LET A BE A REAL 4 × 2 MATRIX AND B BE A REAL 2 × 4 MATRIX SUCH THAT...

1. Let A be a real 4 × 2 matrix and B be a real 2 × 4 matrix such that

1 0 −1 0

0 1 0 −1

AB =

.

−1 0 1 0

0 −1 0 1

Find BA. [20 points]

A 1

where A 1 , A 2 , B 1 , B 2 are 2 × 2 matrices. Then

Solution. Let A =

and B = B 1 B 2

A 2

A 1 B 1 A 1 B 2

=

B 1 B 2

A 2 B 1 A 2 B 2

therefore, A 1 B 1 = A 2 B 2 = I 2 and A 1 B 2 = A 2 B 1 = −I 2 . Then B 1 = A −1 1 , B 2 = −A −1 1 and A 2 = B −1 2 =

−A 1 . Finally,

2 0

BA = B 1 B 2

= B 1 A 1 + B 2 A 2 = 2I 2 =

0 2