Chapter 2

Matrices, Determinants and Systems of Linear Equations

2.1. Definition of matrix and basic operations

Definition: Let m and n be in . A rectangular array of numbers in

( )

is called a matrix in

Remark: The numbers in the matrix are called the entries of the matrix.

Note:

1. A is an matrix if A has m rows (horizontals) and n columns(verticals).

2. is the element that appears in the row and in the column.
3. is an matrix.
4. is called the size of the matrix.

Example 1: Consider ( ). The size of this matrix is 2 .

Definition: Two matrices and are equal, written as A = B, iff

their corresponding elements are equal.

Example 2: Consider the two matrices given below

( ) ( )

Since , we can say that .

Definition: A 1 matrix is called a row vector (row matrix) and an 1matrix is called a
column vector (column matrix).

Example 3: ( )is a 3 1 column matrix.

Example 4: is a1 3 row matrix.

Example 5: (8) is both a column and row matrix. The number of rows and columns are equal
i.e. an is called a square matrix of order n.
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 Example 6: ( ) is a square matrix of order 3.

Operation with matrices

Addition (Subtraction) of Matrices.

Definition: Let and be two matrices.

Then and

Definition 2.1.2 If A and B are matrices with the same size, then we define the sum A + B
to be the matrix obtained by adding the entries of B to the corresponding entries of A, and
we define the difference A - B to be the matrix obtained by subtracting the entries of B from
the corresponding entries of A.
If A = [aij ] and B = [bij] have the same size, then this definition states that
(A + B)ij = (A)ij + (B)ij = aij + bij
(A - B)ij = (A)ij - (B)ij = aij - bij

Example 7.

Note: For and and




Definition: A matrix all of whose elements are zero is called a zero matrix and it is denoted by .

Example 8: ( )

Definition: Let be a matrix and , the scalar multiple of A by is

.

Example: If ( ), then ( )

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2.2. Product of Matrices and some algebraic properties; transpose of matrix

Let and . We define the product by

Example 10:

Example 11: Let ( ) ( )

Then Compute

A.
B.
C. Is ?

Properties of Matrix Multiplication

i) AB BA
ii)
iii)
iv)

Definition: A square matrix in which all but the diagonal elements are zero is called diagonal
matrix.

Definition:A diagonal matrix whose all of its diagonal elements are equal is called Scalar
matrix.

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Definition: A scalar matrix whose all of its diagonal elements are one is called the Identity
matrix.

Definition: Let be a matrix. We define the transpose of A denoted by to be

the = matrix where the entry is .

Example 13:

Properties of Matrix Transpose

Let A, B be matrices over and

i.
ii.
iii.
iv.

Special Matrices

1. Symmetric Matrix is a matrix which is equal to its transpose. i.e.

Example 14: ( )

2. Skew Symmetric matrix is a matrix which is equal to -1times its transpose. i.e.
.

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 Example 14: ( )

Theorem: Let be a square matrix. Then

i. is symetric.
ii. is skew symmetric.
3. A square matrix is said to be an upper triangular matrix if
and strictly upper triangular matrix if .
A square matrix is said to be an upper triangular matrix if
and strictly upper triangular matrix if .

2.3. Elementary Row Operations and Echelon Form

Let A be an matrix. The elementary row operation on A is

i. (Interchanging two rows)
ii. (Multiplication of a row by a non-zero constant )
iii. (Addition of a constant multiple of one row to another row)

Definition: Two matrices are equivalent written as A B if one can be obtained from the other by
a sequence of elementary row operations.

Example: Let ( ) and ( )

Then show that A B.

solution

( ) ( )

( ) ( )

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Thus ( ) ( )

Row Echelon Form

Definition: A matrix is in a row echelon form if it satisfays the following conditions

1. Any row (if any) consisting of entirely of zeros appears at the bottom of the matrix.
2. The first non-zero number in any row not consisting of entirely zero is 1 (leading 1).
3. If two successive rows do not consist entirely of zeros, the leading 1 in the lower row
occures farther to the right than the leading 1in the higher row.

Example: The following matrices are in row echelon form

( ) ( ) ( )

The following matrices are not in row echelon form

( ) ( ) ( )

Definition: A matrix in a row echelon form is said to be in reduced row echelon form if all
entries in any column containing the leading 1is zero.

Example: From the above matrices, matrix A and C are in reduced row echelon form.

2.4. Rank of a matrix

Definition: Let A be an matrix. Let be the row echelon form of A. The rank is
the number of non-zero rows of the row echelon form of A ( ).

Example: Find the rank of the following matrices.

( ) ( ) ( )

Answer: 3,

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 2.5. Determinant of a Matrix and its Properties

To every square matrix is associated a number or an expression called the

determinant of A which is denoted by det (A) or| |.

Determinant of order one

Let . Then det (A) .

Determinant of order two

Let ( ). Then det

Determinant of order n

∑ ( )

expansion along the row where is the matrix formed by deleting (crossout) the row
and the column.

Example: Find the determinants of the following matrices

1. ( ) 2. ( )

Solution: 1. Here and we can choose choosing

∑ ( )

Properties of Determinants

1. If two columns are interchanged, then the determinant changes by sign.

Example: | | | |

2. If one column is a scalar multiple of the other column, then the determinant is zero.

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 Example: | |

3. If one of the columns is zero, then the determinant is zero.

Example: | |

4. If a scalar multiple of one column is added to another column, then the determinant
doesn’t change.

Example: | | | |

5. The determinant of a diagonal matrix is the product of elements in the diagonal.

Example: | |

6. The determinant of an upper triangular matrix is the product of elements in the diagonal.

Example: | |

7.
8.
9.
10. Suppose that are columns of matrix A. (
)

Example:

( ) ( ) ( )

11. Suppose that are columns of matrix A.

( ) ( )

2.6. Inverse of Matrix and its Properties

Definition: A matrix A is said to be non singular or invertible if there exists a unique matrix B
such that AB = BA = . We say B is the multiplicative inverse of A. The unique inverse B of A
is denoted by . If such a matrix doesn’t exist, we say matrix A is singular or non-invertible.

