MA 103 (LINEAR ALGEBRA)

Tutorial 2 (Gaussian Elimination; Linear independence & dependence; Basis)

Notations. N: the set of natural numbers; Z: the set of integers; Q: the set of rationals;
R: the set of real numbers; R∗ : the set of non-zero real numbers; R+ : the set of all positive
real numbers; C: the set of complex numbers.

1. Determine whether the following sets are subspaces of R3 under the operations of addition and scalar
multiplication defined on R3 . Justify your answers. Compute a basis of W if it is a subspace.

(i) W = {(a1 , a2 , a3 ) ∈ R3 | a1 = 3a2 , a3 = −a2 }.

(ii) W = {(a1 , a2 , a3 ) ∈ R3 | 5a21 − 3a22 + 6a23 = 0}.
(iii) W = {(a1 , a2 , a3 ) ∈ R3 | a1 + 2a2 − 3a3 = 1}.
(iv) W = {(a1 , a2 , a3 ) ∈ R3 | a1 = a3 + 2}.

2. Let A and B be n × n matrices. Prove that if AX = BX for every column matrix X, then A = B.

3. Consider an arbitrary system of m linear equations AX = b in n unknowns, where A and b have real
entries.

(i) Prove that if the system of equations AX = b has more than one solution then it has infinitely
many solutions.
(ii) Prove that if there is a solution in the complex numbers then there is also a solution in the real
numbers.

4. Let {e1 , e2 , . . . , em } be the standard basis of Rm . Let {v1 , v2 , . . . , vn } be a set of n vectors in Rm . Let
A be the m × n matrix whose columns are v1t , . . . , vnt . Let A′ be the row-reduced echelon form of A.

(i) Let B be the matrix row equivalent to

PA. the vectors such that w1t , . . . , wnt
Let {w1 , w2 , . . . , wn } beP
form the columns of B. Prove that ni=1 ci wi = 0 if and only if ni=1 ci vi = 0, for real numbers
c1 , . . . , cn .
(ii) Prove that v1 , v2 , . . . , vn are linearly independent over R if and only if A′ has n non-zero rows
(i.e., has rank n).
(iii) Prove that the subspace spanned by the set of vectors {v1 , v2 , . . . , vn } has dimension r where
r is the number of nonzero rows of A′ and that a basis for W is given by the original vectors
vji (i = 1, 2, . . . , r) corresponding to the pivotal columns of A′ .

5. Let v1 = (1, 1, 3, −2, 3), v2 = (0, 1, 0, −1, 0), v3 = (2, 3, 6, −5, 6), v4 = (0, 3, 1, −3, 1), v5 =
(2, −1, −1, −1, −1).

Semester I; 2025-26 Department of Mathematics, IIT Gandhinagar

MA 103: Tutorial 2 2

(i) Show that the row-reduced Echelon form of the matrix

 
1 0 2 0 2
1
 1 3 3 −1
A=  3 0 6 1 −1
−2 −1 −5 −3 −1
3 0 6 1 −1
with v1t , v2t , v3t , v4t , v5t as its columns is the matrix
 
1 0 2 0 2
0 1 1 0 18 
A′ = 
 
0 0 0 1 −7
0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0
where the first, second and fourth columns are pivotal and the remaining two are non-pivotal.
(ii) Conclude that these vectors are linearly dependent, that the subspace W spanned by v1 , v2 , v3 , v4 , v5
is 3-dimensional and that the vectors
v1 = (1, 1, 3, −2, 3), v2 = (0, 1, 0, −1, 0), v4 = (0, 3, 1, −3, 1)
are a basis for W .
(iii) Conclude from (i) that the coefficients c1 , . . . , c5 of any linear relation
c1 v1 + c2 v2 + · · · + c5 v5 = 0
satisfied by v1 , v2 , v3 , v4 , v5 are given by the equations

x1 +2x3 +2x5 = 0
x2 +x3 +18x5 = 0
x4 −7x5 = 0.

