Yes. The old matrix is triangular, with determinant zero and trace . The upper-left two-by-two block of the new matrix has determinant zero, so the whole determinant remains zero. Its trace isThusThis verifies both change of basis invariants from part (b).
Choose , and denote the new ordered basis by . The change of basis matrix, with columns expressed in , isThis nonzero determinant proves that the proposed fourth function completes a basis. Express the derivatives in that basis:Reading off columns therefore gives
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2001 ia Paper 1 5C Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
To find the kernel of a linear map, perform the row operations and , followed by . The equivalent homogeneous equations areThe resulting determinant is . If all coordinates vanish. At only remains; at the equations give , . Therefore kernel bases areThe empty family is the basis of the zero vector subspace.
For the change of basis, let be the matrices whose columns are the two ordered bases in standard coordinates. Then , so with . If and represent the same linear map in the two bases, and also . Therefore , andFor the concrete bases, their vectors satisfy , , . These coordinate columns giveAt , every row of is , so every row of is . Multiplying on the left by the displayed inverse givesThe original PDF asks for this full product; its final factor is missing from the converted TeX.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2004 ia Paper 1 1B Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Split the vector into its normal and tangential orthogonal projections:A reflection in the plane negates the first component and preserves the second. Thus , giving the Householder reflectionSince and ,The columns of a matrix representation of a linear map are the coordinates of the images of the ordered basis vectors. Consequently, in the orthonormal basis ,Equivalently, with the orthogonal matrix , the change of basis formula is .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 ia Paper 1 1A i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
The three spherical basis vectors form an orthonormal basis: their displayed Cartesian components have unit lengths and pairwise zero dot products. For an orthonormal basis, a vector is the sum of its projections onto the basis vectors. Taking the dot product of each Cartesian unit vector with each spherical unit vector therefore gives the inverse change of basis:Equivalently, the change-of-basis matrix is orthogonal, so its matrix inverse is its transpose. These formulas use the stated angular convention for spherical polar coordinates; at a pole the tangential basis vectors still depend on the chosen azimuth.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2010 ia Paper 1 1A Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Define the change-of-basis matrices by expressing each new basis vector in the corresponding old basis:Thus is , is , and both are invertible matrices: a linear combination of their columns is zero exactly when the same combination of the new basis vectors is zero. For any vector , its coordinate columns therefore satisfy ; likewise .
The matrix representation of a linear map givesMultiplying by the matrix inverse of and comparing with for every provesThe domain change of basis acts on the right, while the codomain change of basis acts on the left through its inverse.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2011 ia Paper 1 2A Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Use change of basis matrices whose columns are the respective basis vectors in standard coordinates:The coordinate relation is . Therefore the standard-coordinate matrix of a linear map is , and the new coordinate matrix is . Multiplying givesOne can also read off the columns: the two new domain basis vectors map to twice the first and four times the second new codomain basis vector. All four change of basis matrices are invertible. In particular the printed codomain vectors are three-dimensional; retaining their third coordinates is essential.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 ia Paper 1 6A Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-07
For a linear map , its kernel and image of a linear map areThe kernel is a subspace of the domain and the image a subspace of the codomain. Given the stated bases, define the matrix of a linear map byIts th column is the coordinate vector of ; if , the output coordinates are .
For the change of basis, write and . The matrices are invertible. Input coordinates change by and output coordinates by , soThe domain and codomain basis changes need not be the same matrix.
For , the two input vectors form a basis of , so its image is the span of and . The vector is orthogonal to both, since . Every possible output therefore satisfies , whereas the target itself is and . Hence there is no with the required output. This uses an image obstruction by an annihilating functional, rather than an inconsistent guessed input.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 ia Paper 3 11C Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-07
For a Cartesian change of basis represented by an orthogonal matrix , vectors transform as and . Their squared norms are invariant and . Substitution into the given expression therefore givesthe transformation law of a Cartesian second-rank tensor. The magnetic field's extra axial sign under an improper physical reflection, if included, appears twice and cancels in its quadratic contribution.
Write the Maxwell stress tensor as . Its divergence isThe identity follows by contracting two Levi-Civita symbols, or directly by differentiating components. Using Maxwell's equations consequently yieldsHence the local conservation of electromagnetic momentum isThe two subtracted terms are the Lorentz force density, while is the electromagnetic momentum density in the units used here.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2021 ia Paper 1 2B Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
Let have the corresponding basis vectors as columns in standard coordinates. From the PDF,The matrix representation of a linear map in standard coordinates is . The change of basis formula therefore givesMultiplication yields
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2021 ib Paper 4 8E c Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
By the real spectral theorem, the real symmetric matrix has an orthonormal basis of eigenvectors. In that basis the associated quadratic form isRescaling the coordinates belonging to nonzero eigenvalues changes every positive coefficient to and every negative coefficient to . Hence the diagonal normal form has one positive square for each positive eigenvalue and one negative square for each negative eigenvalue. By Sylvester's law of inertia, these counts do not depend on the diagonalizing basis, so
The numerical eigenvalues are not invariant under a general change of basis, because the matrix changes by congruence rather than similarity. For example, on a one-dimensional space let . Its matrix in the basis is , whereas in the basis it is . The eigenvalue changes from to , although its sign, and therefore the signature, is unchanged.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 ib Paper 2 8F Solution Created 2026-09-23 Updated 2026-09-25
Let satisfy for every vector . If there is nothing to prove. Otherwise choose with . For every and every real number ,so the hypothesis gives . Taking two values of shows that . Sincewe obtain . Thus one of the two linear functionals is zero.
