Linear Algebra Final Exam

1:003:00, Sunday, June 2

Bradley 102

1 Let T : R3 R3 be a linear transformation with the property that

T T T = 0 (well refer to T T T as T 3 for the rest of this problem).

(a) What exactly does this mean? That is, what is the practical upshot
when it comes to plugging in vectors to T 3 ?

Solution

It means that T 3 (v) = 0 for every vector v R3 .

(b) Suppose that x R3 is such that T 2 (x) = T (T (x)) 6= 0. If z = cT 2 (x),

then what is T (z)? Let y = c1 T (x) + c2 T 2 (x). What is T 2 (y)?

Solution

Well,
T (z) = T (cT 2 (x)) = cT 3 (x) = 0
and

T 2 (y) = T 2 (c1 T (x) + c2 T 2 (x)) = c1 T 3 (x) + c2 T 3 (T (x)) = 0.

(c) Lets say

b1 = x b2 = T (x), and b3 = T 2 (x).
Show that b1 is not a linear combination of b2 and b3 .

Solution

From what weve seen in (b), any linear combination y of b2 and

b3 has the property that T 2 (y) = 0. Since T 2 (b1 ) = T 2 (x) 6= 0,
b1 cant be a linear combination of b2 and b3 .

1
 (d) Explain why the set B = {b1 , b2 , b3 } is a basis for R3 . (Hint: Some
of the work youve already done might help. )

Solution

We know that T (b2 ) = T 2 (x) 6= 0 and T (b3 ) = 0, so b2 is not

a multiple of b1 . And we showed in (c) that b1 is not a linear
combination of b2 and b3 , so the whole set must be linearly in-
dependent. Since we are working in R3 , any linearly independent
set of 3 vectors is a basis.

(e) Find the B-matrix for the linear transformation T . (This can be done
with very little work).

Solution

Since
T (b1 ) = b2 , T (b2 ) = b3 and T (b3 ) = 0,
the matrix must be
0 0 0
1 0 0.

0 1 0

2 Let
3 0 0
A = 0 4 1.

0 2 5
(a) Find the eigenvalues of A. (Hint: 2 9 + 18 = ( 3)( 6) )

Solution

The characteristic polynomial is

det(AI) = (3)((4)(5)2) = (3)(2 9+18) = (3)(3)(6).

Therefore the eigenvalues of A are 3 and 6.

2
(b) Find bases for the eigenspaces of A.

Solution

First lets handle = 3. We need to solve (A 3I)v = 0 by

reducing the matrix

0 0 0 0 1 1
A 3I = 0 1 1 0 0 0 .

0 2 2 0 0 0

This shows that the eigenspace for = 3 is

( 1 0 )
span 0 , 1 .

0 1

For = 6, we row reduce

3 0 0 1 0 0
A 6I = 0 2 1 0 2 1 .

0 2 1 0 0 0

This shows that the eigenspace for = 3 is

( 0 )
span 21 .

(c) Write down an invertible matrix P and a diagonal matrix D such that
A = P DP 1 . Briefly explain yourself.

Solution

We have a basis

1( 0 0 )
1
B = 0, 1 , 2

0 1 1

3
 for R3 consisting of eigenvectors for A. The matrix P is the change
of coordinates from B to the standard basis, and D is the diagonal
matrix with the eigenvalues on the diagonal. Thus if

1 0 0 3 0 0
1
P =
0 1 2

and D =
0 3 0

0 1 1 0 0 6

then A = P DP 1 .

3
(a) Suppose T : V V is a linear transformation, and that B = {b1 , b2 , b3 }
is a basis for V . If the B-matrix for T is

2 3 5
A = 7 11 13 ,

17 19 23

then what is T (2b1 + 4b3 )?

Solution

Calculate T (2b1 + 4b3 ) = 16b1 + 58b2 + 110b3 .

(b) Explain why the image (range) of a linear transformation T : V W

is a subspace of W .

Solution

The image of T is the set Im(T ) = {T (v) | v V }. If x, y Im(T )

and c, d R, then x = T (v) for some v V and y = T (u) for
some u V . Then

cx + dy = cT (v) + dT (u) = T (cv + du).

Since V is a vector space, cv + du V , so cx + dy Im(T ).

4
 (c) Is the matrix
1 2 3
A=
0 5 8

0 0 13
diagonalizable? Explain.

Solution

Yes. It is upper triangular, so we can get the eigenvalues from

the diagonal. Since there are three distinct eigenvalues and were
working with R3 , there will be a basis for R3 consisting of eigen-
vectors of A, which is the same as saying that A is diagonalizable.

(d) If the column space of a 8 4 matrix A is 3-dimensional, then what is

the dimension of the null space?

Solution

There are 3 pivot columns, leaving 1 nonpivot column, so the

dimension of Nul(A) is 1.

4 Consider the matrix

1 1 2 2
A = 2 2 5 5


0 0 3 3

(a) Find a basis (which I will refer to as B) for Nul(A).

Solution

First row reduce A:

1 1 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 1 0 0
A = 2 2 5 5 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1

.
0 0 3 3 0 0 3 3 0 0 0 0

5
 We see from this that Nul(A) has a basis

1 0

1 0
b1 = , b2 = .

0 1
0 1

(b) Let V = Nul(A). Then we can define a linear transformation

T : V R3

by T (v) = Av. Write down the matrix for T in terms of the basis B of
V and the standard basis E = {e1 , e2 , e3 } of R3 .

Solution

The matrix we want will be M = [T (b1 ), T (b2 )]. Since both b1

and b2 are in Nul(A), T (b1 ) = T (b2 ) = 0, so the matrix is

0 0
M = 0 0.

0 0