INTRODUCTION

TO

LINEAR

ALGEBRA

Fifth Edition

MANUAL FOR INSTRUCTORS

Gilbert Strang
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

math.mit.edu/linearalgebra
web.mit.edu/18.06
video lectures: ocw.mit.edu
math.mit.edu/gs
www.wellesleycambridge.com
email: linearalgebrabook@gmail.com

Wellesley - Cambridge Press

Box 812060
Wellesley, Massachusetts 02482
2 Solutions to Exercises

Problem Set 1.1, page 8

1 The combinations give (a) a line in R3 (b) a plane in R3 (c) all of R3 .

2 v + w = (2, 3) and v w = (6, 1) will be the diagonals of the parallelogram with

v and w as two sides going out from (0, 0).

3 This problem gives the diagonals v + w and v w of the parallelogram and asks for

the sides: The opposite of Problem 2. In this example v = (3, 3) and w = (2, 2).

4 3v + w = (7, 5) and cv + dw = (2c + d, c + 2d).

5 u+v = (2, 3, 1) and u+v+w = (0, 0, 0) and 2u+2v+w = ( add first answers) =

(2, 3, 1). The vectors u, v, w are in the same plane because a combination gives
(0, 0, 0). Stated another way: u = v w is in the plane of v and w.

6 The components of every cv + dw add to zero because the components of v and of w

add to zero. c = 3 and d = 9 give (3, 3, 6). There is no solution to cv+dw = (3, 3, 6)
because 3 + 3 + 6 is not zero.

7 The nine combinations c(2, 1) + d(0, 1) with c = 0, 1, 2 and d = (0, 1, 2) will lie on a

lattice. If we took all whole numbers c and d, the lattice would lie over the whole plane.

8 The other diagonal is v w (or else w v). Adding diagonals gives 2v (or 2w).

9 The fourth corner can be (4, 4) or (4, 0) or (2, 2). Three possible parallelograms!

10 i j = (1, 1, 0) is in the base (x-y plane). i + j + k = (1, 1, 1) is the opposite corner

from (0, 0, 0). Points in the cube have 0 x 1, 0 y 1, 0 z 1.

11 Four more corners (1, 1, 0), (1, 0, 1), (0, 1, 1), (1, 1, 1). The center point is ( 12 , 12 , 12 ).

Centers of faces are ( 21 , 21 , 0), ( 12 , 21 , 1) and (0, 12 , 12 ), (1, 21 , 12 ) and ( 12 , 0, 12 ), ( 12 , 1, 12 ).

12 The combinations of i = (1, 0, 0) and i + j = (1, 1, 0) fill the xy plane in xyz space.

13 Sum = zero vector. Sum = 2:00 vector = 8:00 vector. 2:00 is 30 from horizontal

= (cos 6 , sin 6 ) = ( 3/2, 1/2).

14 Moving the origin to 6:00 adds j = (0, 1) to every vector. So the sum of twelve vectors

changes from 0 to 12j = (0, 12).

Solutions to Exercises 3

3 1
15 The point v + w is three-fourths of the way to v starting from w. The vector
4 4
1 1 1 1
v + w is halfway to u = v + w. The vector v + w is 2u (the far corner of the
4 4 2 2
parallelogram).

16 All combinations with c + d = 1 are on the line that passes through v and w.

The point V = v + 2w is on that line but it is beyond w.

1
17 All vectors cv + cw are on the line passing through (0, 0) and u = 2v + 12 w. That
line continues out beyond v + w and back beyond (0, 0). With c 0, half of this line
is removed, leaving a ray that starts at (0, 0).

18 The combinations cv + dw with 0 c 1 and 0 d 1 fill the parallelogram with

sides v and w. For example, if v = (1, 0) and w = (0, 1) then cv + dw fills the unit
square. But when v = (a, 0) and w = (b, 0) these combinations only fill a segment of
a line.

19 With c 0 and d 0 we get the infinite cone or wedge between v and w. For

example, if v = (1, 0) and w = (0, 1), then the cone is the whole quadrant x 0, y
0. Question: What if w = v? The cone opens to a half-space. But the combinations
of v = (1, 0) and w = (1, 0) only fill a line.
1
20 (a) 3u + 13 v + 31 w is the center of the triangle between u, v and w; 12 u + 12 w lies
between u and w (b) To fill the triangle keep c 0, d 0, e 0, and c + d + e = 1.

