12.

1 Matrices
A matrix is any rectangular array of numbers. For example
3 0 2 5

2 1 6 4
8 13 3 2

is 3 4 matrix, i.e. a rectangular array of numbers with three rows and four columns.
We usually use capital letters for matrices, e.g. A, B, and C, with lowercase letters
reserved for scalars.
A vector is actually a special type of matrix, namely a matrix with only one column.
In particular, a vector from Rn is the same thing as an n 1 matrix.

Multiplying a Matrix and a Vector

To multiply a matrix and a vector, we take the dot product of each row of the matrix
with the vector. For example,
2
" # " #
3 1 2 5 3 21

1 4 3 7 1 31

2

Here 21 is the dot product of (3, 1, 2, 5) with (2, 3, 1, 2) , and 31 is the dot product of
(1, 4, 3, 7) with (2, 3, 1, 2) .
Note that a matrix A can only be multiplied by a vector v if each row of A has the
In general, the product of an m n matrix same size as v. For example, we can only multiply a 5 8 matrix with a vector from R8 ,
with a vector from Rn is a vector in Rm .
and the resulting product will be a vector in R5 .

Multiplying Matrices
There is an operation called matrix multiplication that generalizes the product of a
matrix and a vector. Given two matrices A and B, the product AB is the matrix obtained
by taking the dot product of each row of A with each column of B. For example, if A
and B are 2 2 matrices, then there are four dot products to compute:
" #" # " # " #" # " #
7 1 2 3 14 7 1 2 3 14 22
 
5 2 0 1 5 2 0 1

" #" # " # " #" # " #

7 1 2 3 14 22 7 1 2 3 14 22
 
5 2 0 1 10 5 2 0 1 10 17

This product only makes sense if the rows of A and the columns of B have the same
size. The result always has one row for each row of A and one column for each column
of B.

EXAMPLE 1 0
7 3
5 2 2
Compute AB if A  3

and B 
2 2
.
1 1 0
Here A is a 3 4 matrix and B is 4 2 2 4
matrix, so AB will be a 3 2 matrix. 1 6 3 0 1
0
 MATRICES 2

SOLUTION We must take the dot product of each row of A with each column of B.

0 3 0 3
7 5 2 2 16 7 5 2 2 16 39
2 2 2 2
 

3 1 1 0
2 3 1 1 0
4 2 4

1 6 3 0 1 6 3 0
1 0 1 0

0 3 0 3
7 5 2 2 16 39 7 5 2 2 16 39
2 2 2 2
 4  4

3 1 1 0
2 3 1 1 0 15
4 2 4

1 6 3 0 1 6 3 0
1 0 1 0

0 3 0 3
7 5 2 2 16 39 7 5 2 2 16 39
2 2 2 2
 4  4

3 1 1 0
2
15 3 1 1 0 15
1 4 2 4
6 3 0 18 1 6 3 0 18 27
1 0 1 0

Unlike multiplication of scalars, matrix multiplication is not commutative. That is,

AB and BA are not necessarily the same. For example,
" #" # " # " #" # " #
3 1 7 1 22 5 7 1 3 1 23 9
 and 
2 2 1 2 16 6 1 2 2 2 7 4

However, matrix multiplication is associative. That is,

A ( BC )  ( AB ) C

for any matrices A, B, and C.

Addition and Scalar Multiplication

There are two more basic operations involving matrices: addition and scalar multipli-
cation. Matrix addition works just like vector addition, with corresponding entries of
Matrix subtraction is defined in a similar the two matrices added together:
way.
" # " # " #
2 1 1 3 5 1 5 6 2
+ 
2 1 5 5 2 2 7 3 7

Only two matrices of the same size can be added. Matrix multiplication distributes
over addition from both the left and the right, i.e.

A ( B + C )  AB + AC and (A + B ) C  AC + BC

Scalar multiplication for matrices is also quite similar to scalar multiplication for
vectors: " # " #
4 3 1 8 6 2
2 
4 2 3 8 4 6
This has a variety of obvious properties, e.g.

k ( A + B )  kA + kB and k ( AB )  ( kA ) B  A ( kB )

for any scalar k and matrices A and B.

 MATRICES 3

Square Matrices
A matrix is called square if it has the same number of rows and columns. For example,
2 2 matrices are square, as are 3 3 matrices, and more generally n n matrices.
We can take the determinant of any square matrix A, which we write as det ( A ) . For
example, if
" #
5 2
A 
3 4
then det ( A )  14.
The product of two square matrices of the same size is another square matrix of
that size. For example,

3 1 0 1 2 1 5 6 6
0 1 1 2 0 3  3 1 3

2 1 2 1 1 0 6 6 5

The determinant of a matrix product is equal to the product of the determinants:

det ( AB )  det ( A ) det ( B ) .

