Matrices
Learning
objectives
• Define what matrices are and perform calculations
between matrices
• Calculate the inverse of 2x2 and 3x3 matrices and
apply matrix inverses to solve systems of equations
in economics
• Understand Cramer’s rule and apply Cramer’s rule
to solve systems of linear equations
Matrix
• Matrix is a rectangular table consisting of rows and columns
• Matrix A is called a matrix of order , which has rows and columns.
• Rows of a matrix are horizontal, columns of a matrix are vertical
• , , , , , etc. are called entries or elements
• Notation stands for element of A which occurs in row and column .
Exercise
Given:
a. State the orders of the matrices A, B, C and D
b. Write down the values of
Matrix transposition
• The transpose of a matrix is found by replacing rows by columns
• Example:
• Given the two matrices:
and
• and are transposes of each other
• (read ‘ transpose equals ’)
• (read ‘B transpose equals A’)
Exercise
Write down the transpose of the
following matrices:
Row vector and column vector
• If , then matrix is called row vector.
• Example:
• If , then matrix is a column vector.
• Example:
• We normally identify vectors using lower-case rather than upper-
case letters.
Addition, subtraction and zero
matrix
• To add (or subtract) two matrices of the same order, we simply add
(or subtract) their corresponding elements.
• Example:
• Given and
• Zero matrix is a matrix in which every element is zero and is written 0
• Example: , , ,
Exercise
Given:
Find (where possible)
Scalar multiplication
• To multiply a matrix by a scalar , we simply multiply each element
of by
• Example:
• For any matrices and , and scalar and :
Exercise
Given:and
1. Find: . Verify that .
2. Find: . Verify that .
Matrix multiplication
If is an matrix and B is an matrix then:
• is a matrix and is found by multiplying the th row of into th column of .
• Note:
• The number of columns of is the same as the number of rows of .
• The matrix has order , where is the number of rows of and is the number
of columns of .
• The elements of are found by multiplying row vectors and column vectors.
Matrix multiplication examples
Given two matrices: and
Exercise
Let
Find (where possible):
Exercise
Evaluate the matrix product , where and
Hence show that the system of linear equations
Can be written as where
Review
Provided that the indicated sums and products of the A, B, and C matrices make
sense:
Matrix inversion
Identity matrix and Inverse matrix
• For any matrix , the matrix is called the identity matrix if:
, where
• For any matrix , the matrix is said to be the inverse of A if
How to find the inverse a 2 x 2
matrix
• Given
• The number is called the determinant of and is written as:
or or
• A matrix is non-singular if it has a non-zero determinant.
• A matrix is singular if it has a zero determinant.
Exercise
Find (where possible) the inverse of the
following matrices. Are these matrices
singular or non-singular?
Inverse matrix application
• Suppose we have a system of linear equations
• The system can be written as , where:
,,
• Multiplying both sides of by gives:
Exercise
The equilibrium prices and for two
goods satisfy the equations
Express this system in matrix form and
hence find the values of and .
Cofactor
• Corresponding to each element of a matrix , there is a cofactor,
• is defined to be the determinant of the matrix obtained by deleting
row and column of , prefixed by a ‘’ or ‘’ sign according to the
following pattern:
Cofactor (example)
Suppose we wish to calculate , which is the cofactor associated with in the matrix:
The element lies in the second row and third column, so we delete the second row
and third column to produce the matrix:
The cofactor is the determinant of the above matrix prefixed by a ‘’ sign because
the pattern:
Exercise
Find all the cofactors of the matrix
Determinant of a 3x3 matrix
Given matrix , find the determinant of matrix A.
We can find the determinant of matrix by multiplying the elements in
any one row or column by their corresponding cofactors and adding
together.
• Expanding along the first row of the matrix:
• Expanding along the 2nd column of the matrix:
• It does not matter which row or column is chosen.
Rule of Sarrus
Given matrix , find the determinant of matrix A.
• Rewrite the same matrix twice
Exercise
Find the determinants of the following matrices:
and
How to find the inverse of a 3x3
matrix
Given matrix , find .
Step 1: Calculate the determinant of the matrix.
Step 2: Find the Cofactor matrix (adjugate matrix)
Step 3: Transpose the cofactor matrix to get the Adjoint matrix
Step 4:
Exercise
Find the inverses the following
matrices:
and
Review
MATRIX STEPS TO CALCULATE INVERSE MATRIX
Step 1: Find the determinant of matrix
• Expanding along the first row of matrix :
OR
• Expanding along the second column of matrix :
(Note: It does not matter which row or column is chosen)
• , etc. are the cofactors.
Step 2:
The inverse of is given by:
Cramer’s rule
Cramer’s rule
Given any system, , the th variable , can be found:
• is the matrix found by replacing the th column of by the right-hand-side vector .
• Example: Given a system:
• and
Exercise
Solve the systems of equations, using
the Cramer’s rule to find .
Exercise
Use Cramer’s rule to solve the following
system of equations for .
Exercise
The equations defining a model of two trading nations are given by
Nation 1 Nation 2
Express this system of matrix form and hence find the values of and .
Calculate the balance of payments () between these countries.
Reference
Jacques, I. (2015). Mathematics for
economics and business. Pearson
Education.
