Kamal F Seif.

D2 Maths HL

PATTERNS WITHIN SYSTEMS OF LINEAR EQUATIONS.

Consider this 2 x 2 system of linear equations: x + 2y = 3

2x – y = -4

Examining the first equation, we see a pattern in the constants of the equation, i.e. 1 is the constant
preceding the variable ‘x’, and 2 precede ‘y’ and the equation equals 3. The constants have a common
difference of 1 between them:

2–1=1
3–2=1

Going forward from this, we can say that the constants in the first equation belong to an arithmetic
series with a common difference of 1. This means they follow the general formula:

Un = U1 + (n – 1 ) d where:

n = number of the term (i.e. first, second, third, etc)

d = is the common difference in the series.

Looking at the second equation, we also observe that the constants are consecutive members of and
arithmetic series, this time with common difference of -3:

-1 – 2 = -3
-4 – (-1) = -3

Solving the equations simultaneously:

x + 2y = 3 multiply first equation to eliminate ‘x’

2x – y = -4

2x+ 4y = 6
- 2x – y = -4 5y = 10
∴y=2

Putting in the solution obtained for y into the original equation to find x:

x + 2(2) = 3
x=3–4 ∴ = −1
Kamal F Seif.
D2 Maths HL The solution of x and y for the two
2x – y = -4 equations also gives us the x and y
coordinate of the point of intersection
of the two lines.

At this point (-1,2) the lines are equal:

Equation 1 = Equation 2:
after rearranging the equations,

= And y = 2x +4:

At the point of intersection, y =y

x + 2y = 3

Solving equations with the similar format:

1. 3x + 5y = 7 constants have a common difference (d) of 2

11x + 5y = -1 constants have a common difference of (d) -6

-8x = 8 ∴ x = -1

3(-1) + 5y = 7
5y = 10
∴y=2

2. 100x + 200y = 300 common difference of 100

-12x – 20y = -28 common difference of -8

Multiplying the second equation by 10 to eliminate y:

-20x = 20 ∴ x = -1

100(-1) + 200y = 300

200y = 400 ∴y=2
Kamal F Seif.
D2 Maths HL

3. 87x + 47y = 7 common difference of -40

29x + 34y = 39 common difference of 5

Multiplying the second equation by 3 this time eliminating x:

-55y = -110 ∴y=2

Putting in y in the first equation:

87x + 47(2) = 7
87x = -87 ∴ x = -1

It seems that any equation where the constants follow an arithmetic series will give the answer for y as
2 and for x -1. This suggests that any two lines whose equations that are similar to these will intersect at
the same point. This means that we can generate a general formula for equations similar to these:

let the first term of the first equation be P1 and let if have a common difference of d.
let the first term of the second equation be U1 and have a common difference of c.

therefore the first equation will look like: the second equation will look like:

U1 x+ (U1 + d) y = (U1 + 2d) P1 x + (P1 + c) y = (P1 +2c)

Solving the equations:

U1 x+ (U1 + d) y = (U1 + 2d) multiply the first equation by P1 to eliminate x

P1 x + (P1 + c) y = (P1 +2c) multiply the second equation by U1 to eliminate x

P1U1 x + (P1U1 + dP1) y = (P1U1 + 2dP1) subtract the second equation from the first one to
P1U1 x + (P1U1 + cU1) y = (P1U1 + 2cU1) remove the x variable.

P1U1 y - P1U1 y + dP1 y - cU1 y = P1U1 - P1U1 + 2dP1 – 2cU1

dP1 y - cU1 y = 2dP1 – 2cU1

y (dP1 - cU1) = 2 (dP1 - cU1) ∴y=2

putting in the value for y in the first equation:

U1 x+ (U1 + d) 2 = (U1 + 2d)

U1 x + 2U1 + 2d = U1 +2d

U1 x = U1 – 2U1 + 2d – 2d

U1 x = -U1 ∴ x = -1
Kamal F Seif.
D2 Maths HL

The result suggests that for any two linear equations written in the form:
ax + by = c
dx + ey = f
and there is a common difference in the constants a, b and c, such that:
c-b = b-a
and a common difference in the constants d, e and f, such that:
f-e = e-d
but:
(f-e) or (e-d) ≠ (c-b) or (b-a) because if the common difference in the two equations is the same, this
will suggest that the two lines are collinear, and therefore they will never intersect, and it will not be
possible to solve for x and y.

