Algebra 1

Topic 11 – Matrices
Mr. Thompson
What is a matrix
 A Matrix is an array of numbers:

A Matrix
(This one has 2 Rows and 3 Columns)
Adding and subtracting matrices
 The two matrices must be the same size, i.e. the rows
must match in size, and the columns must match in
size.
Practice Questions
Multiplying matrices
 We can multiply a matrix by some
value:
Practice Questions
 Multiplying matrices

We can do the same thing for the 2nd row and 1st column:
(4, 5, 6) • (7, 9, 11) = 4×7 + 5×9 + 6×11 = 139
And for the 2nd row and 2nd column:
(4, 5, 6) • (8, 10, 12) = 4×8 + 5×10 + 6×12 = 154
Multiplying matrices
Rules for multiplication:
 The number of columns of the 1st
matrix must equal the number
of rows of the 2nd matrix.
 AB ≠ BA - When you change the
order of multiplication, the answer is
(usually) different.
Practice Questions
Equality of matrices
 For two matrices to be equal, they must be of the
same size and have all the same entries in the same
places.
 Given that the following matrices are equal, find the
values of x and y.

 X = 1 and y =4
Practice Question
 Given that the following matrices
are equal, find the values of x, y,
and z.
Equality of matrices

Solve for a, b, c and d

If the two matrices are equal then the corresponding
elements are equal too, thus we have:
a = 5, a + c = 4, b – 2d = 1 and 2b = 6
Insert the value of a into a + c = 4 will give: c = –1
And isolating b from 2b = 6 will give: b = 3
Insert b = 3 into b–2d = 1 will give: d = 1
Thus the two given matrices will be equal if a = 5, b = 3,
c = –1 and d = 1.
Transposing matrices
 To "transpose" a matrix, swap the rows and
columns. We put a "T" in the top right-hand
corner to mean transpose:
Practice Questions
Identity matrix
 The "Identity Matrix" is the matrix equivalent of the
number "1“:

 It is "square" (has same number of rows as

columns),
 It has 1s on the diagonal and 0s everywhere else.
 It's symbol is the capital letter I.
 It is a special matrix, because when you multiply
by it, the original is unchanged
Determinant of a matrix
The symbol for determinant is two
vertical lines either side.
Example:|A| means
the determinant of the matrix A

 The determinant tells us things about

the matrix that are useful in systems of
linear equations, helps us find
the inverse of a matrix.
Finding the determinant
 For a 2×2 matrix (2 rows and 2 columns):

 The determinant is:

|A| = ad - bc
"The determinant of A equals a times d
minus b times c"
Finding the determinant
 Example:

 |B|= 4×8 - 6×3 = 32-18 = 14

Practice Questions
 Cramer’s Rule

First, we'll get the determinant of the coefficient

matrix -- we'll call it D:

Now, we're going to find two more

determinants.
The first one we'll call -- here's how it goes:
Take D...
Cramer’s Rule

Repeat the process using the answers in place of the y guys

Practice Questions

6x + 2y = -44
-7x + 9y = -96

-1x - 7y = -12
-3x - 8y = 3
Finding the inverse of a matrix
 When you multiply a number by
its reciprocal you get 1, e.g 8 × (1/8) = 1
 When you multiply a Matrix by its Inverse you
get the Identity Matrix (which is like "1" for
Matrices):
 A × A-1 = I
 Sometimes there is no Inverse at all
Finding the inverse of a matrix
 For a 2x2 Matrix the Inverse is:
Worked Example
 Let us try an example:
Worked Example #2
 What is the inverse of the matrix

 First find the determinant of X:

det(X) = ad - bc = 3 × 2 - 1 × 5 = 6 - 5 = 1

Answer:
Practice Question
 What is the inverse of the matrix

 Answer:
Using the inverse
Say that you are trying to find "X" in this case:
 AX = B
So how do we solve this one? Using the same
method, but put A-1 in front:
 A-1AX = A-1B
And we know that A-1A= I, so:
 IX = A-1B
We can remove I:
 X = A-1B
And we have our answer (assuming we can
calculate A-1)