A square matrix is called diagonal if all of its nonzero entries lie along the diagonal
that goes from the upper left to the lower right. For example,

" # 3 0 0
2 0
and 0 7 0
0 5 0 0 4

are diagonal matrices. The determinant of a diagonal matrix is equal to the product if
the entries along the diagonal:

 a 0 0 
Note that we use square brackets for  a 0 
  ab,  0 b 0   abc.
 
matrices and vertical lines for  and
determinants.  0 b   0 0 c 

Inverse Matrices
A diagonal matrix with ones along the diagonal is called an identity matrix:

" # 1 0 0
We usually use the letter I to denote an 1 0
0 1 0
identity matrix. 0 1 0 0 1

Multiplying by an identity matrix has no effect:

" #" # " # " #" # " #
1 0 3 3 1 0 2 7 2 7
 and 
0 1 5 5 0 1 8 4 8 4

Two square matrices are called inverses if their product is the identity matrix. For
example
" # " #
3 0 5 0
and
2 5 2 3
 MATRICES 4

are inverses, since

" #" # " #
3 0 5 0 1 0

2 5 2 3 0 1
A matrix can have only one inverse. If A is a square matrix, its inverse is denoted A1 .
There is a simple formula for the inverse of a 2 2 matrix:

Inverse of a 2 2 Matrix

There is no simple analog of this formula " # 1 " #

a b 1 d b
for 3 3 or larger matrices. 
c d ad bc c a

" #
a b
Note that ad bc is the determinant of .
c d

EXAMPLE 2
4 6

Find the inverse of the matrix .
1 2

SOLUTION The determinant of this matrix is 2, so the inverse is

1 2 6

2 1 4

This simplifies to
1 3

1/2 2

A square matrix is called invertible if it has an inverse. From the formula above,
we see that a 2 2 matrix is invertible as long as its determinant is not zero. This rule
works for matrices of any size:

A square matrix A is invertible if and only if det ( A ) , 0.

Representing Linear Systems

We can use matrices to write any linear system as a single vector equation of the form

Ax  b

where A is the coefficient matrix, x is the vector of unknowns, and b is the vector of
constant terms. For example, the linear system

2x + 5y  11
3x + 4y  13

can be written in vector form as

" #" # " #
2 5 x 11

3 4 y 13
MATRICES 5

We can use inverse matrices to solve n n linear systems. Given a linear system of the
form
Ax  b
where A is an invertible square matrix, we can multiply both sides of the equation by
A1 to get

x  A1 b

EXAMPLE 3
Use an inverse matrix to solve the system

3x + 2y  7
x + 4y  5

SOLUTION We can write this system as

3 2 x 7


1 4 y 5

But
1
3 2 1 4 2 0.4 0.2

 10 
1 4 1 3 0.1 0.3

so
x  0.4 0.2 7 1.8


y 0.1 0.3 5

0.8

Thus x  1.8 and y  0.8.

EXERCISES

14 Multiply.

5 1
9 3 1 3 " #
1 7 5
1. 2 9 3 1 2.
9 0 2
3 0 8 1
1 1

1 7 2 2 0 0 1 0
4
3.
2 8 2 1 1
4.
0 6 0
0
0 1 1 2 0 0 5 3
2
6 9 2 2 0 0 1 0

" #" # " #

x 1 y 8
5. Find the values of x and y for which  .
4 2 2 0
MATRICES 6

69 Multiply.

1 4
" #" # " #
6 3 1 2 1 3 9 1 0 1
6. 7.
4 1 8 1 9 1 2 2 2 2

6 0

" #" # g " 3 4 #

1 3 1 3 2 f
8. 9. 1 7
0 8 3 0 2 1 1

1013 Compute the inverse of the given matrix.

" # " #
4 5 5 2
10. 11.
1 2 3 1

" # " #
3 0 1 2
12. 13.
0 2 3 6

1 0 2

14. Does the matrix 1 1 1 have an inverse? Explain.

2 1 3
" #
2 1
15. Compute 5A + 6A1 if A  .
2 2

16. (a) Write the linear system

2x 3y  5
3x + 4y  2
as an equation of the form Ax  b.
(b) Use an inverse matrix to solve your equation from part (a).

17. Given that the matrices

2 5 3 2 7 9 3 1

1 2 1 2
and
2 2 1 1

1 3 2 1 1 2 3 1

3 8 6 1 1 1 1 0

are inverses, solve the following linear system:

2x1 5x2 + 3x3 2x4  3

x1 + 2x2 x3 + 2x4  2
x1 3x2 + 2x3 + x4  0
3x1 8x2 + 6x3 + x4  2