Sylvester's law of inertia says that, in a suitable basis, every real quadratic form isThe rank is , and the signature is ; both are independent of the chosen basis.
If , its polar form has image contained in , so . If , the two functionals must be independent and, after taking their sum and difference, is a difference of two squares. Hence . If , then . In every case,Conversely, this inequality leaves onlyup to a linear change of coordinates. These factor respectively as , , and . Therefore
By the spectral theorem for real symmetric matrices, there is an orthogonal matrix such thatFor clarity, the diagonalization can also be justified recursively. The characteristic polynomial has a complex root of a polynomial by the fundamental theorem of algebra. By ii its eigenvalue is real; taking a nonzero real or imaginary part of an associated eigenvector in gives a real eigenvector, which can be normalized. Its orthogonal complement is invariant, because . Restriction to this linear subspace is again symmetric, and induction on dimension gives an orthonormal basis of eigenvectors.
All by ii. The permitted invariance of determinant and matrix trace under change of basis, applied to the diagonal matrix, yields
First find the fixed axis of rotation by solving . After removing a nonzero common factor, the linear equations areThey give . Choose the following unit vectors:Their dot products show that they form an orthonormal basis; hence is an orthogonal matrix. Since is an orthogonal matrix fixing , it preserves the orthogonal complement of . Its restriction there has determinant , so it is a planar rotation.
The quadratic form isThe symmetric matrix has eigenvalues , with respective orthogonal eigenvectors . Normalize them to obtain the orthonormal basisThe given change of basis meansSubstitution, or orthogonal diagonalization of a real symmetric matrix, givesThus the semi-major and semi-minor axes have lengths and . The eccentricity and enclosed area areThe orthogonal change of basis preserves area, so this is also the area in the original Cartesian coordinates.
Over the chosen scalar field, an -by- matrix is diagonalizable if and only if it has linearly independent eigenvectors. Repeated eigenvalues are allowed provided all eigenspaces together supply a basis.
For the given matrix, the characteristic polynomial is . One may chooseTaking these as columns gives the change of basisThis is not a rotation matrix. The PDF's terminology cannot hold literally: is real and nonsymmetric, whereas a real matrix orthogonally similar to a real diagonal matrix is symmetric. Also , so scaling these eigenvectors cannot make an orthonormal rotation basis. A general invertible similarity is the valid construction.
Let . Inserting between successive factors gives , and henceTo write , match its action on the two eigenspaces:Solving gives the matrix powers for a diagonalizable matrix with two eigenvaluesThe cases recover , respectively. Equivalently the spectral projections of a diagonalizable matrix are and , and the power multiplies them by and .
Put . Direct matrix multiplication givesfor every real . Since commutes with all matrices and , the remaining relations also hold:All matrices are invertible, and the relations reproduce the multiplication table of the Klein four-group. ThereforeA representation need not be an orthogonal representation; imposing orthogonality on the displayed matrices would be an extra condition.
The characters are their traces, independent of :In terms of part (b), , so the representation is reducible. For an explicit change of basis, takeThen and , while remains . These are the equivalent sheared representations of the Klein four-group; the parameter changes the basis, not the two irreducible constituents.
The matrix sending the standard basis vectors to the given columns isWith the Hermitian inner product, the squared column norms are , , and . The off-diagonal products areThus the columns form an orthonormal basis, so and is a unitary matrix. Here the operation maps the old basis vectors to the new vectors; the inverse coordinate change of basis uses .
Suppress the fixed individual quantum numbers . In the coupled basis, ordered on both rows and columns as , the total-spin eigenvalues giveHere the first three entries form the triplet state sector and the last is the singlet state. For the product basis, useThe first term has diagonal entries . Each nonzero exchange term flips to or back, with coefficient . With rows and columns ordered as ,The change of basis is made explicit by and , with . The resulting eigenvalues reproduce the diagonal coupled matrix.
Past exam of the rings and modules course of the University of Oxford 2023 3 a iv Solution 2026-10-25
In the basis , the linear map given by sends to the second basis vector and sends to . Equivalently,Multiplying on the left by the matrix inverse givesThis change of basis produces the companion matrix found in part (a)(ii).