Reminders

MATH214
• Write in a neat and legible handwriting or use LATEX
Linear Algebra
• Clearly explain the reasoning process

• Write in a complete style (subject, verb, and object)

Homework 4
• Be critical on your results
Manuel — JI (Spring 2025)

Questions preceded by a * are optional. Although they can be skipped without any deduction, it is
important to know and understand the results they contain.

Ex. 1 — Matrix calculations

1. Use block multiplication to determine the product of M1 and M2 , where

 
   4 3 2 1
 8 −3 −2 5
1 2 3 4 5 6  
4 10   
 1 2 −3 −1  7 8 1 0
M1 =  
 and M2 =  .
1 8 −3 −4 −3 4 −2 
   2 7 9
 
6 −3 −9  
1 1 6 12 23 −2 −1
5 7 −9 5

2. If it exists, determine the inverse of the matrices over the reals

     
1 2 3 −1 2 3 −1 2 −3
     
6 5 4 ,  6 −5 4  6 −5 4
    , and  .
7 9 8 7 9 −8 −7 9 −8

Ex. 2 — Dual space

Let V1 and V2 be two subspaces of a finite dimensional K-vector space V .

1. Show that (V1 + V2 )⊥ = V1⊥ ∩ V2⊥ and (V1 ∩ V2 )⊥ = V1⊥ + V2⊥ .

Hints.
• Use simple words to explain what (V1 + V2 )⊥ is.
• For a subspace V0 ⊂ V , what is (V0⊥ )⊥ ?

2. Conclude that if V = V1 ⊕ V2 , then V ∗ = V1⊥ ⊕ V2⊥ .

Ex. 3 — Symmetric matrices

Let M ∈ Mn,p (K). Show that MM ⊤ and M ⊤ M are both symmetric matrices.
Hint. Think in term of matrix elements.

Ex. 4 — Gram-Schmidt procedure

Let V be a finite n-dimensional R-vector space. A symmetric bilinear form on V is a bilinear form b
such that for any v1 , v2 ∈ V , b(v1 , v2 ) = b(v2 , v1 ). We say that b is positive definite if for any v ∈ V ,
b(v , v ) ≥ 0, with equality if and only if v = 0.
 1. Bilinear forms.
a) Let v = (v1 , · · · , vn ) and w = (w1 , · · · , wn ) ∈ V be the representations of v and w on a
basis B = {e1 , · · · , en } of V . Show that if b is a bilinear form then b(v , w ) can be expressed
in terms of matrices as
  
b1,1 · · · b1,n w
( )   1
 .. . ..   ... 
.  
b(v , w ) = v1 · · · vn  . .. .
  
bn,1 · · · bn,n wn

b) Calling B the matrix of b in B, show that B is symmetric if and only if b is symmetric.

A bilinear form ⟨·, ·⟩ : V × V → R, which is symmetric and positive definite is called an inner product. A
vector space endowed with an inner product is called an inner product space. A finite dimensional real
inner product space is called a Euclidean space.1
A map ∥ · ∥ : V → R is called a norm if for any v , w ∈ V , (i) ∥v ∥ = 0 if and only if v = 0, (ii) for any
a ∈ R, ∥av ∥ = |a|∥v ∥, and (iii) ∥v + w ∥ ≤ ∥v ∥ + ∥w ∥.

2. Inner product and norm. Let v , w ∈ V .

∑n
a) Show that V endowed with ⟨v , w ⟩ = i=1 vi wi ,
is an n-dimensional Euclidean space.
√
b) Show that if V is an inner product space over R, then for any v ∈ V , ∥v ∥ = ⟨v , v ⟩ defines
a norm and V is a normed vector space.
c) Prove Cauchy-Swartz inequality, |⟨v , w ⟩| ≤ ∥v ∥∥w ∥.

A unit vector is a vector with norm 1. Two vectors w and v are said to orthogonal if ⟨v , w ⟩ = 0. As
set of vectors {u1 , · · · , un } is said to be orthonormal if they all have norm 1 and for any i, j ∈ J1, nK,
⟨ui , uj ⟩ = δi,j .

3. Construction of an orthonormal basis.

a) Show that any set of non-zero orthogonal vectors is linearly independent.
b) Prove that for any basis B of V there exists an orthonormal basis B ′ with span B ′ = span B.
Hint. Proceed by induction on the dimension n of the space.

Gram-Schmidt procedure transforms any given basis into an orthonormal basis.

* Ex. 5 — Challenging problem

∩
p
Let V be a K-vector space, and f1 , · · · , fp and g be linear forms on V . Prove that if ker fi ⊂ ker g ,
i=1
then g ∈ span{f1 , · · · , fp }.
Hints.
• Do not forget the case g = 0.
• Independently consider the cases where V is a finite and an infinite dimensional vector space.
• Let L be a subspace of V ∗ . In infinite dimension do we have (◦ L)⊥ = L?
• For the infinite dimension case, reason by induction on p.

1
Those definitions are only valid over R. When working on C, the notion of sesquilinear form generalises the definition of a
bilinear form and allows the definition of the inner product over C.