Elementary Linear Algebra 7th Edition

Published by Cengage Learning
ISBN 10: 1-13311-087-8
ISBN 13: 978-1-13311-087-3

Chapter 4 - Vector Spaces - 4.6 Rank of a Matrix and Systems of Linear Equations - 4.6 Exercises - Page 199: 31

Answer

a basis for the nullspace of $A$ consists of the zero vector $$ \left[\begin{aligned} 0\\ 0\\0 \end{aligned}\right] .$$

Work Step by Step

Given the matrix $$ A=\left[\begin{array}{lll}{1} & {4} & {2} \\ {0} & {0} & {1}\end{array}\right]. $$ The reduced row echelon form is given by $$ \left[ \begin {array}{ccc} 1&0&0\\ 0&1&0 \\ 0&0&1\end {array} \right] . $$ The corresponding system is $$ \begin{aligned} x_{1} &=0\\ x_2&=0\\ x_1&=0. \end{aligned} $$ The solution of the above system is $x_1=0$, $x_2=0$ and $x_3=0$. This means that the solution space of $Ax = 0 $ consists of the vectors on the following form $$x= \left[\begin{aligned} x_{1}\\ x_{2} \\x_3 \end{aligned}\right]= \left[\begin{aligned} 0\\ 0\\0 \end{aligned}\right] .$$ So, a basis for the nullspace of $A$ consists of the zero vector $$ \left[\begin{aligned} 0\\ 0\\0 \end{aligned}\right] .$$
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