Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2009/ib/paper-2/18c/solution

Choose the Givens rotation convention in which equals the identity outside rows and columns , and has block
in those coordinates. It is an orthogonal matrix. For any chosen column , write , and . If , take , . Then the new entries are and . If both entries vanish, take . This proves the requested elimination for each chosen ; the angle is allowed to depend on , and one angle need not eliminate an entire arbitrary row.
For the given matrix, use first for , obtaining
Use the same cosine and sine for . It makes
This is already upper triangular, including the zero entry, and every leading nonzero row entry is positive. Thus the requested QR decomposition is
The orthogonal matrix property follows from the two rotations, and direct multiplication verifies .

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