MATH 4A - Linear Algebra With Applications: Lecture 9: Matrix Inverses

Inverse of a matrix An algorithm for finding matrix inverses Other characterizations of invertible matrices
MATH 4A - Linear Algebra with Applications

Lecture 9: Matrix inverses
Substitute lecturer: Professor Priyam Patel
19 April 2019
Reading: §2.2, 2.3, 3.1, 3.2 from Lay, 5th ed.

Recommended problems from §2.2: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10, 13,
Recommended problems from §2.3: 1, 3, 5, 7, 11, 12, 13, 15, 17,
21
Lecture plan
1 Inverse of a matrix
2 An algorithm for finding matrix inverses
3 Other characterizations of invertible matrices

Motivation
When we do usual algebra in a single variable, we can “cancel” or

“divide out.” For instance, to solve the equation
2x = 4
we can divide both sides by 2—or, in other words, we can multiply

both sides by the multiplicative inverse of 2:
(2−1 )2x = (2−1 )4
to see that
x = 2.
Motivation
In the previous lecture, we developed algebraic rules for working

with matrices. One important caveat about the algebra of matrices
was that there was no cancellation law: there exist matrices
A, B, C such that
AB = AC but B 6= C .
The fundamental issue is that a matrix A does not always have an

inverse with respect to the operation of matrix multiplication.
However, some matrices do have inverses. And it turns out, these

matrices are very useful. (And, in fact, we’ve already been using
them implicitly any time we did a row operation.)
Definition
An n × n square matrix A is called invertible if there exists a n × n

square matrix C such that
AC = CA = I = In ,
where I = In is the n × n identity matrix. We call such a C an

inverse of A.
In fact, if an inverse C of A exists, then C is unique. This is

because if B is another inverse, then
B = BI = B(AC ) = (BA)C = IC = C .
If A is invertible, we will denote its unique inverse by A−1 , so that
AA−1 = A−1 A = I .
Basic questions:
Given a matrix A, how can we decide if A is invertible? Once we

know A is invertible, how do we compute its inverse A−1 ?
We’ll address these questions today.

Example
If
1 1
A=
0 1
we can check that the inverse is

−1 1 −1
A = .
0 1

−1 1 1 1 −1 1 · 1 + 1 · 0 1 · (−1) + 1 · 1
AA = =
0 1 0 1 0 · 1 + 1 · 0 0 · (−1) + 1 · 1

1 0
= =I
0 1

−1 1 −1 1 1 1 · 1 + (−1) · 0 1 · 1 + (−1) · (1)
A A= =
0 1 0 1 0·1+1·1 0·1+1·1

1 0
= =I
0 1
Nonexample
No matter how hard we try, we can never find an inverse for the
matrix
1 1
B= .
0 0
Why not? Let
a b
C=
c d
be some matrix. Then

1 1 a b a b
BC = = .
0 0 c d 0 0
So no matter what we pick for a, b, c, d (that is, no matter
which

a b
matrix C we choose) we can never get the matrix BC =
0 0

1 0
to equal the identity I2 = . Thus B is not invertible.
0 1
Understanding invertibility and inverses of 2 × 2 matrices is

easy
Theorem

a b
Let A = . Then A is invertible if and only if ad − bc 6= 0.
c d
If A is invertible, then its inverse is

1 d −b
A−1 = .
ad − bc −c a
We call the number ad − bc the determinant of A, and write
det A = ad − bc.
Thus, a 2 × 2 matrix A is invertible if and only if det A 6= 0.

Let’s prove one half of the theorem

a b
Let A = be a 2 × 2 matrix, and suppose det A 6= 0. Then
c d
it makes sense to divide by det A = ad − bc, so the matrix

1 d −b
ad − bc −c a
is well defined. To see that this matrix is indeed the inverse of A,

we just compute:

1 d −b 1 d −b
A = A
ad − bc −c a ad − bc −c a

1 a b d −b
=
ad − bc c d −c a

1 ad − bc 0 1 0
= = .
ad − bc 0 ad − bc 0 1
A similar calculation shows

1 d −b 1 0
A= .
ad − bc −c a 0 1
We conclude that

−1 1 d −b
A = .
ad − bc −c a
One reason we like invertibility: Linear systems with

invertible coefficient matrix are especially easy to solve
Theorem
If A is an invertible n × n matrix, then for each b in Rn , the
equation Ax = b has the unique solution x = A−1 b.
Proof: given A and b, it’s easy to see that x = A−1 b is a solution:

Ax = AA−1 b = In b = b.
To see that A−1 b is the unique solution, let u be another solution.
Then
Au = b = AA−1 b,
and we can “cancel” the A on the left by multiplying each side of
the equation by A−1 on the left:
A−1 Au = A−1 AA−1 b
u = A−1 b.
iClicker 1
Using matrix inverses, find the first entry of the solution to the
equation
1 1 x1 0
= .
0 1 x2 2
Recall from an earlier slide that
−1
1 1 1 −1
=
0 1 0 1
(a) 0
(b) 1
(c) -1
(d) -2
(e) 2
Useful algebraic identities about matrix inverses
Theorem
Let A and B be two invertible n × n matrices. Then
(a) A−1 is also invertible, and (A−1 )−1 = A
(b) (AB)−1 = B −1 A−1
(c) (AT )−1 = (A−1 )T
When using identity (b), it’s especially important to remember

that matrix multiplication is not commutative.
iClicker 2
What is the (2, 2)-entry of the matrix (AB)−1 , where

−1 4 −1 −1 0 1
A = B = ?
0 1 2 3
(a) -2
(b) 1
(c) 2
(d) 3
(e) 8
Elementary matrices
An elementary matrix is one that is obtained by performing a

single elementary row operation on an identity matrix.
Examples of elementary matrices
     
