Here are the essential concepts you must grasp in order to answer the question correctly.
Matrix Multiplication
Matrix multiplication involves combining two matrices to produce a third matrix. The number of columns in the first matrix must equal the number of rows in the second matrix. The resulting matrix's elements are calculated by taking the dot product of the rows of the first matrix with the columns of the second matrix. Understanding this operation is crucial for finding the product of matrices A and B.
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Multiplicative Inverse
The multiplicative inverse of a matrix A is another matrix, denoted as A⁻¹, such that when A is multiplied by A⁻¹, the result is the identity matrix I. The identity matrix acts like the number 1 in matrix operations, meaning that A * A⁻¹ = I. To determine if B is the multiplicative inverse of A, one must verify if the product AB equals the identity matrix.
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Identity Matrix
An identity matrix is a square matrix with ones on the diagonal and zeros elsewhere. It serves as the multiplicative identity in matrix algebra, meaning that any matrix multiplied by the identity matrix remains unchanged. For a matrix A of size n x n, the identity matrix I will also be of size n x n, and confirming that the product of A and its supposed inverse B yields I is essential for validating B as A's inverse.
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