National Institute of Technology Calicut
Department of Mathematics
MA1011E - Mathematics-II
Winter Semester 2024-2025 Tutorial-LA1
Topics Covered: Gauss elimination method, row echelon form, row space, row
rank, existence and uniqueness, homogeneous system, Linear independence and
span of row vectors, Linearly independent solutions, rank-nullity relation for
homogeneous linear system
1. What is a pivot? How can we express the rank of a matrix in terms of pivots of its
row echelon form?
2. Using Gauss elimination method, solve the following system of linear equations:
a. x + y + z = 6, 2x − y + z = 3, x + z = 4.
b. x + y + z = 6, 2x − y + z = 3, x + z = 4, 2x + y + z = 7.
c. x + y + z = 6, 2x − y + z = 3, x + z = 4, 2x + y + z = 8.
3. Prove that the system 3x + 4y + 5z = a, 4x + 5y + 6z = b and 5x + 6y + 7z = c does
not have a solution unless a + c = 2b.
4. Which of the following matrices are in row echelon form? Which are in reduced row
echelon form?
0 0 0 0
1 3 5 2 0 0 1 0 2 3 1 1 0 1 1
2 0 0 0
3 0 , 0 2 0 , 0 1 2 0 , 0 0 0 1 ,
0
.
1 0 0
1 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1
0 0 0 1
5. Using elementary row operations, determine the ranks of the following matrices
1 2 3 4 2 0 −1 0
2 0 −1 2 1 −2 1 −1
3 4 5 4 1 0 5
5 1 0 ,
1
, 1 1 −2 3 , ,
11 15 19 0 1 3 6
0 1 3 4 1 −5 8
9 15 21 27 6 1 −2 6
6. By using Gaussian elimination method, balance the chemical reaction equation,
C2 H6 + O2 −→ H2 O + CO2 .
7. Solve the following systems of homogeneous equations.
a. 3x + 2y + 7z = 0, 4x − 3y − 2z = 0, 5x + 9y + 23z = 0.
b. 2x + 3y − z = 0, x − y − 2z = 0, 3x + y + 3z = 0.
8. Determine the values of λ for which the following system of equations
x + y + 3z = 0, 4x + 3y + λz = 0, 2x + y + 2z = 0,
has i) a unique solution (ii) a non-trivial solution.
9. Show that the following homogeneous system has nontrivial solutions,
x − y + 2z − w = 0, 2x + 2y + w = 0, 3x + y + 2z − w = 0
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10. In each of the following, find all values of α for which the system has nontrivial solutions,
and determine all solutions in each case
a. x − 2y + z = 0, x + αy − 3z = 0, −x + 6y − 5z = 0.
b. x + 2y + z = 0, x + 3y + 6z = 0, 2x + 3y + αz = 0.
11. For each of the following homogeneous systems, find a set of basic solutions and express
the general solution as a linear combination of these basic solutions.
a. x1 + 2x2 − x3 + 2x4 + x5 = 0, x1 + 2x2 + 2x3 + x5 = 0, 2x1 + 4x2 − 2x3 + 3x4 + x5 = 0.
b. x1 + 2x2 − x3 + x4 + x5 = 0, −x1 − 2x2 + 2x3 + x5 = 0, −x1 − 2x2 + 3x3 + x4 + 3x5 = 0.
12. Find the values of λ and µ for which the system of equations
x + 2y + z = 6, x + 4y + 3z = 10, x + 4y + λz = µ,
has a) unique solution, b) infinite many solutions and c) no solution.
13. Test whether the following row vectors (vectors in R3 or R4 ) are linearly independent.
a. (2, 2, 1), (1, -1, 1), (1, 0, 1).
b. (1, 3, 4), (1, 1, 0), (1, 4, 2), (1, -2, 1).
c. (4, 1, 2, -6), (1, 1, 0, 3), (1, -1, 0, 2), (-2, 1, 0, 3).
d. (1, 2, 3, 4), (2, 0, 1, -2), (3, 2, 4, 2).
14. If x, y, z are linearly independent row vectors of a matrix, then prove or disprove that
(i) x+y, y+z, z+x and (ii) x, x+y, x+y+z are also linearly independent elements
in the row space.
15. Write (−4, 7, 9) as a linear combination of the elements of the row vectors (1, 2, 3),
(1, 3, 4), (3, 1, 2). Also show that the later 3 vectors can span any row vector (a, b, c).
16. Solve the following homogeneous system of equation Ax = 0, where A is given by
1 2 −3 2 1 1 1 −1 1
(i) 1 1 −1 (ii) 1 −1 (iii) 2 3 1 4 .
2 3 −4 3 2 3 2 −6 1
a. Find the rank of A
b. Find the number of independent solutions of the system
c. Establish the rank-nullity relation for A.
c. Express the general solution of the system as a linear combination of independent
solutions, in the case of nontrivial solutions.
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