11/24/2018 Properties of Matrices

Formulas and Tables

Matrices and Determinants

Properties of Matrices

Matrices: A, B, C
Elements of matrices: a ij , bij , cij , bi

Identity matrix: I
Determinant of a matrix: det A
Minor of an element a : M ij ij

Cofactor of an element a : A ij ij

Transpose of a matrix: A T

Adjoint of a matrix: C ∗

Inverse matrix: A −1

Trace of a matrix: tr A 2

Eigenvectors: X
Eigenvalues: λ
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Real number: k
Natural numbers: m, n, i, j

1 Definition of a matrix

An m × n matrix A is a rectangular array of elements a (as a rule, ij

these are numbers or functions), consisting of m rows and n columns.

a11 a12 … a1n
⎡ ⎤

⎢ a21 a22 … a2n ⎥

A = [aij ] = ⎢ ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎢ ⋮ ⋮ ⋮ ⎥

⎣ ⎦
am1 am2 … amn

2 A square matrix of order n has n rows and n columns.

3 A square matrix [a ij ] is called a symmetric matrix if a ij = aji , i.e.

the elements of the matrix are symmetric with respect to the main
diagonal.

4 A square matrix [a ij ] is called skew-symmetric if a ij = −aji .

5 A square matrix is called diagonal if all its elements outside the

main diagonal are equal to zero.

6 A diagonal matrix is called the identity matrix if the elements on its

main diagonal are all equal to 1. (All other elements are zero).

7 A matrix consisting of only zero elements is called a zero matrix or

null matrix.

8 Equality of matrices
Two matrices A and B are equal if and only if they have the same size

m × n and their corresponding elements are equal.

9 Addition and subtraction of matrices

2
Two matrices A and B can be added (or subtracted) if and only if they
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11/24/2018 Properties of Matrices

a11 … a1n b11 … b1n

⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤

⎢ a21 … a2n ⎥ ⎢ b21 … b2n ⎥

A = [aij ] = ⎢ ⎥, B = [bij ] = ⎢ ⎥,
⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥
⎢ ⋮ ⋮ ⎥ ⎢ ⋮ ⋮ ⎥

⎣ ⎦ ⎣ ⎦
am1 … amn bm1 … bmn

then the sum of these matrices is defined as

a11 + b11 … a1n + b1n
⎡ ⎤

⎢ a21 + b21 … a2n + b2n ⎥

A + B = ⎢ ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎢ ⋮ ⋮ ⎥

⎣ ⎦
am1 + bm1 … amn + bmn

10 Multiplication of a matrix by a number

Given a constant number k and a matrix A = [aij ] . Then

ka11 ka12 … ka1n
⎡ ⎤

⎢ ka21 ka22 … ka2n ⎥

kA = [kaij ] = ⎢ ⎥.
⎢ ⎥
⎢ ⋮ ⋮ ⋮ ⎥

⎣ ⎦
kam1 kam2 … kamn

11 Matrix multiplication

Let A and B be two matrices. The product of the matrices AB exists if

and only if the number of columns in the first matrix is equal to the

number of rows in the second matrix. If

a11 a12 … a1n
⎡ ⎤
a21 a22 … a2n
⎢ ⎥
A = [aij ] = ⎢ ⎥, B = [bij ] =
⎢ ⎥
⎢ ⋮ ⋮ ⋮ ⎥

⎣ ⎦
am1 am2 … amn

b11 b12 … b1k

⎡ ⎤
b21 b22 … b2k
⎢ ⎥
⎢ ⎥,
⎢ ⎥
⎢ ⋮ ⋮ ⋮ ⎥

⎣ ⎦
bn1 bn2 … bnk

then the product AB is represented as a matrix

c11 c12 … c1k
⎡ ⎤

⎢ c21
AB = C = ⎢
c22 … c2k ⎥
⎥,
2
⎢ ⎥
⎢ ⋮ ⋮ ⋮ ⎥

⎣ ⎦
cm1 cm2 … cmk
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11/24/2018 Properties of Matrices
n

cij = ai1 b1j + ai2 b2j + … + ain bnj = ∑ aiλ bλj , (i = 1, 2, … , m,

λ=1

j = 1, 2, … , k)

For example, if
b1
⎡ ⎤
a11 a12 a13
A = [aij ] = [ ], B = [bi ] = ⎢ b2 ⎥ ,
a21 a22 a31
⎣ ⎦
b3

then the product AB is given by

b1
⎡ ⎤
a11 a12 a13 c11 a11 b1 + a12 b2 + a13 b3
AB = [ ] ⋅ ⎢ b2 ⎥ = [ ] = [ ].
a21 a22 a31 c21 a21 b1 + a22 b2 + a23 b3
⎣ ⎦
b3

12 Transpose of a matrix

If the rows and columns in a matrix A are interchanged, the new matrix
is called the transpose of the original matrix A. The transposed matrix

is denoted by A . T

13 A square matrix A is called orthogonal if AAT = I, where I is the

identity matrix.

14 If the matrix product AB is defined, then

(AB)
T
= B
T
A
T
.

15 Adjoint of a matrix

If A is a square matrix of order n, then the corresponding adjoint

matrix, denoted as C , is a matrix formed by the cofactors A of the

∗
ij

elements of the transposed matrix A . T

16 Trace of a matrix

If A is a square matrix of order n, then its trace, denoted as tr A, is the

sum of the elements on the main diagonal:

tr A = a11 + a22 + a33 + … + ann .

2
17 Inverse of a matrix
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11/24/2018 Properties of Matrices

of multiplication of the original matrix A by A −1

is the identity matrix

I :

AA
−1
= I .

An inverse matrix exists only for square nonsingular matrices (whose

determinant is not zero). If A is a square nonsingular matrix of order n,

the inverse matrix A −1

is given by
∗
−1
C
A = ,
det A

where C is the adjoint of the matrix and det A is the determinant of

∗

the matrix A.

18 If the matrix product AB is defined, then

−1
(AB) = B
−1
A
−1
.

19 Eigenvectors and eigenvalues of a matrix

If A is a square matrix, its eigenvectors X satisfy the matrix equation

AX = λX ,

and the eigenvalues λ are determined by the characteristic equation

|A − λI | = 0 .

Related Pages
• Properties of Determinants
• Systems of Linear Equations
• Linear Homogeneous Systems of Differential Equations with Constant
Coefficients

• Method of Eigenvalues and Eigenvectors

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