In Class Assignment 4

A note about notation: For some of the following problems, we will denote the ijth entry
of a matrix A by A(i, j)
1. A square matrix is called strictly lower triangular if all entries on or above the main diagonal
are 0. Prove that the space of strictly lower triangular matrices form a subspace of the vector
space of all n n matrices.
Proof. Define V to be the set of all strictly lower triangular matrices. Let A, B V , and
set C = A + B. Since A and B are lower triangular, A(i, j) = 0 and B(i, j) for i j. Next
notice that C(i, j) = A(i, j) + B(i, j) = 0 + 0 = 0. Therefore A + B = C V . Let c R
and define D = cA. Since D(i, j) = cA(i, j) = c 0 = 0, cA = D V . This shows that
V is closed under vector addition and scalar multiplication, therefore we conclude, by the
subspace criteria, that V is a subspace of Mnn .

2. An alternative basis for P 2 is
p1 (x) = 1 + x,

p2 (x) = 1 x2 ,

and p3 (x) = 1 + x + x2

Express the polynomial 12x2 as a linear combination of these vectors. Write the coordinate
vector of this polynomial given in the new basis.
Solution: We begin by defining the standard basis for P n by:
v~1 = 1,

v~2 = x,

v~3 = x2

Representing p1 , p2 , p3 in this basis, we have:

1
p1 (x) = v~1 + v~2 = 1
0

1
p2 (x) = v~1 v~3 = 0
1

1
p2 (x) = v~1 + v~2 + v~3 = 1
1
If we wish to express p(x) = 1 2x2 as a linear combination of p1 , p2 , p3 , there must be a
set of coefficients c1 , c2 , c3 R such that




1
1
1
1
c1 p1 (x) + c2 p2 (x) + c3 p3 (x) = c1 1 + c2 0 + c3 1 = p(x) = 0
0
1
1
2
This is equivalent to the solving the linear system given by the following augmented matrix:

1
1
0

1
0
1

1 1
1 0
1 2

Simple Gaussian elimination leads to the solution c1 = c2 = 1, c3 = 1.

3. Let A be an n n matrix and let B be an m m matrix. Let O be the n m matrix of

all 0s. Assume A has rank rA and B has rank rB . Consider the block diagonal matrix



A O
OT B
Answer the following two questions with explanation (a complete answer will involve a
discussion of the fow echelon form of K).
K=

a. What is the rank of K?

Solution: Since A has rank rA , there exists a product of elementary matrices, say E1 ,
e where A
e is an upper triangular with rA pivots in the first rA rows.
such that E1 A = A
e where
Likewise, there exists a product of elementary matrices E2 such that E2 B = B
e
B is an upper triangular matrix with rB pivots in the first rB rows. Next define the
following block matrix:

E=

E1
OT

O
E2

Then EK is a block matrix in which the first rA rows have non-zero pivots, the next
n rA are zero, the next rB have non-zero pivots, and the last m rB are zero. Let P
be the (n + m) (n + m) permutation matrix that moves rows n + 1 through n + rB
(kept in order) to rows rA + 1 through rA + rB . Then by construction,
P EK = U
Where U is an upper triangular matrix with pivots in its first rA + rB rows and zeros
in all other rows. Using this decomposition, we see that K has rank rA + rB .
b. What is the dimension of the kernel of K?
Solution Using the fundamental theorem of linear algebra, we find that the dimension
of K (also known as the nullity of K) is (n + m) (rA + rB ).