OCR FP3 Specimen — Question 6

Exam BoardOCR
ModuleFP3 (Further Pure Mathematics 3)
SessionSpecimen
TopicMatrices

6 The set \(S\) consists of all non-singular \(2 \times 2\) real matrices \(\mathbf { A }\) such that \(\mathbf { A Q } = \mathbf { Q A }\), where $$\mathbf { Q } = \left( \begin{array} { l l } 1 & 1
0 & 1 \end{array} \right)$$
  1. Prove that each matrix \(\mathbf { A }\) must be of the form \(\left( \begin{array} { l l } a & b
    0 & a \end{array} \right)\).
  2. State clearly the restriction on the value of \(a\) such that \(\left( \begin{array} { l l } a & b
    0 & a \end{array} \right)\) is in \(S\).
  3. Prove that \(S\) is a group under the operation of matrix multiplication. (You may assume that matrix multiplication is associative.)