Deduce that the first and the third variables c1 , c5 , corresponding to the non-pivotal columns of
A′ , can be prescribed arbitrarily and the remaining variables are then uniquely determined as:

x1 = −2x3 − 2x5
x2 = −x3 − 18x5
x4 = + 7x5

to give all the linear dependence relations satisfied by v1 , v2 , . . . , v5 . In particular, show that
−2v1 − v2 + v3 = 0
and
−2v1 − 18v2 + 7v4 + v5 = 0
corresponding to (x3 = 1, x5 = 0) and (x3 = 0, x5 = 1), respectively.

Semester I; 2025-26 Department of Mathematics, IIT Gandhinagar

MA 103: Tutorial 2 3

6. Determine whether the first vector can be written as a linear combination of the other two.

(i) (−2, 0, 3), (1, 3, 0), (2, 4, −1).

(ii) (1, 2, −3), (−3, 2, 1), (2, −1, −1).
(iii) (−2, 2, 2), (1, 2, −1), (−3, −3, 3).

7. Solve the following system of linear equations by the method of Gaussian elimination (reduction to
Echelon form by elementary row operations):
2x1 −2x2 −3x3 = −2
(i) 3x1 −3x2 −2x3 +5x4 = 7
x1 −x2 −2x3 −x4 = −3
x1 +2x2 −x3 +x4 = 5
(ii) x1 +4x2 −3x3 −3x4 = 6
2x1 +3x2 −x3 +4x4 = 8
x1 +2x2 6x3 = −1
2x1 +x2 +x3 = 8
(iii)
3x1 +x2 −x3 = 15
x1 3x2 +10x3 = −5

8. For each of the following lists of vectors in R3 determine whether they are linearly independent or not:

(i) {(−2, 0, 3), (1, 3, 0), (2, 4, −1)};

(ii) {(1, 2, −3), (−3, 2, 1), (2, −1, −1)};
(iii) {(1, 3, −4, 2), (2, 2, −4, 0), (1, −3, 2, −4), (−1, 0, 1, 0)};
(iv) {(1, 4, −6), (1, 5, 8), (2, 1, 1), (0, 1, 0)};
(v) {(1, 0, 0, −1), (0, 1, 0, −1), (0, 0, 1, −1), (0, 0, 0, 1)}.

. . . , vm } is a subset of Rn , then B is linearly independent over R if and only if rank

(Hint. If B ={v1 ,
v1
 v2 
of the matrix  .  is m.)
 
 .. 
vm

9. Show that the set S = {(2, −3, 1), (1, 4, −2), (−8, 12, −4), (1, 37, −17), (−3, −5, 8)} is a linearly
dependent set of vectors in R3 . Find a subset B of S which is linearly independent and it is the biggest
in the sense that any other subset of S containing the set B is linearly dependent.

10. Let M be a square upper triangular matrix with nonzero diagonal entries. Prove that the column vectors
of M form a linearly independent subset of Rn .

11. Let A be an m × n matrix of rank r, where r > 0, and let B be the row reduced Echelon forms of A.
Prove the following statements.

Semester I; 2025-26 Department of Mathematics, IIT Gandhinagar

MA 103: Tutorial 2 4

(i) The number of nonzero rows in B is r.

(ii) For each i = 1, 2, . . . , r, there is a column bji of B such that bji = ei .
(iii) The columns aj1 , . . . , ajr of A are linearly independent.
(iv) For each k = 1, 2, . . . , n, if the k-th column of B is d1 e1 + · · · + dr er , then the k-th column of A
is d1 aj1 + d2 aj2 + · · · + dr ajr .

12. Prove that the row-reduced Echelon form of a matrix is unique.

13. Let the row-reduced Echelon form of A be

 
1 0 2 0 −2
0 1 −5 0 −3 .
0 0 0 1 6

    
1 0 1
Determine A if the first, second and fourth columns of A are −1, −1, −2 respectively.
3 1 0

Semester I; 2025-26 Department of Mathematics, IIT Gandhinagar