GATE TUTORIAL: LINEAR ALGEBRA

1. The matrices [ cosθ

sinθ
−sinθ ∧ a 0
cosθ ][ ]
0 b
commute under multiplication.

(a) If a = b (or)θ= nπ, n is an integer (b) always (c) never (d) if a cosθ ≠ b sinθ

1 1 1

[ ]
2. The eigen values of 1 1 1 are
1 1 1

(a) 0,0,0 (b) 0,0,1 (c) 0,0,3 (d) 1,1,1

3. A set of linear equations is represented by the matrix equations Ax = b. The necessary condition for
the existence of a solution for this system is

(a) A must be invertible (b) b must be linearly dependent on the columns of A

(c) b must be linearly independent on the rows of A (d) None

4. If A is any n x n matrix and k is a scalar then |kA|= α | A| where α is

k
(a) kn (b) nk (c) kn (d)
n

5. The number of terms in the expansion of general determinant of order n is

(a) n2 (b) n! (c) n (d) (n +1)2

6. Consider the following statements

S1: The sum of two singular matrices may be singular

S2: The sum of two non-singular may be non-singular

Which of the following statements is true?

(a) S1 & S2 are both true (b) S1 & S2 are both false

(c) S1 & is true and S2 is false (d) S1 & is false and S2 is true

a 1
7. If matrix X = [ 2
−a +a−1 1−a ]
and X2 – X + I = 0 then the inverse of X is

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 GATE TUTORIAL: LINEAR ALGEBRA
1−a −1 1−a −1 −a 1 a2−a+1 a
(a)[ a2 a ] (b) 2[
a −a+1 a ] (c)[ 2
−a +a−1 a−1 ] (d)
1[ 1−a ]
1 0 1 0 0
8. Which one of the following is an eigen vector of the matrix

following statement is true?

0
1
0
[ ] [] 1
1
0
0
0
0
1
0
1
and b =
0
0
1
which of the

(a) x is a null vector (b) x is unique (c) x does not exist (d) x has infinitely many values

5 0 0 0
9. Which one of the following is an eigen vector of the matrix
0
0
0
[ ] 5
0
0
0
2
3
0
1
1
is

(a) [ 1 −2 0 0 ] (b) [ 0 0 1 0 ] T (c) [ 1 0 0 −2 ] T (d) [ 1 −1 2 1 ] T

1 =− 1 andA 1 =−2 1
10. For a given 2 x 2 matrix A, it is observed that A
−1 [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
−1 −2 −2
then the matrix

A is

(a) A = [−12 −21 ][−10 −20 ][−11 −21 ] (b) A = [−11 −21 ][11 02][−12 −11 ]
1 1 −1 0 2 1 0 −2
(c) A = [
−1 −2 0 −2 −1 −1 ]
][ ][ (d) A = [
1 −3 ]

11. Let P be 2 x 2 real orthogonal matrix and x́ is a real vector [ x 1 x 2 ]T with length ‖x́‖ (x12 +
x22)1/2.The which one of the following statement is correct?

(a) ‖P x́‖≤‖ x́‖ where at least one vector satisfies ‖P x́‖<‖x́‖

(b) ‖P x́‖=‖x́‖ for all vectors x́

(c) ‖P x́‖≥‖ x́‖ where atleast one vector satisfies ‖P x́‖>‖x́‖

(d) No relationship can be established between ‖x́‖∧‖P x́‖

12. In the solution of the following set of linear equations by Gauss-elimination using partial pivoting
5 x+ y+ 2 z=34

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 GATE TUTORIAL: LINEAR ALGEBRA
4 y−3 z=12∧¿
10 x−2 y+ z=−4.

The pivots for elimination of x and y are

(a) 10 and 4 (b) 10 and 2 (c) 5 and 4 (d) 5 and -4

13. The eigen values of a 2 x 2 matrix X are -2 and -3 the eigen values of matrix (X + I)-1(X + 5I) are

(a) -3, -4 (b) -1, -2 (c) -1, -3 (d) -2, -4

14. X and Y are non-zero square matrices of size n×n. If XY = O n ×n then

(a) |X| = 0 and |Y| ≠0 (b) |X| = 0 and |Y| = 0 (c) |X| ≠ 0 and |Y| = 0 (d) |X| ≠ 0 and |Y| ≠ 0

