
of two matrices is defined is to write down the size of the first
factor and, to the right of it, write down the size of the second
factor. If the inside numbers are the same, then the product is
defined. The outside numbers then give the size of the
product.
 Suppose that A, B, C, D and E are matrices with the
following sizes:
A (4x5) B (4x5) C(5x2) D(4x2) E (5x4)
Determine whether the given matrix expression is
defined. For those that are defined, give the size of the
resulting matrix.
(a) BA (b) AC + D (c ) AE + B (d) AB + B
(e) E(A+B) (f) E(AC) (g) A (h) ( + E)D
 Matrix Multiplication
If is an matrix and is an matrix, then the
product is the matrix whose entries are determined
as follows. To find the entry in row and column of ,
single out row from the matrix and column from the
matrix . Multiplying the corresponding entries from the row
and column together, and then add up the resulting products.
= + + + +
 Example
The entry in row 1 and column 4 of is computed as
follows:

The computations for the remaining entries are

 Matrix Products as Linear Combinations
If 1 , ,2 , are matrices of the same size, and if 1 , 2 ,,3
are scalars, then the expression of the form
1 1 + 2 2 + + is called a linear combination of
1 , ,2 , , with coefficients 1 , 2 ,,3 . .
Theorem: If A is an mxn matrix, and if x is an nx1 column vector,
then the product Ax can be expressed as a linear combination of
the column vectors of A in which the coefficients are the entries
of x.
Example: Matrix Product as Linear Combinations
The matrix product
1 3 2 2 1
1 2 3 1 = 9 can be written as the
2 1 2 3 3
following linear combination of column vectors
1 3 2 1
2 1 2 + 3 3 = 9
2 1 2 3
 Matrix Form of a Linear System
Matrix multiplication has an important applications to systems of
linear equation. Consider a system of m linear equations in n
unknowns

Since two matrices are equal if and only if their corresponding

entries are equal, we can replace the m equations in this system
by the single matrix equation
 The mx1 matrix on the can be written as a product to give

If we designate these matrices by A, x, and b, respectively, then

we can replace the original system of m equations in n
unknowns by the single matrix equation
Ax=b.
The matrix A in this equation is called the coefficient matrix
of the system. The augmented matrix for the system is
obtained by adjoining b to A as the last column, thus the
augmented matrix is
 Example
No. 7 p.36
3 2 7 6 2 4
Let A = 6 5 4 and B = 0 1 3
0 4 9 7 7 5
Use the row method or the column method (as appropriate) to
find
(a) The first row of AB (b) the third row of AB
(c ) The second column of AB (d) the first column of BA
(e) The third row of AA (f) The third column of AA
Ans.
 No. 11 p. 36
Find matrices A, x, and b that express the given system of
linear equations as a single matrix equation Ax=b
 No. 13 p. 36
Express the matrix equation as a system of linear equations.
No. 15 p. 37
Find all values of k, if any, that satisfy the equation

No. 17 p. 37
Solve the matrix equation for a, b, c and d.