Week 4

2.6 Matrix Transformations (Revisited)

Composition of Transformations
Suppose TA : Rn Rk and TB : Rk Rm . Then if ~x Rn , we can compute TA (~x) Rk and then
we can compute TB (TA (~x)) Rm or TB TA (~x).
Now, if A is the standard matrix of TA and B is the standard matrix of TB , we have TA (~x) = A~x
and TB (w)
~ = B w.
~
What is the standard matrix for TB TA ?
(TB TA )(~x) = TB (TA (~x))
= TB (A~x)
= (BA)~x
Thus, BA is the standard matrix for TB TA .
Example 5

Find the standard matrix for a reflection in the x-axis followed by a rotation through an angle of
2
 
3
2
in R and use it to find the image of
.
8

All the transformations we have looked at have been matrix transformations since they can be written
in the form T (~x) = A~x. They have also been linear.
Definition:
A transformation T : Rn Rm is linear if
T (~u + ~v ) = T (~u) + T (~v ), for all ~u, ~v Rn
T (a~u) = aT (~u), where a is a scalar, and ~u is any vector in Rn
1

We say that T preserves addition and scalar multiplication.

The combination of these two operations is called a linear combination.

T (a1~u1 + a2~u2 + . . . + ak ~uk ) = a1 T (~u1 ) + a2 T (~u2 ) + . . . + ak T (~uk )

Example 6
   
   
 
1
2
1
5
4
If T : R R is a linear transformation where T
=
and T
=
, find T
.
1
3
2
1
3
2

Theorem 1:
Every matrix transformation T : Rn Rm is linear.
Proof:
Let A be the standard matrix for T .
Then T (~x) = A~x.
We need to check that T preserves scalar multiplication and addition.
T (~u + ~v ) = A(~u + ~v )
= A~u + A~v
= T (~u) + T (~v )
T (a~u)

= Aa~u
= aA(~u)
= aT (~u)

Theorem 2:
Every linear transformation is a matrix transformation.
Proof:
We define the standard basis of Rn to be the columns ~e1 , ~e2 , . . . , ~en of In .
Note: Any vector in Rn can be written as a linear combination of ~e1 , ~e2 , . . . , ~en .
2

u1
1
0
0
0
u2 0
1
0
0








ie. ~u = u3 = 0 u1 + 0 u2 + 1 u3 + . . . + 0 un = u1~e1 + u2~e2 + u3~e3 + . . . + un~en .
.. ..
..
..
..
. .
.
.
.
un
0
0
0
1
Let T : Rn Rm be a linear transformation.
T (~u) = T (u1~e1 + u2~e2 + . . . + un~en )
= u1 T (~e1 ) + u2 T (~e2 ) + . . . + un T (~en )

u1


 u2

= T (~e1 ) T (~e2 ) T (~en ) ..

.
un
= A~u
Since A is the standard matrix for T , we have shown it is a matrix transformation.
Note: This proof gives us another way to find the standard matrix A by taking T (~ei ) as the ith
column of A.

3.1 Determinants
In general a determinantis a function
that takes a square matrix as input and outputs a real number.

a b
For a 2 2 matrix A =
, the determinant is defined to be ad bc. This number is significant
c d
since it determines whether or not a matrix is invertible or not. If the determinant is 0, the matrix
is not invertible. The determinant also has some geometric significance in R2 and R3 when we are
dealing with 2 2 or 3 3 matrices. It also arises in a new formula for A1 , a new method for
solving linear systems and is useful in applications where we want to predict the future behaviour of
a system. (Section 3.5)
Evaluating

a11

If A = a21
a31

a 3 3 Determinant

a12 a13
a22 a23 , we define
a32 a33

det(A) = a11 a22 a33 + a12 a23 a31 + a13 a21 a32 a13 a22 a31 a11 a23 a32 a12 a21 a33

(1)

We can rewrite this expression by factoring out the entries along the first row from each pair of terms:
det(A) = a11 (a22 a33 a23 a32 ) a12 (a21 a33 a23 a31 ) + a13 (a21 a32 a22 a31 )
We can now think of the determinant of a 33 matrix in terms of three determinants of 22 matrices.

 a
a
det(A) = a11  22 23
a32 a33





 a12  a21 a23

 a31 a33
3





 + a13  a21 a22

 a31 a32

Example 1

1 2 3
Find det(A) and det(AT ), where A = 0 1 5.
2 6 1

Note: det(AT ) = det(A)

Definition:
If A is an n n matrix, let Aij denote the (n 1) (n 1) sub-matrix that remains after the ith
row and j th column are deleted from A. Then the (i, j)-cofactor cij (A) is
cij (A) = (1)i+j det(Aij )
Example 2
Find c23 (A) in the example above.

