INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE

Mathematics: applications and interpretation

MAI

EXERCISES [MAI 1.12-1.13]

MATRICES

Compiled by Christos Nikolaidis

A. Paper 1 questions (SHORT)

MATRIX OPERATIONS

1. [Maximum mark: 12]

For each of the following operations state whether it is possible or not. If so, find the
result.

 3 3  x  2 x
    
2  y 1  1  y 0 

 0 1 1 0
   
 2  4 2   3 0 1 
 4 5 1 0
   

1
   0 0 
 2

 1 2  5 6 
  
 3 4  7 8 

1
 
1 2 3 2 
 3
 

1
 
 2  1 2 3
 3
 

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 [MAI 1.12-1.13] MATRICES

2. [Maximum mark: 8]
(a) For each of the following operations state whether it is possible or not.
If so, find the result.

1 0 0
 1 2 3  
  0 1 0 
 4 5 6  0 0 1 
 

1 0 0
   1 2 3
 0 1 0   
0 0 1  4 5 6
 

 1 0   1 2 3
   
 0 1  4 5 6

[5]
(b) Let A be a 2×3 matrix. Given that I2 and I3 are the identity 2×2 and 3×3 matrices
respectively, write down three properties that describe the results in question (a). [3]

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3. [Maximum mark: 6]
 b 3  9 5   4 8 
(a) Let   +   =   .
 7 8    2 7   a 15 
(i) Write down the value of a . (ii) Find the value of b . [4]
  4 8 2 0    22 24 
(b) Let 3   – 5   =   . Find the value of q . [2]
 2 1  q  4  9 23 

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 [MAI 1.12-1.13] MATRICES

4. [Maximum mark: 5]
1 2   3 0
Let A =   and B =   .
 3  1    2 1
Find (i) A + B; (ii) −3A; (iii) AB.

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5. [Maximum mark: 5]
a b 1 0
Let A =   and B =   . Giving your answers in terms of a, b, c, d and e,
 c 0 d e 

(a) write down A + B; [2]

(b) find AB. [3]

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 [MAI 1.12-1.13] MATRICES

6. [Maximum mark: 6]
 2x  y   x  4   4 x  y
Given that         , find the values of x, y, z , w .
 3z w    1 2w   z  w 3 

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7. [Maximum mark: 6]

1 4 7 1  4 7
1 0 2         
Let A    , B   2 5 8  , B1   2  , B2   5  , B3   8  .
3 5  4 3 6 9  3 6 9
       
(a) Find AB . [2]
(b) Find AB1 , AB2 , AB3 . What do you observe? [4]

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 [MAI 1.12-1.13] MATRICES

8. [Maximum mark: 5]

1 3 1  x  2 3
   
Let A   2 1 4  and B   1 1 1  . Show that AB  BA holds for any x  R .
 4 7 6  4 x 2
   

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9. [Maximum mark: 7]
1 2
Let A    . Find all matrices B such that AB  BA in the following cases:
3 4
1 0  x 0
(i) if B    (ii) if B   
0 x  0 y 

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 [MAI 1.12-1.13] MATRICES

10. [Maximum mark: 10]

 1 3 5   0 1  1  1 1 3 
     
Let A   1  3  5  , B   4  3 4  , C   5 2 6 
 1 3 5  3  3 4    2  1  3
    
(a) Find A2 ; What do you observe? Hence deduce a formula for An , n  Z  . [3]

(b) Find B 2 ; What do you observe? Hence deduce a formula for B n , n  Z  . [4]

(c) Find C 3 ; What do you observe? Hence deduce a formula for C n , n  3 . [3]

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 [MAI 1.12-1.13] MATRICES

11. [Maximum mark: 6]

 3
 1 x  1  
Let A =   and B =  x .
3 1 4   2
 
(a) Find AB. [3]

 20 
(b) The matrix C =   and 2AB = C. Find the value of x. [3]
 28 

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12. [Maximum mark: 5]

1 2 
If A =   and A2 is a matrix whose entries are all 0, find k.
 k 1 

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 [MAI 1.12-1.13] MATRICES

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 [MAI 1.12-1.13] MATRICES

13. [Maximum mark: 6]

x 4 2 y
If A =   and B =   , find two values of x and y, given that AB = BA.
4 2  8 4 

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14. [Maximum mark: 5]

1 3 2  2  26 
     
Let W =  2 0 1  , P =  3  and Q =  12 
0 1 3 1  10 
     
(i) Find WP. (ii) Given that 2WP + S = Q, find S.

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 [MAI 1.12-1.13] MATRICES

DETERMINANT AND INVERSE MATRIX

15. [Maximum mark: 14]
For each of the following matrices, use the appropriate formulas to find its determinant
and its inverse (it there exists).

