Section 1.5 Generate your own matrices with prescribed properties
While you have learned that every matrix has a unique reduced row-echelon form, many times the RREF has complicated looking entries. This algorithm generates a random matrix whose RREF has integer entries. We have specified the number of non-zero rows in the RREF (=rank) and told it to try to find a matrix whose entries are no larger than 20 in absolute value. Should Sage fail to produce a matrix, increase the upper bound or remove it altogether.
You can keep on generating new matrices by clicking the
Evaluate (Sage)
button. Try to find one where the rref has leading ones which skip a column.