The sign (1)i+j in the cofactor can be determined quickly using a checkerboard diagram.

+ +
+ +

+ +

+ +

.. .. .. ..
. . . .
Returning to our computation of a 3 3 determinant, we can now express it in terms of the

cofactors of A. This is called the Cofactor Expansion of A along the first row of A.






 a22 a23 
 a21 a23 
 a21 a22 






det(A) = a11 
a12 
+ a13 
a32 a33 
a31 a33 
a31 a32 
= a11 c11 (A) + a12 c12 (A) + a13 c13 (A)
In general, we can use cofactor expansion along any row or column to compute the determinant
Definition:
The cofactor expansion of an n n matrix A along the ith row of A is
det(A) = ai1 ci1 (A) + ai2 ci2 (A) + . . . + ain cin (A)
and the cofactor expansion of A along the j th column of A is
det(A) = a1j c1j (A) + a2j c2j (A) + . . . + anj cnj (A)
Example 3:

3
1
0
If A = 2 4 3 , evaluate |A| by a cofactor expansion along the second column of A.
5
4 2

Is there an easier choice of row/column that we could expand along?

Our strategy will be to expand along the row or column that contains the most zeros.
If there are no zeros in our matrix, we will row-reduce the matrix in order to introduce some zeros.
We need to see how EROs affect the value of the determinant.
Theorem 1:
Let A be an n n matrix.
1. If A has a row of zeros, then |A| = 0.
5

2. If A has two proportional rows, then |A| = 0.

3. If two rows of A are interchanged, the resulting matrix has determinant |A|.
4. If a row of A is multiplied by a non-zero scalar k, the determinant of the resulting matrix is
k|A|.
5. If a scalar multiple of one row of A is added to another, the determinant of the resulting matrix
is |A|.
Note: Because |A| = |AT |, we can replace the word row by column in the list of operations above
since transpose simply interchanges the rows and columns.
Definition:
A matrix is called lower triangular if it has zeros above the main diagonal and is called upper
triangular if it has zeros below the main diagonal. A matrix that is either upper or lower triangular
is called triangular. A diagonal matrix has zeros above and below the main diagonal.
Theorem 2:
The determinant of a triangular matrix is the product of the entries along the main diagonal.
Examples:

1
2
4. If A =
0
7
5.

6.

7.

8.

0 3
0 6
, find |A|.
3 0
1 5

0 1 5
Find det(B), where B = 3 6 9.
2 6 1


 1 2

3
5
7


 2
0 1 5
6 

7
3 9
4 .
Find  4
 3
1 2 2
3 

 5 1
3
7 9 



 a b c 
 ax by cz





3y
3z
If  p q r  = 6, find  3x
 x y z 
 p
q
r


 1 x x 


Find values of x for which  x 1 x  = 0.
 x x 1 
0
7
6
3

3.2 Determinants and Matrix Inverses

Theorem 1:
Suppose A is an n n matrix and k is a scalar. Then
det(kA) = k n det(A)
since there are n rows and we can pull a common factor of k out of each row.
Theorem 2:
If A and B are square matrices of the same size, then
det(AB) = det(A) det(B)
Theorem 3:
A square matrix A is invertible iff det(A) 6= 0.
Proof:
Let R be the RREF of A.
Then there is a sequence of EROs that reduce A to R.
Hence, there exist elementary matrices E1 , E2 , . . . Ek such that Ek E2 E1 A = R.
() Assume det(A) 6= 0.
Taking the determinant of both sides of the equation above, we have
det(Ek E2 E1 A) = det(R)
det(Ek ) det(E2 ) det(E1 ) det(A) = det(R)
Since the determinant of an elementary matrix is either 1, -1 or k 6= 0, then the left side of the
equation is non-zero.
Hence the right side of the equation is non-zero and so det(R) 6= 0.
Therefore, R does not contain a row of zeros.
Thus, R = I and A is invertible.
() Assume A is invertible.
Then R = I.
Then there is a sequence of EROs that reduce A to I.
Hence, there exist elementary matrices E1 , E2 , . . . Ek such that Ek E2 E1 A = I.
Taking the determinant of both sides of the equation above, we have
det(Ek E2 E1 A) = det(I)
det(Ek ) det(E2 ) det(E1 ) det(A) = I
Thus, det(A) 6= 0.
Theorem 4:
If A is invertible, then det(A1 ) =

