Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2009/ib/paper-2/18c/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 ib Paper 2 18C Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Choose the Givens rotation convention in which equals the identity outside rows and columns , and has blockin 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 , obtainingUse the same cosine and sine for . It makesThis is already upper triangular, including the zero entry, and every leading nonzero row entry is positive. Thus the requested QR decomposition isThe orthogonal matrix property follows from the two rotations, and direct multiplication verifies .
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