21 The sum is (v u) + (w v) + (u w) = zero vector. Those three sides of a triangle

are in the same plane!

22 The vector 21 (u + v + w) is outside the pyramid because c + d + e = 1

2
+ 1
2
+ 1
2
> 1.

23 All vectors are combinations of u, v, w as drawn (not in the same plane). Start by

seeing that cu + dv fills a plane, then adding ew fills all of R3 .

24 The combinations of u and v fill one plane. The combinations of v and w fill another

plane. Those planes meet in a line: only the vectors cv are in both planes.

25 (a) For a line, choose u = v = w = any nonzero vector (b) For a plane, choose
u and v in different directions. A combination like w = u + v is in the same plane.
4 Solutions to Exercises

26 Two equations come from the two components: c + 3d = 14 and 2c + d = 8. The

solution is c = 2 and d = 4. Then 2(1, 2) + 4(3, 1) = (14, 8).

27 A four-dimensional cube has 24 = 16 corners and 2 4 = 8 three-dimensional faces

and 24 two-dimensional faces and 32 edges in Worked Example 2.4 A.

28 There are 6 unknown numbers v1 , v2 , v3 , w1 , w2 , w3 . The six equations come from the

components of v + w = (4, 5, 6) and v w = (2, 5, 8). Add to find 2v = (6, 10, 14)
so v = (3, 5, 7) and w = (1, 0, 1).

29 Fact : For any three vectors u, v, w in the plane, some combination cu + dv + ew is

the zero vector (beyond the obvious c = d = e = 0). So if there is one combination
Cu + Dv + Ew that produces b, there will be many morejust add c, d, e or 2c, 2d, 2e
to the particular solution C, D, E.

The example has 3u 2v + w = 3(1, 3) 2(2, 7) + 1(1, 5) = (0, 0). It also has
2u + 1v + 0w = b = (0, 1). Adding gives u v + w = (0, 1). In this case c, d, e
equal 3, 2, 1 and C, D, E = 2, 1, 0.

Could another example have u, v, w that could NOT combine to produce b ? Yes. The
vectors (1, 1), (2, 2), (3, 3) are on a line and no combination produces b. We can easily
solve cu + dv + ew = 0 but not Cu + Dv + Ew = b.

30 The combinations of v and w fill the plane unless v and w lie on the same line through

(0, 0). Four vectors whose combinations fill 4-dimensional space: one example is the
standard basis (1, 0, 0, 0), (0, 1, 0, 0), (0, 0, 1, 0), and (0, 0, 0, 1).

31 The equations cu + dv + ew = b are

2c d =1 So d = 2e c = 3/4
c +2d e = 0 then c = 3e d = 2/4
d +2e = 0 then 4e = 1 e = 1/4
Solutions to Exercises 5

Problem Set 1.2, page 18

1 u v = 2.4 + 2.4 = 0, u w = .6 + 1.6 = 1, u (v + w) = u v + u w =

0 + 1, w v = 4 + 6 = 10 = v w.

2 kuk = 1 and kvk = 5 and kwk = 5. Then |u v| = 0 < (1)(5) and |v w| = 10 <

5 5, confirming the Schwarz inequality.

3 Unit vectors v/kvk = ( 45 , 35 ) = (0.8, 0.6). The vectors w, (2, 1), and w make

0 , 90 , 180 angles with w and w/kwk = (1/ 5, 2/ 5). The cosine of is kv
vk
w = 10/5 5.
kw k

4 (a) v (v) = 1 (b) (v + w) (v w) = v v + w v v w w w =

1+( )( )1 = 0 so = 90 (notice vw = wv) (c) (v2w)(v+2w) =
v v 4w w = 1 4 = 3.

5 u1 = v/kvk = (1, 3)/ 10 and u2 = w/kwk = (2, 1, 2)/3. U 1 = (3, 1)/ 10 is

perpendicular to u1 (and so is (3, 1)/ 10). U 2 could be (1, 2, 0)/ 5: There is a
whole plane of vectors perpendicular to u2 , and a whole circle of unit vectors in that
plane.