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Note: Inverse of a matrix is only defined for square matrices. Moreover, not all square
matrices are invertible.

Properties of Invertible matrices

Let A, B, and C be invertible matrices of order n. Then

i.
ii.
iii.

Example: Show that

1. ( )is the inverse of itself.

2. ( )is the inverse of ( ).

Gausse-Jordan ellimination for computing inverse of a matrix

i. Adjoin the identity matrix of order n with matrix A of order n to form the new
matrix | .
ii. Compute the reduced row echelon form of matrix | . If this reduced row echelon
form is of type | , then B is the inverse of A. If the reduced row echelon form is
not of type | , in that the matrixto the right is not , then A is singular.

Example: Find the inverse of the following matrices.

Solution: | ( | ) ( | )

( )

ADJOINT OF A MATRIX

Definition: Let be a matrix which obtained by omitting the row and the column of the
matrix A.det is called the minor of the element of an matrix A.

Let . Then is called the cofactor of the element of the matrix A.

Then the transpose of the matrix found that is is called adjoint of A which is denoted
by adj(A).

Example: Let ( ) then we have the following:

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  The minor of is | |

 The cofactor of | |
Similarly

Then the matrix found from the cofactorsis ( ). Therefore the adjoint of A

,AdjA is ( ) ( )

2.7. Systems of Linear Equations

Definition: Equations of the form

are called systems of m linear equations in n unknowns.

The above system of linear equation can be written as , where

( ), ( ) ( )

Note: the entries of column of A are the coefficients of the variable in X. Here A is called

the coefficient matrix. If ( ), the system is called homogenous; othewise it is called non-

homogenous. A homogenous system has at least one solution, the trivial solution i.e.
.

The matrix whose columns are the columns of A and whose last column is b
which is called the augmented matrix denoted by (A│b).

Example: Consider the following systems of linear equations

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 {

Here ( ) and ( ) ( ) Hence the system is non-homogenous. Here A is

the coefficient matrix and the augmented matrix is ( | ).

Note:

 When a system of linear equation has solution, then it is called consistent otherwise it is
known as inconsistent.
 Two systems of linear equations are said to be equivalent if they have the same solution.

Example: { { are equivalent.

Methods of Solving Systems of Linear Equations

1. Gaussian Elimination Method

Let be the system of linear equations then

i. Write down the augmented matrix of the system of linear equations in the form of
| .
ii. Apply the elementary row operations on the matrix B.
A. If rank of A=Rank of B , the system has solution.
B. If Rank A = Rank B , the system has infinitely many solutions.
C. If Rank A Rank B, the system has no solution.
iii. Use back substitution.

Example: Using Gaussian elimination method, solve the following systems of linear equations.

1.

Solution:

i. , where ( ) ( ) ( )

ii. | ( | )

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 iii. ( | ) ( | )

( | ) ( | )

Since Rank B = 3 = Rank A = order of A = n, the syatem has exactly one solution.

iv. Using back substitution

2. {

3. {

2. Cramer’s Rule

a). If a linear system of equations consisting of n equations with the same number of unknowns,
given by

has a non-zero coefficient determinant D = det A, the system has presiselyone solution. This
solution is given by the formula

is the determinant obtained from D by replacing the column in D by the column

with the entries .

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b). Hence if the system is homogenous and , it has only the trivial solution
If , the homogenous system also has non-trivial solutions.

Example: Solve each of the following systems of linear equations using Cramer’s rule.

{ ii.{

Solution: ( )

| | | |
| | | |

Thus { }

3. Inverse Method

Given

Theorem: An matrix A is invertible if and only if

Example: Solve the following systems of linear equations using inverse method.

a). { b). {

Solution: The system of linear equation can be expressed in its equivalent matrix form as
( ) ( ) ( )

Since ( ), ( )( ) ( )

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Exercise

4. Solve each of the following equations using

EIGEN VALUES AND EIGEN VECTURES

Matrix eigen value problems concern on the solution of vector equations

Where A is a given square matrix, X is unknown vector and is unknown scalar.

Clearly, is a solution of equation giving but this has no application, thus we

want to find solution vectors of equation (1) called Eigenvectors (characteristic vectors) of
A.

How to find an Eigen value of .

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 (Cramer’s rule) this means is not invertible.

Note: If is invertible, det(

Definition1: The characteristic polynomial of a square matrix A is

2: The equation is called characteristic equation.

To compute Eigen values and Eigen vectors:

Step1: Solve thecharacteristic equation and get the

Eigenvalues

Step2: for each Eigen values solve the homogenous system and get the Eigen

vectors ( ) with as Eigen value.

Examples: Find the Eigen values and Eigen vectors for the following matrices.

i) A ( )

ii) ( )

Solutioni. Characteristic polynomial is| |

Characteristic equation:

Therefore the Eigen values are

i. The Eigen vector of A corresponding to

( )( ) ( )

, let

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Thus ( ) ( ) ( ) .

Therefore ( )is the Eigen vector corresponding to

ii. Similarly the Eigen vector corresponding to is ( )

Solution ii: Characteristic polynomial | |

The Characteristic equation is

Thus,the Eigen values are and . Hence

i. The Eigen vector corresponding to is

( )( ) ( )

Solving the system we get ( ) ( )

Therefore ( )is the Eigen vector corresponding to

ii. Similarly the Eigen vector corresponding to is ( )

iii. The Eigen vector corresponding to

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