Linear Algebra Practice Problems for the Final Exam

1. Find all solutions to the following systems of linear equations.

x1 − 2x2 + 2x3 = 5
(a) x1 − x2 = −1
−x1 + x2 + x3 = 5

x1 + x2 + 3x3 = 3
(b) −x1 + x2 + x3 = −1
2x1 + 3x2 + 8x3 = 4

2. Find a basis for the solutions to the following system of linear equations:

x1 + 2x2 − x3 + x4 = 0
−x1 − 2x2 + 3x3 + 5x4 = 0
−x1 − 2x2 − x3 − 7x4 = 0

3. Consider the following subspace of R4 :

       
1 3 1 2
 2   6   3   3 
S = Span      
 1  ,  3  , 
, 
5   −2 
3 9 4 5

Find a basis for S.

4. Consider the planes x1 +x2 +3x3 = 4 and x1 +2x2 +4x3 = 5 in R3 . Find

parametric equations for the line of intersection of these two planes.

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5. Determine whether the following matrices are invertible. If the matrix
is invertible, compute the inverse.
· ¸
3 4
(a) A1 =
1 2
 
1 3 1
(b) A2 =  2 5 2 
4 7 4
 
1 0 4
(c) A3 =  −1 1 −1 
−1 0 −3

6. Compute the following determinants:

¯ ¯
¯ 2 3 ¯
¯
(a) ¯ ¯
4 5 ¯

¯ ¯
¯ 2 3 1 ¯
¯ ¯
(b) ¯¯ 3 0 1 ¯
¯
¯ 3 1 2 ¯

¯ ¯
¯ 1 2 3 4 ¯
¯ ¯
¯ 1 4 5 8 ¯
(c) ¯¯ ¯
¯
¯ 1 1 2 3 ¯
¯ 1 3 5 8 ¯

¯ ¯
¯ 0 0 0 3 0 ¯
¯ ¯
¯ −2 0 0 2 0 ¯
¯ ¯
(d) ¯¯ 8 −1 0 −7 2 ¯
¯
¯ −1 2 2 3 2 ¯
¯ ¯
¯ 2 2 3 6 4 ¯

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7. Let A be the following matrix:
 
1 1 1
A= 1 2 t 
1 4 t2

(a) Compute the determinant of A. (Your answer will be in terms of t.)

(b) For what values of t is A invertible?

8. Let V be the vector space consisting of all functions of the form

αe2x cos x + βe2x sin x

Consider the following linear transformation L : V → V :

L(f ) = f 0 + f

(a) Find the matrix representing L with respect to the basis {e2x cos x, e2x sin x}.
(b) Use your answer from part (a) to find one solution to the following
differential equation:

y 0 + y = e2x cos x

9. Consider the following basis for R2 :

½· ¸ · ¸¾
1 3
E= ,
2 5
· ¸
−2
(a) Find the coordinates for the vector in terms of the basis E.
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(b) Let L : R2 → R2 be the following linear transformation:

L(x, y) = (2x − y, 3x − 2y)

Find the matrix representing L with respect to the basis E.

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10. Find the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the following matrices:
· ¸
3 −5
(a) A1 =
2 −3
 
4 −4 2
(b) A2 =  2 −2 2 
0 0 1

11. Consider the following matrix:

· ¸
6 4
A=
−6 −4

Find a general formula for the entries of An . (Hint: Diagonalize A.)

12. (a) Find all solutions to the following system of differential equations:

y10 = −5y1 + 3y2

y20 = −4y1 + 2y2

(b) Use your computations from part (a) to find all solutions to the
following system of differential equations:
y100 = −5y1 + 3y2
y200 = −4y1 + 2y2

13. Consider the vector space C[0, 1] with the following inner product:
Z 1
hf, gi = f (x)g(x) dx
−1

Let S be the following subspace:

¡ ¢
S = Span 1, x, x2

Find an orthonormal basis for S.

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14. Find the Fourier series on the interval [−π, π] for the following function:
(
0 if −π < x < 0
f (x) =
1 if 0<x<π

15. Compute the following integral:

Z π
(3 + 2 sin x + 3 cos x) (1 + 4 sin x) dx
−π