Something that stands out in my mind as I have learned more linear algebra recently is how much more sane it feels to do a lot of forward thinking before getting into the backward “solving” thinking—to, for example, create a bunch of linear transformations and strengthen my ability to do stuff with the mathematics before throwing a wrench in the works and having me wonder what would happen if I didn’t know the starting vectors.

So, we’ll continue that forward thinking here by looking at the effect of combining transformations. Or, if we think about a 2 × 2 matrix as representing a linear transformation, then we’ll look at combining matrices.

How about this one, then? This is a transformation in which the (1, 0) basis vector goes to (1, 1 third) and the (0, 1) basis vector goes to (–2, 1). You can see the effect this transformation has on the unshaded triangle (producing the shaded triangle).

Before we combine this with another transformation, notice that the horizontal base of the original triangle, which was parallel to the horizontal basis vector, appears to be, in its transformed form, now parallel to the transformed horizontal basis vector. Let’s test this. \[\begin{bmatrix}\mathtt{1} & \mathtt{-2}\\\mathtt{\frac{1}{3}} & \mathtt{\,\,\,\,1}\end{bmatrix}\begin{bmatrix}\mathtt{2}\\\mathtt{2}\end{bmatrix} = \begin{bmatrix}\mathtt{-2}\\\mathtt{2\frac{2}{3}}\end{bmatrix} \quad\text{and}\quad\begin{bmatrix}\mathtt{1} & \mathtt{-2}\\\mathtt{\frac{1}{3}} & \mathtt{\,\,\,\,1}\end{bmatrix}\begin{bmatrix}\mathtt{4}\\\mathtt{2}\end{bmatrix} = \begin{bmatrix}\mathtt{0}\\\mathtt{3\frac{1}{3}}\end{bmatrix}\]

The slope of the originally horizontal but now transformed base is, then, \(\mathtt{\frac{3\frac{1}{3}\, – \,2\frac{2}{3}}{0\,-\,(-2)} = \frac{\frac{2}{3}}{2} = \frac{1}{3}}\), which is the same slope as the transformed horizontal basis vector (1, 1 third).

Transform the Transformation

Okay, so let’s transform the transformation, as shown at the right, under this matrix: \[\begin{bmatrix}\mathtt{-1} & \mathtt{0}\\\mathtt{\,\,\,\,0} & \mathtt{\frac{1}{2}}\end{bmatrix}\]

Is it possible to multiply the two matrices to get our final (purple) transformation? Here’s how to multiply the two matrices and the result: