Tutorial Sheet School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences, IIT Mandi
Tutorial Sheet – 5
Course: MA512 – Linear Algebra
Instructor: Prof. Muslim Malik
T.A.: Bhawna
Date: September 8, 2025
1. State whether the following statements are true or false. Justify your answers.
(a) The zero vector space has no basis.
(b) Every vector space that is generated by a finite set has a basis.
(c) If S generates the vector space V , then every vector in V can be written as a linear
combination of elements of S in only one way.
2. Let Mn (F ) be the n × n square matrices over field F . FInd a basis and dimension for each
of the following vector spaces.
(a) Mn (C) over C.
(b) Mn (C) over R.
(c) Mn (R) over R.
3. Find a basis for each of these subspaces of R4 :
(a) all vectors whose components are equal.
(b) all vectors whose components add to zero.
(c) U = {(x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 ) : x1 − 2x2 + 3x3 − 4x4 = 0}.
4. Find a basis and dimension for the row and column space of
1 2 −3 1 2 −4 1
(a) 2 4 −4 (b) 2 9 −12
6 .
3 6 −6 7 6 −3 9
5. Let W be the subspace of the space of all continuous real valued functions spanned by
{cos2 t, sin2 t, cos 2t}. Find a basis for W . What is the dimension of W ?
6. Find a basis and dimension for each of these subspaces of 2 × 2 matrices:
(a) all diagonal matrices.
(b) all symmetric matrices (AT = A).
(c) all skew-symmetric matrices (AT = −A).
7. Show that if the vector space V is of dimension n, then any n linearly independent vectors
in V forms a basis of V .
8. Find a basis and dimension of the solution space of the following homogeneous linear
systems
(a) 3x1 + x2 + x3 + x4 = 0
5x1 − x2 + x3 − x4 = 0.
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Tutorial Sheet School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences, IIT Mandi
(b) x1 − 3x2 + x3 = 0
2x1 − 6x2 + 2x3 = 0
3x1 − 9x2 + 3x3 = 0.
9. Let V be the vector space of all 3 × 3 real matrices. Let A be the matrix given below and
we define
W = {M ∈ V |AM = M A}.
Then, W is a subspace of V . Determine which matrices are in the subspace W and also
find the dimension of W .
a 0 0 a 0 0
(a) A = 0 b 0 (b) A = 0 a 0 ,
0 0 c 0 0 b
where a, b, c are distinct real numbers.
10. Show that the set {(1, i, 0), (2i, 1, 1), (0, 1 + i, 1 − i)} is a basis for V3 (C) and determine the
co-ordinates of the vectors (1, 0, 0), (0, 1, 0), (0, 0, 1) with respect to the basis.
11. Show that the set S = {1, x, x2 , . . . , xn } of n + 1 polynomials in x is a basis of the vector
space Pn (R) of all polynomials in x of degree n over the field of real numbers.
12. Determine a basis of the subspace spanned by the vectors (3, 2, 4), (1, 0, 2), (1, −1, −1) and
(6, 7, 5).
13. If a subspace W of R4 is generated by the vectors (3, 8, −3, −5), (1, −2, 5, −3) and (2, 3, 1, −4),
find a basis and dimension of W . Also, extend this basis to get a basis of R4 .
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