1
.
det(A)
7

Proof:
Since AA1 = I, then det(AA1 ) = det(I) or det(A) det(A1 ) = 1, and since det(A) 6= 0, we have
1
.
det(A1 ) =
det(A)
Examples:
1. If det(A) = 2 and det(B) = 5, find det(A3 B 1 AT B 2 ).
2. (a) If A is a 2 2 matrix where |A| = 4, find det(3A), det(3A2 ), and det[(3A)2 ].
(b) Is A invertible?

Definition:
The adjugate of an n n matrix is the transpose of the matrix of cofactors, or
adj(A) = [cij (A)]T
where [cij (A)] is the matrix whose (i, j) entry is the (i, j) cofactor of A.
Example 4:

1
3 2
1
5 , find adj(A).
If A = 0
2 6 7

Theorem 5:
If A is an n n matrix, then A(adj(A)) = det(A)I.
1
Furthermore, if A is invertible, then A1 =
(adj(A)).
det(A)
Proof:

Example 5
Calculate the inverse of A, where A is the matrix in the Example 4.

Another use of determinants is in solving systems of equations. So far, we have seen two methods:
augmented matrices and coefficient matrices (if A is invertible).
Cramers Rule
If A is an invertible n n matrix, then the solution to A~x = ~b is
x1 =

|A2 |
|An |
|A1 |
, x2 =
, . . . , xn =
|A|
|A|
|A|

where Aj is thematrix obtained by replacing the entries in the j th column of A by the entries in the
b1
b2

matrix ~b = .. .
.
bn
Proof:
Let A be an invertible n n matrix where A~x = ~b.
adj(A)~
b or
Then ~x = A1~b =
det(A)

x1
c11 (A)
x2
c12 (A)
.
.
.
.
1
.

.
=

xj |A| c1j (A)

.
.
..
..
xn
c1n (A)
Then by matrix multiplication, xj =

a11
a21

Now consider the matrix Aj = ..

.
an1
j, we have

c21 (A)
c22 (A)
..
.

cn1 (A)

cn2 (A)
b1
..
b2
.

c2j (A) cnj (A) ...
..
..
.
. bn
c2n (A) cnn (A)

1
(c1j (A)b1 + c2j (A)b2 + . . . + cnj (A)bn ).
|A|

a12 b1 a1n
a22 b2 a2n

..
..
.. By a cofactor expansion along column
.
.
.
an2 bn ann

|Aj | = b1 c1j (A) + b2 c2j (A) + . . . + bn cnj (A)

Therefore

|Aj |
b1 c1j (A) + b2 c2j (A) + . . . + bn cnj (A)
=
= xj .
|A|
|A|

10

Cramers Rule is useful because it allows us to solve for a single component of ~x without computing
the rest.
Example 6
Use Cramers Rule to solve for x1 in the following system of equations:
x1 + 2x3 = 6
3x1 + 4x2 + 6x3 = 30
x1 2x2 + 3x3 = 8

11

Polynomial Interpolation
Suppose we are trying to describe the relationship between two variables x and y in terms of some
polynomial. We have a collection of experimental data points (x1 , y1 ) (x2 , y2 ), (x3 , y3 ). We would like
to fit this data to a polynomial of the form ax2 + bx + c. The unknowns here are the constants a, b
and c. By substituting each of our data points, we obtain a system of 3 equations in 3 unknowns,
which we can then solve for.
Example:
Find a polynomial p(x) = ax2 + bx + c that fits the following data points: (5, 3), (10, 5), (15, 6).
Solution:
By substituting the data points in for x and y, we obtain the following system:
a(5)2 + b(5) + c = 3
a(10)2 + b(10) + c = 5
a(15)2 + b(15) + c = 6
We could solve this using the matrix equation

