The University of Sydney

MATH2022 Linear and Abstract Algebra

Semester 1 Exercises for Week 2 (beginning 4 March) 2019

Important Ideas and Useful Facts:

(i) Common notation: The most common arithmetics, under usual addition and multipli-
cation, are formed by the following sets:
(a) N = {0, 1, 2, 3, . . .}, the set of natural numbers;
(b) Z = {0, ±1, ±2, ±3, . . .}, the set of integers;
(c) Q = {m/n | m, n ∈ Z, n ̸= 0}, the set of rational numbers;
(d) R, the set of real numbers;
√
(e) C = {a + bi | a, b ∈ R}, the set of complex numbers, where i = −1.
(ii) Arithmetic of integers modulo n: Let n be a positive integer. Then Zn = {0, 1, . . . , n−1}
forms an arithmetic with respect to addition and multiplication modulo n, which are
the usual operations of addition and multiplication as integers, followed by taking the
remainder after division by n.
(iii) Fields and scalars: A field F is an arithmetic with addition and multiplication, having
at least two distinct elements 0 and 1, such that
(a) addition and multiplication are associative and commutative;
(b) multiplication distributes over addition;
(c) 0 and 1 behave as additive and multiplicative identity elements respectively;
(d) every element of F has an additive inverse (negative) and every nonzero element
of F has a multiplicative inverse.
Elements of a field are called scalars. The most common fields are F = Q, F = R,
F = C and F = Zp where p is a prime number (in particular F = Z2 = {0, 1}).
(iv) Matrices: A matrix is an array of objects or numbers, called entries. Entries will
typically be scalars drawn from some underlying field. If a matrix M has m rows and
n columns then we say that M is m × n. We call a matrix M square if M is n × n for
some n. A matrix consisting of one row is called a row vector. A matrix consisting of
one column is called a column vector.
(v) Addition, subtraction and scalar multiplication of matrices: To add or subtract matrices of
the same size, simply add or subtract the corresponding entries. To form the negative
of a matrix, take the negatives of its entries. To multiply a matrix by a scalar, multiply
its entries by the scalar.
(vi) Zero and identity matrices: The zero matrix has all of its entries equal to 0, denoted by
0 or 0m×n . The identity matrix is a square matrix with diagonal entries equal to 1 and
all entries off the diagonal equal to 0, denoted by I or In .
(vii) Matrix multiplication: If A is m × n and B is n × p then the matrix product AB is
defined and is m × p. The (i, k)-entry of AB is the “dot product” of the ith row of A
with the kth column of B, which can be expressed using sigma notation:
∑n
aij bjk = ai1 b1k + ai2 b2k + . . . + ain bnk
j=1
where aij , bjk denote typical (i, j) and (j, k)-entries of A and B respectively.

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(viii) General laws of matrix arithmetic: If A, B, C are matrices of appropriate sizes for which
the expressions make sense, and λ and µ are scalars, then the following properties hold:
A+B =B+A, (A + B) + C = A + (B + C) , A+0=0+A=A,
−(−A) = A , A + (−A) = A − A = 0 , λ(µA) = (λµ)A ,
λ(A + B) = λA + λB , (λ + µ)A = λA + µA , IA = AI = A ,
(AB)C = A(BC) , A(B + C) = AB + AC , (A + B)C = AC + BC ,
λ(BC) = (λB)C = B(λC) , 0A = 0 = A0 .
(ix) Matrix transpose and symmetric matrices: The transpose of a matrix A = [aij ]m×n is
a matrix A⊤ = [bij ]n×m where bij = aji for i = 1, . . . , n and j = 1, . . . , m, that is,
A⊤ is obtained from A by writing all of the rows as columns (or, equivalently, all of
the columns as rows). A matrix A is called symmetric if A⊤ = A (so necessarily A is
square). If A, B and C are matrices for which the following expressions make sense,
then
(A + B)⊤ = A⊤ + B ⊤ , (BC)⊤ = C ⊤ B ⊤ , (A⊤ )⊤ = A .
(x) Invertible matrices: The inverse of a matrix A is a matrix A−1 such that
AA−1 = A−1 A = In
for some positive integer n. Only square matrices have inverses. When it exists, A−1
is unique. A matrix is invertible if its inverse exists. If A and B are invertible matrices
of the same size then AB and A−1 are invertible and
(AB)−1 = B −1 A−1 and (A−1 )−1 = A .
(xi) Groups: A group is a (nonempty) set G with an associative binary operation, typically
denoted by justaposition, containing an element e that acts as a two-sided identity
element, that is,
ge = eg = g for all g ∈ G,
and such that all elements of G are invertible with respect to e, that is, for all g ∈ G,
there exists some h ∈ G such that

gh = hg = e ,

in which case we write h = g −1 . If the binary operation is commutative then we say

that G is abelian.
(xii) Important and common examples of groups:

(a) If F is a field then (F, +), the field under addition, and (F \{0}, ·), the set of
nonzero elements under multiplication, are abelian groups with identity elements
0 and 1 respectively.
(b) If n is a positive integer then (Zn , +) is a cyclic group, generated by the element
1 under addition (with 0 as the additive identity element).
(c) If F is a field and n ≥ 1 then GLn (F ) = {invertible n × n matrices over F } is
a group under matrix multiplication, called the general linear group, which is
nonabelian if n ≥ 2.
(d) If X is a set then SX = {permutations of X} is a group under composition of
permutations, called the symmetric group, which is nonabelian if |X| ≥ 3.

