F18XD2 Solutions 5: Systems of Linear Equations

5.1. We compute

D = a11 a22 a12 a21 = 8 15 6 20 = 0 , B = a22 b1 a12 b2 = 15 1 8 0 = 15 .

Since D = 0 and B 6= 0 we conclude that there are no solutions.

5.2. The augmented matrix is

1 2 3 1
3 1 2 7 .
5 3 4 2
Performing
R2 R2 3R1 , R3 R3 5R1 ,
we obtain
1 2 3 1
0 7 11 10 .
0 7 11 7
Performing R3 R3 R2 , we get

1 2 3 1
0 7 11 10 .
0 0 0 3

The system has no solutions because the last equation reads 0x+0y +0z = 0 = 3.

5.3. The augmented matrix is

1 0 1 2
2 1 4 5 .
2 3 3 8
Performing
R2 R2 + 2R1 , R3 R3 2R1 ,
we obtain
1 0 1 2
0 1 2 1 .
0 3 1 4
Performing R3 R3 + 3R2 , we get

1 0 1 2
0 1 2 1 .
0 0 5 1

1
 From the last equation we find z = 1/5. Substituting this into the second equation we
obtain y = 1 2z = 7/5. Substituting the value of z into the first equation we obtain
x = 2 + z = 11/5.

5.4. The augmented matrix reads

1 2 1 3 1
2 5 2 5 17 .
1 2 0 2 4
Performing
R2 R2 2R1 , R3 R3 + R1 ,
we obtain
1 2 1 3 1
0 1 0 1 15 .
0 0 1 1 5
The second column is already down-swept so we stop here. Taking z to be the free
variable, we find from the third equation w = 5 z. The second equation reads:
y w = 15 .
Substituting w = 5 z we obtain y = w + 15 = 20 z. Finally, substituting w = 5 z
and y = 20 z into the first equation we obtain, after some algebra, x = 54 + 4z. (Note
that it might have been easier to use w as the free variable.)

5.5. Down-sweep in the first column: R2 R2 2R1 , R3 R3 5R1 . We obtain

1 2 2 3 2
0 0 1 2 1 .
0 0 2 4 2
The second column has all zeroes. To down-sweep in the 3rd column we perform R3
R3 2R2 :
1 2 2 3 2
0 0 1 2 1 .
0 0 0 0 0
The 3rd equation is now trivial. From the second equation, we express x3 as x3 = 2x4 + 1.
Substituting this into the first equation we can express x1 = 4 2x2 + x4 . Taking the
variables x2 , x4 to be arbitrary we obtain the general solution: (x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 ) = (4 2x2 +
x4 , x2 , 2x4 + 1, x4 ).

5.6. The augmented matrix for the system at hand is

1 1 1 0
10 0 5 95 .
0 10 5 35

2
 We simplify the coefficients by rescalings: R2 R2 /5, R3 R3 /5. We obtain

1 1 1 0
2 0 1 19 .
0 2 1 7

Down-sweeping in the first column: R2 R2 2R1 we obtain

1 1 1 0
0 2 3 19 .
0 2 1 7

Down-seeping in the 2nd column: R3 R3 R2 we get

1 1 1 0
0 2 3 19 .
0 0 4 12

Using back substitution we obtain (i1 , i2 , i3 ) = (8, 5, 3).

5.7. The augmented matrix is

1 1 0 1 0 0
1 2 0 0 1 0 .
0 0 2 4 2 0
After R2 R2 R1 and R3 R3 /2, we obtain

1 1 0 1 0 0
0 1 0 1 1 0 .
0 0 1 2 1 0

The matrix now is in the echelon form. We choose the variables x4 , x5 to be free. We
find via back substitution the general solution (x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 , x5 ) = (2x4 x5 , x4 +
x5 , 2x4 + x5 , x4 , x5 ). Picking x4 = 2, x5 = 3, we obtain the smallest integer solution:
(x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 , x5 ) = (1, 1, 7, 2, 3).

5.8. The augmented matrix is

3 0 2 3g
0 3 1 3g .
2 1 0 0
Applying R1 R1 /3, R2 R2 /3 we get

1 0 2/3 g
0 1 1/3 g .
2 1 0 0

3
 After R3 R3 2R1 we get

1 0 2/3 g
0 1 1/3 g .
0 1 4/3 2g
Applying further R3 R3 R2 we obtain a matrix in echelon form:

1 0 2/3 g
0 1 1/3 g .
0 0 5/3 3g
Using backsubstitution we obtain (a1 , a2 , T ) = (g/5, 2g/5, 9g/5).

5.9. The augmented matrix is

1 2 3 0
4 9 (a + 12) 2 .
2 9 (10 3a) 10
Performing
R2 R2 4R1 , R3 R3 + 2R1 ,
we obtain
1 2 3 0
0 1 a 2 .
0 5 16 3a 10
Performing R3 R3 + 5R2 we get

1 2 3 0
0 1 a 2 .
0 0 16 + 2a 0
The system has many solutions when 16 + 2a = 0, that is, when a = 8.

5.10.The augmented matrix is

1 2 a
3 6 4a 2b .
2 7 1 2a
To down-sweep in the first column we perform the row operations R2 R2 + 3R1 ,
R3 R3 2R1 . We obtain
1 2 a
0 0 a 2b .
0 3 1
Swapping the last two rows: R2 R3 , we get a matrix in the echelon form

1 2 a
0 3 1 .
0 0 a 2b

4
 From the last row we conclude that the system will have a solution if a = 2b. In that
case the rank of the matrix is equal to 2 which coincides with the number of unknowns.
Therefore if a = 2b the system has a unique solution.

5.11.Down-sweeping in the first column (R2 R2 R1 , R3 R3 R1 , R4 R4 2R1 ), we

obtain
1 3 2 5 4 1 3 2 5 4
1 4 1 3 5 0 1 3 2 1

B= 1 4
.
2 4 3 0 1 4 1 1
2 7 3 6 13 0 1 1 4 5
Down-sweeping in the second column (R3 R3 R2 , R4 R4 R2 ) yields

1 3 2 5 4
0 1 3 2 1
.
0 0 1 1 2
0 0 2 2 4

Finally we perform R4 R4 + 2R3 to down-sweep in the third column

1 3 2 5 4
0 1 3 2 1
.
0 0 1 1 2
0 0 0 0 0

The matrix is now in echelon form and we see that rank(B) = 3.

Including an extra column of zeros, the rank of the augmented matrix would also be 3,
less than the number of unknowns (5): Bx = 0 has non-trivial (non-zero) solutions.

The elimination procedure carried out above is that for the augmented matrix in solving
for y. We see that the rank of the augmented matrix = 3 = rank of coefficient matrix <
4 = no. unknowns. There are infinitely many solutions, (c).