Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2023/prelims/mathematics-i/1/a/ii/solution

For an matrix, the corresponding elementary matrices are , because the operation is implemented by left matrix multiplication. Apply the desired elementary row operation to the identity matrix . Writing for the matrix unit with its only nonzero entry, , in position gives:
Indeed, these matrix products interchange rows , scale row , and add times row to row , respectively. The displayed inverses undo precisely those operations. Algebraically, when , so ; the other two inverse identities follow immediately from their row actions. Thus every elementary matrix is an invertible matrix.

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