The result will always be (-1,2)

If we extend this to 3 x 3 systems for instance using the following equations:

x + 2y + 3z =4 (common difference of 1)
4x + 6y + 8z = 10 (common difference of 2)
2x + y = -1 (common difference of -1)

We can solve this system of equation using matrices:

x 1 2 3 4
y 4 6 8 = 10
z 2 1 0 -1
X M = A

To solve for x, y and z we have to find the inverse of the matrix M, and multiply it with A:

X = A M-1

Use technology to determine the inverse of M:

This is a singular matrix, this means the determinant = 0. Therefore there are either many solutions for
x, y and z, or there is no solution at all:
Kamal F Seif.
D2 Maths HL

It seems that all 3 x 3 systems that exhibit an arithmetic progression will give a determinant of zero, i.e.
form a singular matrix.

Let the first term of the first equation be U1 and the common difference d
Let the first term of the second equation be P1 and the common difference be c
Let the first tem of the third equation of be Q1 and the common difference b

The equations will look like:

U1 x + (U1 + d)y + (U1 + 2d)z = (U1 +3d)

P1 x + (P1 + c)y + (P1 + 2c)z = (P1 + 3c)
Q1 x + (Q1 + b)y + (Q1 + 2b)z = (Q1 +3b)

Arranging the equation into a matrix:

X U1 (U1 +d) (U1 + 2d) (U1 +3d)

y P1 (P1 + c) (P1 + 2c) = (P1 + 3c)
z Q1 (Q1 + b) (Q1 + 2b) (Q1 +3b)

Finding the determinant:

U1[(Q1+2b)(P1+c) – (Q1+b)(P1+2c)] – (U1+d)[P1(Q1+2b) – Q1(P1+2c)] + (U1+2d)[P1(Q1+b) – Q1(P1+c)

U1(P1Q1 – P1Q1 + Q1c – 2Q1c + 2P1b - P1b +2bc – 2bc)

-- (U1 + d)(P1Q1 - P1Q1 + 2P1b – 2Q1c)
+ (U1 + 2d)(P1Q1 – P1Q1 + P1b – Q1c)

2P1U1b - 2P1U1b + 2Q1U1c - 2Q1U1c + 2Q1dc - 2Q1dc + 2P1bd - 2P1bd

= 0.

This shows that all 3 x 3 matrices with arithmetic progression will have a determinant of 0. This means
there is either a contradiction in the equations i.e. no definite answer, or there are many answers, i.e.
they intersect in a line.

In order to find out if there are no solutions we have to see if there is a contradiction in the equations:

First the three are grouped in groups of two as shown:

Kamal F Seif.
D2 Maths HL

U1 x + (U1 + d)y + (U1 + 2d)z = (U1 +3d) Multiply the first equation by P1 to eliminate x
P1 x + (P1 + c)y + (P1 + 2c)z = (P1 + 3c) Multiply by U1 Multiply by Q1 to eliminate x
Q1 x + (Q1 + b)y + (Q1 + 2b)z = (Q1 +3b) Multiply by P1

First two equations:

P1U1 x + P1U1 y + P1d y + P1U1 z + 2P1d z = P1U1 + 3P1d subtract the second from the first.
P1U1 x + P1U1 y + U1c y + P1U1 z + 2U1 z = P1U1 + 3U1c

P1d y - U1c y + 2P1d z - 2U1c z = 3P1d - 3U1c

(p1d – U1c) y + (P1d – U1c) 2z = (P1d – U1c) 3

With the first two equations we find: Y + 2z = 3

Last two equations:

P1Q1 x + P1Q1 y + Q1c y + P1Q1 z + 2Q1c z = P1Q1 + 3Q1c subtract the second from the first.
P1Q1 x + P1Q1 y + P1b y + P1Q1 z + 2P1bz = P1Q1 + 3P1b

Q1c y – P1b y + 2Q1c z – 2P1bz = 3Q1c – 3P1b

(Q1c – P1b) y + (Q1c – P1b) 2z = (Q1c – P1b) 3

y + 2z = 3

The two solutions show us that there is no contradiction in the three equations, this means that the
equation has many solutions, i.e. they intersect not at a point, but they intersect to form a line.

