Questions tagged [matrices]

For any topic related to matrices. This includes: systems of linear equations, eigenvalues and eigenvectors (diagonalization, triangularization), determinant, trace, characteristic polynomial, adjugate and adjoint, transpose, Jordan normal form, matrix algorithms (e.g. LU, Gauss elimination, SVD, QR), invariant factors, quadratic forms, etc. For questions specifically concerning matrix equations, use the (matrix-equations) tag.

A matrix is a rectangular array of elements, usually numbers or variables, arranged in rows and columns. A matrix with $m$ rows and $n$ columns has $m \times n$ elements and is called an $m$ by $n$ matrix. Matrices are a part of .

Matrices can be added and subtracted. Furthermore, if they have compatible shapes, they can be multiplied. More precisely, given two matrices $A$ and $B$, the matrix $AB$ is defined when the number of columns of $A$ is equal to the number of rows of $B$. In particular, given a natural number $n$, any two matrices $A$ and $B$ with $n$ columns and $n$ rows can be multiplied in both ways (that is, both $AB$ and $BA$ exist).


For questions specifically concerning matrix equations, use the tag.

55954 questions
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Help to evaluate determinant

I want to evaluate the determinant of the $n \times n$ matrix $\left|\begin{array}{ccccc} 1 & 0 & \ldots & 0& 0 \\ 0 & 0 & \ldots & 0 & -a\\ 0 & 0 & \ldots & -a & 0\\ &&&\vdots \\ 0 & -a & 0 &\dots & 0 \end{array}\right|.$ So I try to say that…
user23086
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How to multiply a 3x3 matrix with a 1x3 matrix?

I have 2 matrices and have been trying to multiply them but to no avail. Then I found this online site and trying feeding it the values but yet no success. - R' . T is what i would like to do but R is a 3x3 (3 rows, 3 cols) matrix and T is a 1 x 3…
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System of Equations

How would I solve a $4 \times 3$ matrix? I've tried making it into an augmented matrix but I ended up with all zeros at the bottom. Please help! $$\begin{align}\begin{cases}x_1+x_2+x_3+x_4&=1 \\ 2x_1+3x_2+4x_3+4x_4&=2 \\-x_1+x_3+x_4&=-1.…
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Scaling of a matrix?

Lets say you have two column vectors: $$\begin{array}{|r r|} 3 & -4 \\ 4 & 3 \\ \end{array}$$ How to find the scaling of this matrix? I thought that it can be any number but apparently it is $5$ which helps to find the rotational angle for this…
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Under what conditions product of two matrices gives a identity matrix.

Under what conditions product of a matrix $\mathbf{B} \in \mathbb{R}^{l\times m}$ with a sparse matrix $\mathbf{A}\in \mathbb{R}^{m\times l}$ gives a identity matrix $\mathbf{C} \in \mathbb{R}^{l\times l}$.
Astro
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Solve the following systems of equations ( Matrices)

Solve the following systems of equations: \begin{Bmatrix} x_1 & -x_2 & -x_3 & +0x_4 & = 2 \\ -x_1 & +2x_2 & +0x_3 & +3x_4 &= 1 \\ x_1 & +0x_2 & +x_3 & +0x_4 & =5\\ \end{Bmatrix} I try to make a zero triangle but…
Mohamed
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Method to find the inverse of any lower triangular matrix

Is there a special method to find the the inverse for a matrix which would classified as a lower or left triangular matrix for a matrix L which is n by n. Additionally where the upper part of the matrix would also be all zeros. where none of the…
John
  • 231
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What's the method to finding the scale factor of enlargement and rotation of a 2D matrix?

The matrix M is defined by: \begin{bmatrix} -1 & -1 \\ 1 & -1 \\ \end{bmatrix} Assuming the matrix represents an enlargement followed by a rotation My idea here was to make an equation so you're left with simultaneous equations to…
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When does a $2\times2$ symmetric matrix commute with a skew-symmetric matrix?

I'm preparing for an exam, and this is an exercise that was given to a teammate. It would be helpful for me to solve it, but I'm stuck. This is the statement. Given $A=(a_{ij}), B=(b_{ij}) $ matrices in $ M_2(\mathbb{K})$ such that $A$ is…
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The characteristic polynomial of A matrix A^k related to A

when I'm learning markov matrix markov pdf download here when proving THEOREM 4.12, It said, characteristic polynomial of a matrix A $ch(A) =(x−c_1)^{a_1} ···(x−c_t)^{a_t} ⇒ ch(A^k) =(x−c_1^k)^{a_1} ···(x−c_t^k)^{a_t}$. why is that? I can understand…
femto
  • 143
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How to prove matrix in hermite canonical form is idempotent

It says in Rao that it's "easy to prove" that a matrix H in hermite canonical form is necessarily idempotent under matrix multiplication (i.e. HxH=H). I am trying to find a proof to this but everyone claims it's obvious. It is not so obvious to me!…
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What values of $a$ and $b$ does this system have infinitely many solutions?

As a disclosure, this question is more for me to confirm that I did my work correctly. More specifically, the "solution" provided to me claims there are two values of $a$ and $b$ that yield infinite solutions, but I found only one. That said, this…
Mlagma
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Is $2^{xy}$ a positive definite kernel?

Is $2^{xy}$ a positive definite kernel on $\mathbb{N}$? i.e. for all $a_1, ..., a_n \in \mathbb{R}$, for all $x_1, ..., x_n \in \mathbb{N}$, $\sum_{i,j} a_i a_j 2^{x_ix_j}\geqslant 0$
Arnaud
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How to multiply a matrix by a vector

Using this example, could someone tell me how to multiply a matrix by a vector? $$\left(\begin{array}{ccc} A & B & C \\ D & E & F \\ G & H & I \end{array}\right) * \left(\begin{array}{c} X \\ Y \\ Z \end{array} \right) = ? $$
Overflowh
  • 483
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1 answer

Multiplying matrices to get a specific result

Are there matrices $A,B$ (of dimension $n$), that give \begin{equation} AB-BA=I \end{equation} I have tried getting a result in small scale by using $2\times 2$ matrices and got a false equation $(0=1)$. But I cannot find a way to show that it is…