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of which there are four subsections:
(We simply apply the appropriate reduction matrices over and over....)
getting the matrix
and we verified that the product of these two matrices is the identity matrix.
Let's find a more systematic way of obtaining the inverse. The secret is in thinking about row-reduction, and Gauss-Jordan reduction in particular.
Gauss-Jordan reduction turns a matrix into the identity matrix (if possible). Since that is our goal, the question becomes how to turn Gauss-Jordan reduction into an inverse matrix?
Since reduction is represented by three different types of matrix homomorphisms, we simply multiply the necessary set of instructions to turn a matrix into the identity matrix. Then the product of the reduction matrices will be the desired inverse.
We begin by successively replacing the rows below the first with the given row minus the first row: we read this from right to left -- so the first homomorphism replaces the second row, the second replaces the third row, and the third replaces the fourth row.
Now we apply this to the given matrix:
one more time, leaving all but the last alone:
Okay! so now let's put all these transformations together, to get the inverse::
Before leaving this example, let's verify that, if , then .
This will always be true for square matrices. However I want to emphasize that, in general, matrix multiplication is not commutative: that is, in general,
First of all, the dimensions may not work out; secondly, even if the dimensions do work (square matrices), then it may not work.
Let's see how the mechanical issues of the four subsections come about.
Let's continue to think about rotations of onto .
What about compositions of rotations? A rotation, followed by another rotation, should also be a homomorphism. Let's use the standard bases, and represent each rotation as a matrix, then represent the composition. This leads to matrix multiplication. It also gives us a way of deriving two extremely important trigonometric identities!
Now: how would we invert a rotation of say , in the counter-clockwise sense?
How do we invert any isomorphism of onto ?
What other kinds of homomorphisms can we think of, along the same lines? We've looked at two kinds of homomorphisms of into :