Operators and matrices - basic matrix operations, determinant, spectrum of an operator, spectral theorem in finite-dimensional Hilbert spaces - One Line Questions

1. What is the adjoint of a matrix A = [[1+i, 2], [3, 4-i]]? [[1-i, 2], [3, 4+i]]
2. What is the transpose of a matrix A = [[1, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6]]? [[1, 4], [2, 5], [3, 6]]
3. If matrix C = [[2, 1], [1, 3]] and scalar k = 3, what is kC? [[6, 3], [3, 9]]
4. What is the result of adding two matrices A and B, where A = [[1, 2], [3, 4]] and B = [[5, 6], [7, 8]]? [[6, 8], [10, 12]]
5. What is the result of multiplying a matrix A = [[1, 2], [3, 4]] by its transpose A^T? [[7, 10], [10, 16]]
6. Calculate the product of matrices P = [[1, 0], [0, 1]] and Q = [[a, b], [c, d]]. [[a, b], [c, d]]
7. Consider the matrix A = [[0, 1], [0, 0]]. What is its spectrum? {0}
8. What is the spectrum of a nilpotent operator T (i.e., T^k = 0 for some k)? {0}
9. What is the spectrum of the identity operator I on a finite-dimensional Hilbert space? {1}
10. What is the spectrum of a scalar operator T(x) = cx on a Hilbert space? {c}
11. Consider a projection operator P. What are its possible eigenvalues? 0 and 1
12. If A is an invertible matrix, then det(A^-1) is equal to: 1 / det(A)
13. Find the trace of the matrix B = [[5, 2, 8], [1, 9, 3], [4, 6, 7]]. 21
14. Find the determinant of the matrix M = [[2, 3], [4, 5]]. -2
15. A matrix A is called Hermitian if: A = A*
16. For a finite-dimensional Hilbert space, the spectral theorem guarantees that any normal operator is unitarily equivalent to: A diagonal operator.
17. If T is a linear operator on a finite-dimensional vector space, what is an eigenvector? A non-zero vector v such that Tv = λv for some scalar λ.
18. What is the identity matrix I_n? A square matrix with 1s on the main diagonal and 0s elsewhere.
19. What is the determinant of a 2x2 matrix A = [[a, b], [c, d]]? ad - bc
20. The set of eigenvalues of a real symmetric matrix is: Always a subset of the real numbers.
21. If A is a real symmetric matrix, what are its eigenvalues? Always real.
22. If A is a matrix, det(cA) for an n x n matrix and scalar c is equal to: c^n det(A)
23. The eigenvalues of a matrix are the roots of its: Characteristic polynomial.
24. If A is a matrix, det(A^T) is equal to: det(A)
25. What is the definition of a matrix A being singular? det(A) = 0
26. What is the relationship between the determinant and eigenvalues of an n x n matrix A? det(A) = product of eigenvalues (counting multiplicity).
27. If A and B are n x n matrices, then det(AB) is equal to: det(A)det(B)
28. If A is an n x n matrix, how many eigenvalues does it have (counting multiplicities)? Exactly n.
29. What does the spectral theorem imply for a compact normal operator on a Hilbert space? It can be represented by a diagonal matrix with eigenvalues on the diagonal.
30. What property must a matrix satisfy to be diagonalizable by a unitary matrix? It must be a normal matrix.
31. If A is an m x n matrix and B is an n x p matrix, what are the dimensions of the product AB? m x p
32. What is the condition for two matrices A and B to be conformable for multiplication AB? Number of columns in A equals the number of rows in B.
33. What is the spectral decomposition of a self-adjoint operator T in a finite-dimensional Hilbert space? T = Σ λ_i P_i, where P_i are orthogonal projection operators.
34. What is the spectral theorem for a self-adjoint operator T on a finite-dimensional Hilbert space? T can be diagonalized by a unitary matrix, and its eigenvalues are real.
35. For a finite-dimensional complex vector space, a linear operator T is diagonalizable if and only if: The geometric multiplicity of each eigenvalue equals its algebraic multiplicity.
36. For a square matrix A, what does det(A) = 0 imply? The matrix is singular.
37. What is the spectral radius of an operator T? The maximum absolute value of the eigenvalues.
38. What is the geometric interpretation of a matrix determinant? The scaling factor of the volume/area under the linear transformation.
39. What is the spectrum of a linear operator T on a finite-dimensional vector space? The set of all eigenvalues of T.
40. What is the definition of the spectrum of an operator T on a Hilbert space? The set of complex numbers λ for which (T - λI) is not invertible.
41. For a finite-dimensional normal operator T, the spectrum is equal to: The set of eigenvalues.
42. In a finite-dimensional Hilbert space, what is the relationship between the spectrum of an operator and its eigenvalues? The spectrum is always equal to the set of eigenvalues.
43. What is the trace of a square matrix A? The sum of the diagonal elements.
44. If A is a unitary operator on a finite-dimensional Hilbert space, what is true about its eigenvalues? Their absolute value is 1.
45. If A is a normal operator on a finite-dimensional complex Hilbert space, what can be said about its eigenvectors? There exists an orthonormal basis of eigenvectors.
46. If A is a Hermitian matrix, what can be said about its eigenvalues? They are always real.
47. What is the relationship between the trace and eigenvalues of an n x n matrix A? tr(A) = sum of eigenvalues (counting multiplicity).
48. Which property holds for the trace of matrices A and B (where multiplication is defined): tr(AB) = tr(BA)? True
49. If A is a square matrix, when is A an orthogonal matrix? When A^T = A^-1
50. What is the characteristic polynomial of a 2x2 matrix A = [[a, b], [c, d]]? λ^2 - tr(A)λ + det(A)