6 All vectors w = (c, 2c) are perpendicular to v. They lie on a line. All vectors (x, y, z)

with x + y + z = 0 lie on a plane. All vectors perpendicular to (1, 1, 1) and (1, 2, 3)

lie on a line in 3-dimensional space.

7 (a) cos = v w/kvkkwk = 1/(2)(1) so = 60 or /3 radians (b) cos =

0 so = 90 or /2 radians (c) cos = 2/(2)(2) = 1/2 so = 60 or /3

(d) cos = 1/ 2 so = 135 or 3/4.

8 (a) False: v and w are any vectors in the plane perpendicular to u (b) True: u
(v + 2w) = u v + 2u w = 0 (c) True, ku vk2 = (u v) (u v) splits into
u u + v v = 2 when u v = v u = 0.

9 If v2 w2 /v1 w1 = 1 then v2 w2 = v1 w1 or v1 w1 + v2 w2 = v w = 0: perpendicular!

The vectors (1, 4) and (1, 14 ) are perpendicular.

6 Solutions to Exercises

10 Slopes 2/1 and 1/2 multiply to give 1: then v w = 0 and the vectors (the direc-

tions) are perpendicular.

11 v w < 0 means angle > 90 ; these ws fill half of 3-dimensional space.

12 (1, 1) perpendicular to (1, 5) c(1, 1) if (1, 1) (1, 5) c(1, 1) (1, 1) = 6 2c = 0 or

c = 3; v (w cv) = 0 if c = v w/v v. Subtracting cv is the key to constructing

a perpendicular vector.

13 The plane perpendicular to (1, 0, 1) contains all vectors (c, d, c). In that plane, v =

(1, 0, 1) and w = (0, 1, 0) are perpendicular.

14 One possibility among many: u = (1, 1, 0, 0), v = (0, 0, 1, 1), w = (1, 1, 1, 1)

and (1, 1, 1, 1) are perpendicular to each other. We can rotate those u, v, w in their
3D hyperplane and they will stay perpendicular.

15 21 (x + y) = (2 + 8)/2 = 5 and 5 > 4; cos = 2 16/ 10 10 = 8/10.

16 kvk2 = 1 + 1 + + 1 = 9 so kvk = 3; u = v/3 = ( 13 , . . . , 13 ) is a unit vector in 9D;

w = (1, 1, 0, . . . , 0)/ 2 is a unit vector in the 8D hyperplane perpendicular to v.

17 cos = 1/ 2, cos = 0, cos = 1/ 2. For any vector v = (v 1 , v 2 , v 3 ) the

cosines with (1, 0, 0) and (0, 0, 1) are cos2 +cos2 +cos2 = (v12 +v22 +v32 )/kvk2 = 1.

18 kvk2 = 42 + 22 = 20 and kwk2 = (1)2 + 22 = 5. Pythagoras is k(3, 4)k2 = 25 =

20 + 5 for the length of the hypotenuse v + w = (3, 4).

19 Start from the rules (1), (2), (3) for v w = w v and u (v + w) and (cv) w. Use

rule (2) for (v + w) (v + w) = (v + w) v + (v + w) w. By rule (1) this is

v (v + w) + w (v + w). Rule (2) again gives v v + v w + w v + w w =
v v + 2v w + w w. Notice v w = w v! The main point is to feel free to open
up parentheses.

20 We know that (v w) (v w) = v v 2v w + w w. The Law of Cosines writes

kvkkwk cos for v w. Here is the angle between v and w. When < 90 this
v w is positive, so in this case v v + w w is larger than kv wk2 .

Pythagoras changes from equality a2 +b2 = c2 to inequality when < 90 or > 90 .

Solutions to Exercises 7

21 2v w 2kvkkwk leads to kv + wk2 = v v + 2v w + w w kvk2 + 2kvkkwk +

kwk2 . This is (kvk + kwk)2 . Taking square roots gives kv + wk kvk + kwk.