If we plot the equations: x + 2y + 3z =4

4x + 6y + 8z = 10
2x + y = -1 we get the following graph:

This shows us that the three equations join to make a line.

Following the equation of the line:

Kamal F Seif.
D2 Maths HL

Y + 2z = 3 when y=1, z=1, x=-1

when y=-1, z=2, x=0

We have two points P1(-1, 1, 1) and P2(0, -1, 2), we can use the two points to find the direction vector of
the line. (P2 – P1):

Direction vector: 1
-2
1

Therefore we can say that for a 3 x 3 system that exhibit an arithmetic sequence, the three plains will
meet to form a line that has the direction vector: 1 , or a multiple of it. The point on the line has to
-2
1

satisfy the equation: U1 x + (U1 + d)y + (U1 + 2d)z = (U1 +3d) where U1 is the first term of the arithmetic
series and d is the common difference of the series.

Part B:

Consider this 2 x 2 system: x + 2y = 4

5x – y =
Examining the equations, they exhibit a geometric series in the constants of the equations.

In the first equation the constants are:

1 2 4,

The second constant is two times the first, and the third is two times the second. The equation exhibits a
geometric series with a common ratio of 2.

For second equation the constants are:

5 -1

The common ratio is − , i.e. if we take the first constant and multiply it by the common ratio we get
the second constant and so on.

The equations follow the general formula Un=U1rn-1 where:

U1 is the first term of the series
n is the term number (i.e. first, second, third, etc)
r is the common ratio

If we re-write the equations in the form of y = ax + b:

y =− x + 2
y = 5x -
Kamal F Seif.
D2 Maths HL

We see that the constants have a common feature; b is the negative inverse of a, and a is the negative
inverse of b, i.e. they are negative inverses of each other. this means if we multiply the constant a by b
the result is -1:

5 X − = -1

− X 2 = -1

Solving the two equations to get the values for x and y:

x + 2y = 4
5x – y = multiply the second equation by 5 to simplify it:

x + 2y = 4 multiply the first equation by 25 to eliminate x

25x – 5y = 1

25x + 50y = 100

25x – 5y = 1

55y = 99

y= ≈ 1.8

plugging in the value for y in our original equation:

5x - =

25x – 9 = 1
25x = 10
x= ≈ 0.4

If we represent the lines on a graph we can determine the point of intersection of the two lines
(point A): i.e. the solution for x and y.
Kamal F Seif.
D2 Maths HL

A:(0.4,1.8)
B:(1,1.5)
C:(-0.1,-0.7)
D:(-0.5,2.25)
E:(0.13,-0.3)
F:(-10,7)
G:( -1.3,5.3)
H:(1,4.8)
I:(2.5,4.5)

The solutions to the different lines can be calculated using the general formula:

U1 x +U1r y = U1r2 geometric series with first term U1 and common ratio of r
P1 x + P1 v y = P1 v2 geometric series with first term P1 and common ratio of v

P1U1 x + P1U1r y = P1U1r2 multiplied the first equation by P1 to eliminate x

P1U1 x + P1U1v y = P1U1v2 multiplied the second equation by U1 to eliminate x

P1U1r y - P1U1v y = P1U1r2 - P1U1v2

P1U1 y (r – v) = P1U1 (r2 – v2)

( ) ( )( )
y= = = (r + v)
( ) ( )

when we plug in the value for y in our original equation:

U1 x + U1r (r + v)= U1r2

U1 x = U1r2 - U1r(r + v)

x = r2 –r(r + v)
x =r2 –r2 – rv

x = - rv

To prove the formula for the x and y coordinates, (for point F on the graph), the point of intersection for
the lines:
Kamal F Seif.
D2 Maths HL

y=− x+2 common ratio (r) = 2

y=− x+5 common ratio (v) = 5

Therefore the point F (- rv, (r + v))

Coordinate x= - (5 X 2) = -10

Coordinate y= 5 +2 = 7

Point F(-10, 7) as seen from the graph.

The same formula can be used to calculate the different points of intersection for the different graphs.