1
a
25 5 1
3
b = 100 10 1 5
c
225 15 1
6

25 5 1
3
1



100 10 1
5
adj
=
 25 5 1


225 15 1
6
100 10 1


225 15 1
1
50
7
= 10
0
The polynomial is

1 2
7
x + x.
50
10

12

Explanations and Proofs of Concepts Introduced this Week

Where does the determinant expression come from?
We look for conditions on the entries so that a 3 3 matrix A is invertible. We do so by trying to
reduce A to I leaving any necessary divisions until the very end. When we finally have to divide to
obtain a leading one, we will end up with the expression for the determinant and require it not to
equal 0.
Note: We cannot have a column of zeros if A is to be invertible, so we will assume at least one of the
entries in column 1 is non-zero. Assuming a11 6= 0, we attempt to reduce A to I by performing the
following EROs on A:
1. a11 R2
2. a11 R3
3. R2 a21 R1
4. R3 a31 R1
5. (a11 a22 a12 a21 )R3
6. R3 (a11 a32 a31 a12 )R2 ,
we obtain

a11 a12 a13

a11
a12
a13
a11
a12
a13
A = a21 a22 a23 a11 a21 a11 a22 a11 a23 0 a11 a22 a21 a12 a11 a23 a21 a13
a31 a32 a33
a11 a31 a11 a32 a11 a33
0 a11 a32 a31 a12 a11 a33 a31 a13

a11
a12
a13

a11 a22 a21 a12

a11 a23 a21 a13
0
0 (a11 a22 a21 a12 )(a11 a32 a31 a12 ) (a11 a22 a21 a12 )(a11 a33 a31 a13 )

a11
a12
a13
0 a11 a22 a21 a12

a11 a23 a21 a13

0
0
(a11 a22 a21 a12 )(a11 a33 a31 a13 ) (a11 a32 a12 a31 )(a11 a23 a21 a13 )
We want each column to contain a leading one. We require the first non-zero entry in each row to
be non-zero.
The entry is row 3, column 3 simplifies to
a11 (a11 a22 a33 + a12 a23 a31 + a13 a21 a32 a13 a22 a31 a11 a23 a32 a12 a21 a33 ).
The bracketed expression is what we define as the determinant of a 3 3 matrix.
We require this number to be non-zero in order for A to be invertible.
(Note that we also require a11 a22 a21 a12 to be non-zero in row 2.)
Cofactor expansion using cofactors and entries from different rows equals 0

a11 a12 a13

Let A = a21 a22 a23 .
a31 a32 a33
We know |A| = a11 c11 + a12 c12 + a13 c13 .
13

Consider a11 c31 + a12 c32 + a13 c33 where

we have used entries from row 1, but cofactors from row 3.

a11 a12 a13

We construct a new matrix A0 = a21 a22 a23 where row 3 is simply a copy of row 1.
a11 a12 a13
0
Clearly |A | = 0 since it has 2 identical rows.
Let c031 , c032 and c033 be the cofactors of the entries in the 3rd row of A0 .
Now since the first two rows of A and A0 are the same, and the computations of c31 , c32 , c33 , c031 , c032 ,
and c033 involve only these entries in the first two rows, then c31 = c031 , c32 = c032 , and c33 = c033 .
Then by evaluating |A0 | by a cofactor expansion along the 3rd row of A, we have
|A0 | = a11 c031 + a12 c032 + a13 c033
= a11 c31 + a12 c32 + a13 c33
But |A0 | = 0 so a11 c31 + a12 c32 + a13 c33 = 0.
Illustration of why ERO Ri + kRj does

a11 a12 a13

Let A = a21 a22 a23 . If we perform the
a31 a32 a33


 a11 + ka21 a12 + ka22 a13 + ka23 



 =
a
a
a
21
22
23




a31
a32
a33
=

not change a 3 3 determinant

ERO R1 + kR2 , we have the following determinant:

(a11 + ka21 )c11 + (a12 + ka22 )c12 + (a13 + ka23 )c13

a11 c11 + a12 c12 + a13 c13 + k(a21 c11 + a22 c12 + a23 c13 )


 a21 a22 a23 


= det(A) + k  a21 a22 a23 
 a31 a32 a33 

= det(A) + k(0)
= det(A)

14