22 v12 w12 + 2v1 w1 v2 w2 + v22 w22 v12 w12 + v12 w22 + v22 w12 + v22 w22 is true (cancel 4 terms)

because the difference is v12 w22 + v22 w12 2v1 w1 v2 w2 which is (v1 w2 v2 w1 )2 0.

23 cos = w1 /kwk and sin = w2 /kwk. Then cos( a) = cos cos +sin sin =

v1 w1 /kvkkwk + v2 w2 /kvkkwk = v w/kvkkwk. This is cos because = .

1
24 Example 6 gives |u1 ||U1 | 2
2 (u1 + U12 ) and |u2 ||U2 | 12 (u22 + U22 ). The whole line
becomes .96 (.6)(.8) + (.8)(.6) 21 (.62 + .82 ) + 12 (.82 + .62 ) = 1. True: .96 < 1.
p
25 The cosine of is x/ x2 + y 2 , near side over hypotenuse. Then | cos |2 is not greater

than 1: x2 /(x2 + y 2 ) 1.
2627 (with apologies for that typo !) These two lines add to 2||v||2 + 2||w||2 :

||v + w||2 = (v + w) (v + w) = v v + v w + w v + w w

||v w||2 = (v w) (v w) = v v v w w v + w w
28 The vectors w = (x, y) with (1, 2) w = x + 2y = 5 lie on a line in the xy plane. The

shortest w on that line is (1, 2). (The Schwarz inequality kwk v w/kvk = 5 is

an equality when cos = 0 and w = (1, 2) and kwk = 5.)

29 The length kv wk is between 2 and 8 (triangle inequality when kvk = 5 and kwk =

3). The dot product v w is between 15 and 15 by the Schwarz inequality.

30 Three vectors in the plane could make angles greater than 90 with each other: for

example (1, 0), (1, 4), (1, 4). Four vectors could not do this (360 total angle).
How many can do this in R3 or Rn ? Ben Harris and Greg Marks showed me that the
answer is n + 1. The vectors from the center of a regular simplex in Rn to its n + 1
vertices all have negative dot products. If n+2 vectors in Rn had negative dot products,
project them onto the plane orthogonal to the last one. Now you have n + 1 vectors in
Rn1 with negative dot products. Keep going to 4 vectors in R2 : no way!

31 For a specific example, pick v = (1, 2, 3) and then w = (3, 1, 2). In this example

cos = v w/kvkkwk = 7/ 14 14 = 1/2 and = 120 . This always
happens when x + y + z = 0:
8 Solutions to Exercises

1 1
v w = xz + xy + yz = (x + y + z)2 (x2 + y 2 + z 2 )
2 2
1 1
This is the same as v w = 0 kvkkwk. Then cos = .
2 2

32 Wikipedia gives this proof of geometric mean G = 3 xyz arithmetic mean
A = (x + y + z)/3. First there is equality in case x = y = z. Otherwise A is
somewhere between the three positive numbers, say for example z < A < y.

Use the known inequality g a for the two positive numbers x and y + z A. Their
1 1
mean a = 2 (x + y + z A) is 2 (3A A) = same as A! So a g says that
A3 g 2 A = x(y + z A)A. But (y + z A)A = (y A)(A z) + yz > yz.
Substitute to find A3 > xyz = G3 as we wanted to prove. Not easy!

There are many proofs of G = (x1 x2 xn )1/n A = (x1 + x2 + + xn )/n. In

calculus you are maximizing G on the plane x1 + x2 + + xn = n. The maximum
occurs when all xs are equal.

1
33 The columns of the 4 by 4 Hadamard matrix (times 2
) are perpendicular unit
vectors:

1 1 1 1


1 1 1 1 1 1
H=
.

2 2 1 1 1 1

1 1 1 1

34 The commands V = randn (3, 30); D = sqrt (diag (V V )); U = V \D; will give

30 random unit vectors in the columns of U . Then u U is a row matrix of 30 dot

products whose average absolute value should be close to 2/.

Problem Set 1.3, page 29

1 3s1 + 4s2 + 5s3 = (3, 7, 12). The same vector b comes from S times x = (3, 4, 5):
Solutions to Exercises 9

1 0 0 3 (row 1) x 3


1 1 0 4 = (row 2) x = 7 .