1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0
E1 =  0 1 0  E 2 = 1 0 0  E 3 = 0 1 0 
−4 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 5
E1 is the result of replacing R3 with R3 − 4R1 in I3 . E2 is the result

of swapping rows R1 and R2 in I3 . And E3 is the result of scaling
R3 by the nonzero scalar 5.
Left multiplying a matrix A by an elementary matrix E is

the same thing as performing an elementary row operation
on A
Example: let  
a b c
A = d e f  .
g h i
Then
   
1 0 0 a b c a b c
E1 A =  0 1 0 d e f  =  d e f 
−4 0 1 g h i g − 4a h − 4b i − 4c
is the same thing we would get if we replaced R3 of A with

R3 − 4R1 .
Two important observations
1 If an elementary row operation is performed on an m × n

matrix A, the resulting matrix can be writtten as EA, where
the m × m matrix E is created by performing the same row
operation on Im .
2 Each elementary matrix E is invertible. The inverse of E is
the elementary matrix of the same type that transforms E
back into I .
iClicker 3
Which of the following is the inverse of the elementary matrix
 
1 0 0
E1 =  0 1 0?
−4 0 1
 
−4 0 1
(a)  0 1 0
1 0 0
 
1 0 0
(b) 0 1 0
4 0 1
 
4 0 1
(c) 0 1 0
1 0 0
Most important slide of the day
Theorem
An n × n matrix A is invertible if and only if A is row equivalent to
the identity matrix In . In this case, any sequence of elementary row
operations that reduces A to In also transforms In into A−1 .
We won’t prove this theorem, but we will use it many times. In

particular, it implies that there is an algorithm for finding matrix
inverses.
Algorithm for finding matrix inverses
1 If A is an n × n matrix, form the “block-augmented” matrix

A In .

2 Perform row operations
on A In , with the goal to get it in
the form In C .
3 If at any point you get a row where the first n entries are 0,
but one of the last n entries is nonzero, then A is not
invertible, so you can stop looking for the inverse.
4 Otherwise, following the usual row reduction
algorithm for A
but applying the operations to A In will result in a matrix
of the form In C . In this case, C = A−1 .

Example

1 2
Let’s find the inverse of A = using the algorithm.
3 4

1 2 1 0 R2 7→R2 −3R2 1 2 1 0
−
−−−−−−− →
3 4 0 1 0 −2 −3 1
1 0 −2 1 R2 7→ −1

R1 7→R1 +R2 2
R2 1 0 −2 1
−−−−−−−→ −−−−−−→ −1
0 −2 −3 1 0 1 23 2
Thus
−1 −2 1
A = 3 .
2 − 21
There are many ways to characterize invertible matrices
Theorem
Let A be a n × n square matrix. Then the following are all
equivalent
(a) A is invertible
(b) A is row equivalent to In
(c) A has n pivot positions
(d) Ax = 0 has only the trivial solution
(e) the columns of A are linearly independent
(f) The linear transformation A : Rn → Rn is one-to-one
(g) the equation Ax = b is consistent for all b in Rn
(h) the columns of A span Rn
(i) The linear transformation A : Rn → Rn is onto
(j) AT is invertible
iClicker 4
Is the matrix  
1 0 2
A = 0 1 3 
1 1 5
invertible? Why?
(a) Yes, because none of the rows are all 0
(b) Yes, because none of the columns are all 0
(c) Yes, because the columns are linearly independent
(d) No, because the columns are linearly dependent
(e) No, because the equation Ax = 0 is inconsistent.

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Inverse of a matrix An algorithm for finding matrix inverses Other characterizations of invertible matrices

MATH 4A - Linear Algebra with Applications

Substitute lecturer: Professor Priyam Patel

Reading: §2.2, 2.3, 3.1, 3.2 from Lay, 5th ed.

2 An algorithm for finding matrix inverses

3 Other characterizations of invertible matrices

When we do usual algebra in a single variable, we can “cancel” or

we can divide both sides by 2—or, in other words, we can multiply

(2−1 )2x = (2−1 )4

In the previous lecture, we developed algebraic rules for working

The fundamental issue is that a matrix A does not always have an

However, some matrices do have inverses. And it turns out, these

An n × n square matrix A is called invertible if there exists a n × n

where I = In is the n × n identity matrix. We call such a C an

In fact, if an inverse C of A exists, then C is unique. This is

If A is invertible, we will denote its unique inverse by A−1 , so that

Given a matrix A, how can we decide if A is invertible? Once we

We’ll address these questions today.

Understanding invertibility and inverses of 2 × 2 matrices is

We call the number ad − bc the determinant of A, and write

Thus, a 2 × 2 matrix A is invertible if and only if det A 6= 0.

Let’s prove one half of the theorem

is well defined. To see that this matrix is indeed the inverse of A,

A similar calculation shows

One reason we like invertibility: Linear systems with

Proof: given A and b, it’s easy to see that x = A−1 b is a solution:

Useful algebraic identities about matrix inverses

When using identity (b), it’s especially important to remember

What is the (2, 2)-entry of the matrix (AB)−1 , where

An elementary matrix is one that is obtained by performing a

Examples of elementary matrices

E1 is the result of replacing R3 with R3 − 4R1 in I3 . E2 is the result

Left multiplying a matrix A by an elementary matrix E is

is the same thing we would get if we replaced R3 of A with

Two important observations

1 If an elementary row operation is performed on an m × n

Most important slide of the day

We won’t prove this theorem, but we will use it many times. In

Algorithm for finding matrix inverses

1 If A is an n × n matrix, form the “block-augmented” matrix

There are many ways to characterize invertible matrices

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