# Some basic facts about vectors and matrices

If $$c_1, ... , c_k$$ are scalers, and $$A_1,...,A_k$$ are all $$m \times n$$ matrices, then $$B = c_1A_1+c_2A_2+ ... + c_kA_k$$ is an $$m \times n$$ matrix with $$(i, j)$$-th entry of $$B : B(i, j) = c_1A_1(i, j) + c_2A_2(i, j) + ... + c_kA_k(i, j)$$, for all $$i = 1, ... , m; j = 1, ..., n$$. (Note sometimes we denote the entries of a matrix by $$A_{i_j}$$, and sometimes by $$A(i, j)$$. But always the first index is for the row and the second index is for the column).

## Transpose of a matrix

If $$A$$ is an $$m \times n$$ matrix, then $$A^T$$ (spelled $$A$$-transpose) is the $$n \times m$$ matrix $$B$$ whose $$(i, j)$$-th entry $$B_{ij} = A_{ji}$$ for all $$i = 1, ... , n; j = 1, ... ,m$$.

## Inner product of vectors

If $$x$$ and $$y$$ are two $$m \times 1$$ vectors, then the inner product (or, dot product) between $$x$$ and $$y$$ is given by : $$\left \langle x, y \right \rangle$$ = $$\sum_{i=1}^{m}x_iy_i$$. Note that $$\left \langle x, y \right \rangle = \left \langle y, x \right \rangle$$.

## Multiplication of matrices

If $$A$$ is an $$m \times n$$ matrix and $$B$$ is an $$n \times p$$ matrix then the product $$AB = C$$, say, is defined and it is an $$m \times p$$ matrix with $$(i, j)$$-th entry : $$C_{ij} = \sum_{k=1}^{n}A_{ik}B_{kj}$$ for all $$i = 1, ... , m; j = 1, ... ,p$$. Notethat for $$m \times 1$$ vectors $$x$$ and $$y$$, $$\left \langle x, y \right \rangle = x^Ty = y^Tx$$. In other words, the $$(i, j)$$-th entry of $$AB$$ is the inner product of $$i$$-th row of $$A$$ and $$j$$-th column of $$B$$.

## Special matricies

1. Square matrix: A matrix $$A$$ is square if it is $$m \times m$$ (that is, number of rows = number of columns).
2. Symmetric matrix: An $$m \times m$$ (square) matrix $$A$$ is symmetric if $$A = A^T$$. That is, for all $$1 \leq i, j \leq m, A_{ij} = A_{ji}$$.
3. Diagonal matrix: A $$m \times m$$ matrix with all the entries zero except (possibly) the entries on the diagonal (that is the ($$i , i$$)-th entry for all the $$i = 1, ... m$$) is called a diagonal matrix.
4. Identity matrix: The $$m \times m$$ diagonal matrix with all diagonal entries equal to 1 is called the identity matrix and is denoted by $$I$$ (or, $$I_m$$). It has the property that for any $$m \times n$$ matrix $$A$$ and any $$p x m$$ matrix $$B$$, $$IA = A$$ and $$BI = B$$.
5. One vector: The $$m \times 1$$ vector with all entries equal to 1 is usually called the one vector (non-standard term) and is denoted by 1(or, $$1_m$$).
6. Ones matrix: The $$m \times m$$ matrix with all entries equal to 1 is denoted by $$J$$ (or, $$J_m$$). Note that $$J_m$$ = $$1_m1_{m}^{T}$$.
7. Zero vector: The $$m \times 1$$ vector with all entries zero is called the zero vector and is denoted by $$0$$ (or, $$0_m$$).
• Multiplication is not commutative: If $$A$$ and $$B$$ are both $$m \times m$$ matrices then both $$AB$$ and $$BA$$ are defined and are $$m \times m$$ matrices. However, in general $$AB \neq BA$$. Notice that $$I_mB = BI_m = B$$, where $$I_m$$ is the identity matrix.
• Linear independence: The $$m \times 1$$ vectors $$x_1,...,x_k$$, ($$k$$ arbitrary) are said to be linearly dependent, if there exist constants $$c_1,..., c_m$$, not all zero, such that $$c_1x_1+c_2x_2 + ... + c_mx_m = 0$$ If no such sequence of numbers $$c1, ... , c_m$$ exists then the vectors $$x_1, ..., x_m$$ are said to be linearly independent.
1. Relationship with dimension: If $$k > m$$ then $$m \times 1$$ vectors $$x_1, ..., x_k$$ are always linearly dependent.
2. Rank of a matrix: For an $$m \times n$$ matrix $$A$$, the rank of $$A$$, written rank($$A$$) is the maximal number of linearly independent columns of $$A$$ (treating each column as an $$m \times 1$$ vector). Also, rank($$A$$)$$\leq$$min$$\{m,n\}$$
3. Nonsingular matrix: If an $$m \times m$$ matrix $$A$$ has full rank, that is, rank($$A$$) = $$m$$, (which is equivalent to saying that all the columns of $$A$$ are linearly independent), then the matrix $$A$$ is called nonsingular
• Inverse of a matrix: If an $$m \times m$$ matrix $$A$$ nonsingular, then it has an inverse,
that is a unique $$m \times m$$ matrix denoted by $$A^{-1}$$ that satisfies the relationship : $$A^{-1}A = I_m = AA^{-1}$$

Inverse of a $$2 \times 2$$ matrix: Let a $$2 \times 2$$ matrix $$A$$ be expressed as $$A = \begin{bmatrix} a &b \\ c &d \end{bmatrix}$$.

Then $$A$$ is nonsingular (and hence has an inverse) if and only if $$ad-bc \neq 0$$. If this is satisfied then the inverse is $$A^{-1} = \frac{1}{ad-bc}\begin{bmatrix} d & -b\\ -c & a \end{bmatrix}$$

2. Solution of a system of linear equations : A system of $$m$$ linear equations in $$m$$ variables $$b_1, ...,, b_m$$ can be expressed as $$a_{1_1}b_1 + a_{1_2}b_2 + ... + a_{1_m}b_m = c_1$$ $$a_{2_1}b_1 + a_{2_2}b_2 + ... + a_{2_m}b_m = c_2$$ $$... ... ... ... ... = .$$ $$a_{m_1}b_1 + a_{m_2}b_2 + ... + a_{m_m}b_m = c_m$$

Here the coefficients $$a_{i_j}$$ and the constants $$c_i$$ are considered unknown. This system can be expressed in matrix form as $$Ab = c$$, where $$A$$ is the $$m \times m$$ matrix with $$(i, j)$$-th entry $$a_{i_j}$$, and b and c are $$m \times 1$$ vectors with $$i$$-th entries $$b_i$$ and $$c_i$$, respectively, for $$i = 1, ... , m; j = 1, ..., m$$.

If the matrix $$A$$ is nonsingular, then a unique solution exists for this system of equations and is given by b = $$A^{-1}c$$. To see this, note that since $$A(A^{-1}) = (AA^{-1})c= I c= c$$, it shows that $$A^{-1}c$$ is a solution. On the other hand, if $$b = b^*$$ is a solution, then it satisfies $$Ab^* = c$$. Hence $$b^* = I b^* = (A^{-1}A)b^* = A^{-1}(Ab^*) = A^{-1}c$$, which proves uniqueness.

## Contributors

• Debashis Paul
• Cathy Wang