1 −1 0
T

[ ]
15. If (1, 0, -1) is an eigen vector of the following matrix −1 2 −1 then the corresponding

eigen value is
0 −1 1

(a)1 (b) 2 (c) 3 (d) 5

−2 2 3
16. The matrix M = 2
[ ]
1 6 has eigen values -3, -3, 5 An eigen vector corresponding to the eigen
−1 −2 0
value 5 is [1 2 -1] . One of the eigen vector of the matrix M3 is
T

(a) [1 8 -1]T (b) [1 2 -1]T (c) [1 √3 2 -1] (d) [1 1 -1]

17. For the matrix A = [−52 −30 ], ONE of the normalized eigen vectors is given as
1 1 3 1
(a)
()2
√3
2
(b)
√2
−1
√2
() (c)
()
√ 10
−1
√ 10
(d)
()5
2
√5

18. A matrix has eigen values -1 and -2. The corresponding eigenvectors are [−11 ] and [−21 ]
respectively. The matrix is

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 GATE TUTORIAL: LINEAR ALGEBRA

(a) [−11 −21 ](b) [−21 −42 ] (c) [−11 −21 ] (d) [−20 −31 ]
19. Choose the CORRECT set of functions, which are linearly dependent.

(a) sin x, sin2 x and cos2 x (b) cos x, sin x and tan x

(c) cos 2x, sin2 x and cos2 x (d) cos 2x, sin x and cos x

0 0 0 0 0 1

20. Consider the matrix J6 =

0
0
0
0
1
[ 0
0
0
1
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
]
which is obtained by reversing the order of the

columns of the identity matrix I6. Let P = I6 + α J6 where α is a non-negative real number. The value of
α for which det (P) = 0 is___________

21. A scalar valued function is defined as f(x) xT Ax + bT x + c, where A is a symmetric positive

definite matrix with dimension n×n, b and x are vectors of dimension n×1. The minimum value of f(x)
will occur when x equals.

A −1 B A−1 B
(a) (AT A)-1B (b) –(AT A)-1 B (c) - ( 2 ) (d)
2

22. For the matrix A satisfying the equation given below, the eigen values are

1 2 3 1 2 3
[A] 7 8 9
4 5 6 [ ][ ]
= 4 5 6
7 8 9

(a) (1, -j, j) (b) (1, 1, 0) (c) (1, 1, -1) (d) (1, 0, 0)

1 3 0

[ ]
23. Given that the determinant of the matrix 2 6 4 is -12, the determinant of the matrix
−1 0 2

2 6 0

[ ]
2 12 8 is
−2 0 4

(a) -96 (b) -24 (c) 24 (d) 96

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 GATE TUTORIAL: LINEAR ALGEBRA
24. Consider a 3×3 real symmetric matrix S such that two of its eigen values are a ≠ 0, b ≠ 0 with
x1 y 1

[ ][ ]
respective eigen vectors x 2 , y 2 . If a ≠b then x1y1 + x2y2 + x3y3 equals
x3 y 3

(a) a (b) b (c) ab (d) 0

1 0 0 0 1
0
25. The product of the non-zero eigen values of the matrix 0
0
1
[ ] 1
1
1
0
1
1
1
0
1
1
1
0
0
0 is_________
0
1

26. Consider the system of linear equations:

x - 2y+ 3z=-l

x - 3y + 4z = l and

-2x + 4y - 6z=k,

The value of k for which the system has infinitely many solutions is _______________.

1 4 1 2

3 []
27. The value of ‘P’ such that the vector 2 is an eigenvector of the matrix P 2
[
1 is ____.
14 −4 10 ]
28. If the sum of the diagonal elements of a 2x2 matrix is -6, then the maximum possible value of
determinant of the matrix is ____________.

29. The two Eigen Values of the matrix [ 21 1p] have a ratio of 3:.l for p = 2. What is another value of y
for which the Eigen values have the same ratio of 3:1?

(a) -2 (b) l (c) 7/3 (d) 14/3

30. Let the eigenvalues of a 2 x 2 matrix A be 1,-2 with eigenvectors x 1 and x2 respectively. Then the
eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the matrix A2-3A+4I would respectively, be

(a) 2, 14; x1, x2 (b) 2, 14; x1+x2: x1-x2 (c) 2,0; x1, x2 (d) 2,0; x1+x2 x1- x2

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 GATE TUTORIAL: LINEAR ALGEBRA

ANSWER

1. A 2.C 3.B 4.C 5.B 6.A 7.B 8.B 9.A 10.C

11. B 12.A 13.C 14.C 15.B 16.B 17.B 18.D 19.D 20.1

21.C 22.C 23.A 24.D 25.6 26. 2 27. 17 28. 9 29. D 30.A

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