Matrix Determinant Inverse

1 0
I   
0 1

0 1
A   
1 0

 1 1
B   
 0 1

1 0 
C   
1 1 

1 1 
D   
1 0 

 0 1
E   
 1 1

1 1
F   
1 1

16. [Maximum mark: 6]

For each of the following matrices, use the appropriate formulas to find its determinant
and its inverse (it there exists).
Matrix Determinant Inverse

 2 5
A   
 2 7

1 5 
B   
 2 10 

3 0
C   
0 5

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 [MAI 1.12-1.13] MATRICES

17. [Maximum mark: 4]

 2p 3
If A =   and det A = 14, find the possible values of p.
 4 p p

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18. [Maximum mark: 4]

Find the values of the real number k for which the determinant of the matrix

k  4 3 
  is equal to zero.
 2 k  1

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19. [Maximum mark: 5]

 a 0  a 1 0 
(a) Given that a  0 , b  0 , show that A    and B   1 
are inverse
0 b  0 b 
to each other. [3]
3 0 
(b) Hence, write down the inverse of M   . [2]
 0 1/ 5 

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20. [Maximum mark: 7]

1 2 3   6  2  3
   
Let A  1 3 3  and B    1 1 x .
1 2 4  1 x 1 
  
(a) Write down the value of det A . [1]
(b) Find the value of x , given that AB  I  BA . [3]

(c) Write down A1 and B 1 . [2]

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 [MAI 1.12-1.13] MATRICES

21. [Maximum mark: 5]

 3 2  2 2
Let A =   and B =   . Find, in terms of k,
 k 4  1 3
(a) 2A− B; [3]
(b) det (2A− B). [2]

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22. [Maximum mark: 6]

  2 4  5 2
Let C =   and D =   .
 1 7 1 a
(a) Find CD. [2]

(b) Find D–1. [2]

(c) Find D2. [2]

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23. [Maximum mark: 6]

1  2  2 1
Let A =   and B =  1 .
3 p   q 
 2
(a) Find AB in terms of p and q. [3]
(b) Matrix B is the inverse of matrix A. Find the value of p and of q. [3]

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24. [Maximum mark: 6]

 3 x 
Let A =   .
  2  3

(a) Find the value of x for which A–1 does not exist. [3]
(b) Given that A = A–1, find x. [3]

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25. [Maximum mark: 4]

The square matrix X is such that X 3 = 0. Show that the inverse of the matrix (I – X) is
I + X + X 2.

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26. [Maximum mark: 5]

 3 1 2
 
Let A =  9 5 8  .
7 4 6
 
(a) Write down the determinant of A. [1]
(b) Write down the inverse of A. [1]
n
(c) By investigating the determinant of A , for several values of n, write down a
formula for detAn in terms of n. [3]

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B. Paper 2 questions (LONG)

27. [Maximum mark: 10]

The following properties are wrong. Write down the correct answer.

Wrong answer Correct answer

AX + ΒX = X(A+B)

XA + XΒ = (A+B)X

AB + A = A(B+1)

AB + 2A = (B+2I)A

BA + kA = (B+k)A

A2 + A = A(A+1)

(B+C)A = AB + AC

(A+C)A = A2 +AC

(A+B)2 = A2 +2AB + B2

(A+I)2 = A2 +2A + 1

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28. [Maximum mark: 15]

1 2
Let A   
0 1
(a) Find the matrices A 2 , A3 , A 4 . [3]

(b) Guess a formula for the matrix A n , for any n  Z  . [2]

(c) Find A10 by using your GDC. Confirm that your guess is true for n  10 . [2]
(d) Write down the result of your guess for n  0 . What do you notice? [2]

In fact, the formula of your guess in (b) can be extended for any n  Z (that is for
negative powers as well)
(e) Find the inverse matrix A1 . Does the result agree with your guess? [2]
n
(f) Write down the matrix A , according to your guess.
Show that A n is the inverse of An by multiplying the two matrices. [4]

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29. [Maximum mark: 14]

Let S n be the sum of the first n terms of the arithmetic series 2 + 4 + 6 + ….

(a) Find (i) S 4 ; (ii) S100 . [4]

1 2
Let M =   .
0 1

(b) Find M 2 and M 3. [3]

 1 2n 
It may now be assumed that M n =   , for n  4 .
0 1 

The sum Tn is defined by Tn = M 1 + M 2 + M 3 + ... + M n.

(c) (i) Write down M 4. (ii) Find T4 . [4]

(d) Using your results from part (a) (ii), find T100 . [3]

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