1 1 1 5 (row 2) x 12

2 The solutions are y1 = 1, y2 = 0, y3 = 0 (right side = column 1) and y1 = 1, y2 = 3,

y3 = 5. That second example illustrates that the first n odd numbers add to n2 .

y1 = B1 y1 = B 1 1 0 0 B
1

3 y1 + y2 = B2 gives y2 = B1 +B2 = 1 1 0 B2

y1 + y2 + y3 = B 3 y3 = B2 +B3 0 1 1 B3

1 0 0 1 0 0


The inverse of S = 1 1 0 is A = 1 1 0 : independent columns in A and S!

1 1 1 0 1 1

4 The combination 0w 1 + 0w2 + 0w 3 always gives the zero vector, but this problem

looks for other zero combinations (then the vectors are dependent, they lie in a plane):
w2 = (w1 + w 3 )/2 so one combination that gives zero is w 1 2w2 + w3 = 0.

5 The rows of the 3 by 3 matrix in Problem 4 must also be dependent: r 2 = 12 (r 1 + r 3 ).

The column and row combinations that produce 0 are the same: this is unusual. Two
solutions to y1 r 1 + y2 r 2 + y3 r 3 = 0 are (Y1 , Y2 , Y3 ) = (1, 2, 1) and (2, 4, 2).

1 1 0


6 c=3 3 2 1 has column 3 = column 1 column 2

7 4 3

1 0 1


c = 1 1 1 0 has column 3 = column 1 + column 2

0 1 1

0 0 0


c=0 2 1 5 has column 3 = 3 (column 1) column 2

3 3 6
10 Solutions to Exercises

7 All three rows are perpendicular to the solution x (the three equations r 1 x = 0 and

r 2 x = 0 and r 3 x = 0 tell us this). Then the whole plane of the rows is perpendicular
to x (the plane is also perpendicular to all multiples cx).

x1 0 = b 1 x1 = b 1 1 0 0 0 b1


x2 x1 = b 2 x2 = b 1 + b 2 1 1 0 0 b2
8 =
= A1 b

x3 x2 = b 3 x3 = b 1 + b 2 + b 3 1 1 1 0 b3

x4 x3 = b 4 x4 = b 1 + b 2 + b 3 + b 4 1 1 1 1 b4

9 The cyclic difference matrix C has a line of solutions (in 4 dimensions) to Cx = 0:

1 0 0 1 x1 0 c


1 1 0 0 x2 0 c
= when x = = any constant vector.

0 1 1 0 x3 0 c

0 0 1 1 x4 0 c

z2 z1 = b 1 z1 = b1 b2 b3 1 1 1 b1


10 z3 z2 = b 2 z2 = b2 b3 = 0 1 1 b2 = 1 b

0 z3 = b 3 z3 = b3 0 0 1 b3

11 The forward differences of the squares are (t + 1)2 t2 = t2 + 2t + 1 t2 = 2t + 1.

Differences of the nth power are (t + 1)n tn = tn tn + ntn1 + . The leading

term is the derivative ntn1 . The binomial theorem gives all the terms of (t + 1)n .

12 Centered difference matrices of even size seem to be invertible. Look at eqns. 1 and 4:

0 1 0 0 x1 b1 First x1 b2 b4


1 0 1 0 x2 b2 solve x2 b1
= =

0 1 0 1 x3 b 3 x2 = b 1 x3 b4

0 0 1 0 x4 b4 x3 = b4 x4 b1 + b3

13 Odd size: The five centered difference equations lead to b1 + b3 + b5 = 0.

Solutions to Exercises 11

x2 = b1
Add equations 1, 3, 5
x3 x1 = b 2
The left side of the sum is zero
x4 x2 = b 3
The right side is b1 + b3 + b5
x5 x3 = b 4
There cannot be a solution unless b1 + b3 + b5 = 0.
x4 = b 5

14 An example is (a, b) = (3, 6) and (c, d) = (1, 2). We are given that the ratios a/c and

b/d are equal. Then ad = bc. Then (when you divide by bd) the ratios a/b and c/d
must also be equal!