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Questions labelled with an asterisk are suitable for students aiming for a distinction or higher.
Tutorial Exercises:
1. Consider the following matrices:
[ ] [ ]
1 2 −6 3 [ ]
A = B = C = 2 4 5
0 3 4 1

    0
1 1 2 0 4  1 
D =  0  E =  6 −1 2 3  F = 
 2 

−1 0 0 1 2
−3
Evaluate the following expressions over R, Z7 and Z13 :

(a) 2A (b) −B (c) A + B (d) A − B (e) A2 = AA

(f) AB (g) BA (h) CD (i) EF − 3D (j) CEF

2. Explain why the matrix equations

AB = BA = In
imply that A and B are square matrices of the same size.
[ ] [ ]
a b 1 0
3. Verify directly that if A = and ad − bc ̸= 0 then AB = BA = where
[ ] c d 0 1
1 d −b
B= , so that A−1 exists and equals B. What simplification occurs
ad − bc −c a
if entries come from Z2 ?

4. Consider the following matrices over R, where θ is a real number:

[ ] [ ]
cos θ − sin θ cos θ sin θ
Rθ = Tθ =
sin θ cos θ sin θ − cos θ

Verify the following for all θ, ϕ ∈ R and positive integers n:

(a) Tθ−1 = Tθ (b) Rθ Rϕ = Rθ+ϕ n

(c) R2π = I = R2π/n
(d) Tθ Tϕ = Rθ−ϕ (e) Tϕ Rθ Tϕ = R−θ = Rθ−1
5. If today is Monday, what day of the week will it be after 100100 days have elapsed?
6.∗ It has been predicted that a meteor will strike the earth after 100100 hours have elapsed
from 9 am next Monday. At what time, and on what day of the week, do you predict
the meteor will strike?
[ ]
∗ 3 −1
7. Consider the matrix M = .
4 −1

(a) Verify that M 2 = 2M − I.

(b) Deduce that M 3 = 3M − 2I and guess a general formula for powers of M . Verify
your guess is correct by induction.
(c) Evaluate M 5 , M 10 , M 100 and M −100 .

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Further Exercises:

8. Evaluate the following when they exist in Z7 , Z8 , Z9 and Z24 :

1 1 1 3 5
, , , ,
2 3 4 5 6

9. Explain briefly why the associative law for matrix multiplication implies that every
square matrix commutes with its square.

10. Find a 2 × 2 matrix M over any field F such that M 2 = 0, the zero matrix, but all
entries of M are nonzero.

11. Explain briefly why a square matrix with a row or column of zeros cannot be invertible.

12. Suppose that A and B are invertible square matrices of the same size. Verify that
( )⊤ ( )⊤ ( )⊤ ( )−1 ( )−1 ( )−1
(AB)−1 = A−1 B −1 and (AB)⊤ = A⊤ B⊤ .

13.∗ Let G be a group with identity element e.

(a) Verify that if a, b ∈ G then (ab)−1 = b−1 a−1 .

(b) Verify that if a2 = e for all a ∈ G then G is abelian.
(c) Prove that G is abelian if and only if (ab)2 = a2 b2 for all a, b ∈ G.

14.∗ A collection G of square matrices over a field F forms a group under multiplication.
Prove either that every matrix in G is invertible or that every matrix in G is not
invertible.

15.∗ Let F be a field.

(a) Which part of the definition of a field guarantees that 0 + 0 = 0. Explain why the
zero is unique. Explain also why the multiplicative identity element 1 is unique.
(b) Explain why −a, the negative of a ∈ F , is unique and why a−1 , the multiplicative
inverse of a, which exists when a ̸= 0, is unique.
(c) Use distributivity and other parts of the definition of a field to explain why 0a = 0
for all a ∈ F .
(d) Explain why the equation ab = 0 implies a = 0 or b = 0 for a, b ∈ F . Deduce
that Zn is not a field if n is a composite integer.
(e) Use parts (b) and (c) to deduce that −(ab) = (−a)b = a(−b) and (−a)(−b) = ab
for all a, b ∈ F .

16.∗ Recall that addition and multiplication in Zn = {0, 1, . . . , n} are as in Z except that
each operation is completed by taking the remainder after division by n. Prove carefully
that addition and multiplication in Zn are associative.