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MATH HL PORTFOLIO
PATTERNS WITHIN SYSTEMS OF LINEAR
EQUATIONS
Benjamin Valiente
8/29/2010
Contents
Contents...........................................................................................................................................2
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................3
Part A (Constants forming APs):.....................................................................................................4
What is meant by “constants forming APs”?...............................................................................4
Examining the Constants:............................................................................................................4
Looking for a pattern:..................................................................................................................4
Solving other systems:..................................................................................................................5
Conclusion and Proof for a 2 x 2 system:.....................................................................................8
Investigating 3 x 3 systems:.........................................................................................................9
Conjecture and Prove of a 3 x 3 system:.....................................................................................13
Part B (Constants forming GPs):...................................................................................................16
Examining the given 2 x 2 system:.............................................................................................16
Investing the relationship between the constants:.....................................................................16
Looking for patterns:..................................................................................................................18
Solving a general 2 x 2 system that follow the pattern found:...................................................19
Proving the graphical pattern:...................................................................................................20
Finding a General Solution for a 2 x 2 system:..........................................................................21
General Conclusion:.......................................................................................................................25
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PATTERNS WITHIN SYSTEMS OF LINEAR EQUATIONS
Introduction:
As IB mathematic HL we should have encountered “arithmetic progressions” (APs) and
“geometric progressions” (GPs), as well as systems of linear equations, for instance
simultaneous equations. When we form APs or GPs with the constants of these systems of linear
equations, the equations should form patterns. This investigation is designed to show that they
do form a pattern, and if they do to find a mathematical proof why these patterns are formed by
the equations.
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For instance in the equation before a, b and c are constants in the equation. So they form APs
when a, b and c have a “common difference” (d).
So after inspecting both equations we can observe that the constants of both equations form
APs.
If I use the method of elimination the first equation has to be multiplied by 2 so that both
equations can be subtracted.
So after we substitute y into one of the two equations to get the value of x.
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PATTERNS WITHIN SYSTEMS OF LINEAR EQUATIONS
So the point where both of these equations cross has the coordinate (-1, 2)
Example 1:
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Example 2:
To use elimination the first equation has to be multiplied by 3 so that the second equation can
be subtracted from it.
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As the algebraic solution and the graphical solution show, all the lines formed by the equations
depicted above intercept at the same point, (-1, 2).
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PATTERNS WITHIN SYSTEMS OF LINEAR EQUATIONS
But what if it is coincidence of just those six equations? Well, it can be proved algebraically that
all the equations which have constants that form APs will all intercept at point (-1, 2).
Let’s assume that a is the first term of the AP formed by one equation’s constant, and that it has
a common difference “d”, so it the equation can be written as:
And let’s assume that for another equation which is simultaneous to the one before, b is the first
term of the AP formed by its constants, and it also has a common difference of “e”, so it is
written as:
But we can’t subtract them that, so I will multiply the first equation by b and the second
equation by a.
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Now that we know that y=2, we substitute y into one of the equations.
Now that algebraically I proved that x=-1 and that y=2, I have proved that all it works for all
numbers, because a, b, d and e can be substituted by any numbers and the answer will always be
x=-1 and y=2. So any 2 x 2 system of linear equations which have constants that form APs will
always intercept at the point, (-1, 2).
Investigating 3 x 3 systems:
Now, what will happen if instead of a 2 x 2 system I had a 3 x 3 system of equations? Will it form
a common line, there will be no pattern? To answer these questions I will create three 3 x3
system of equations, and whose constants form an AP.
System 1:
System 2:
System 3:
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We can see from both of the views of this graph that the planes all intercept on a common line.
So as the 2 x 2 system has a common point, the 3 x 3 system has a common line.
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But what is the equation of the line? If we see from the graph that the three systems intercept on
the same line, then if I solve just one of them I will get the equation of the common line.
I will solve system 3, I will use matrices and row reduction to solve this system.
Now with row reduction I will solve this system of simultaneous equations.
So after row reduction we see that the equation has a common line and not a common point,
something we expected to see as the graph showed to us. So now we know that:
Or
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So now we can we can substitute y and z into the equation which has the three variables.
Now we have three equations for in terms of the three different variables, x, y and z.
So if they all equal it means that they all equal each other so the following equation is true.
The equation above is the equation of the line where the three systems that I graphed before
intercept, denoting that it is the common line for the three 3 x 3 systems conveyed before.
which means that any 3 x 3 system of equation whose constants form an AP will all intercept on
the same, which is mentioned before.
What about if it was just a coincidence for those three systems? How do we know that it will
work for all equations which comply with the condition of constants forming an AP? As the 2 x 2
system of equations the 3 x 3 system of equations can also be proved algebraically. However this
time we will use row reduction instead of elimination to solve the system of equations.
Let’s assume that the first term of the AP formed by the constants of an equation with three
variables is a, and that it has a common difference d.
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Now for the second equation let’s assume that the first term formed by the constants is b, and
that it has a common difference of e.
Finally, for the last equation let’s assume that the first term formed by the constants is c, and
that it has a common difference of f.
Now with this matrix I can do row reduction to solve the system of equations.
As expected the three equations have a common line because we can observe on R3 000=0, so
now we know that:
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And
Now we have a value for y and z we can substitute them into the other equation:
So if they all equal they all equal each other, so we can say,
The afore graphed planes all intercepted on the line that I just got by using algebra to solve the
simultaneous equation. This proofs that my conjecture was right because a, b, c, d, e and f could
be replaced by any number and it will always give the same line, so all 3 x 3 systems which have
constants that form an AP will always intercept on the same line;
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To look for a pattern I will isolate the constants of both of these equations
We get:
And
What is a GP?
Any sequence/progression that has a common ratio “r”, this means that each term is multiplied
by this value.
So for these equations the constants form a GP compared to the ones on part A which formed an
AP.
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So I will write the two equations mentioned before in the new format:
And
Let’s take the second equation because it is easier to see any existent pattern, so
Or
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Let us assume that for the first term of the GP formed by the constants of a linear equation is
“a”, and that the common ratio is “r”. So,
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For r needs to be a real number because it is the common ratio, and you can’t have an imaginary
common ratio, so for r to exist the following condition need to be true:
If
Then
In this case
So will be true
So for r to be real and for the GP to exist, as well as for the 2 x 2 systems to exist.
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a is the first term and r will be the common ratio for the first general equation. For the second
equation b is going to be the first term and q is going to be the common ratio. Therefore:
If we solve this pair of simultaneous equation we will get a general solution for the equations. So
by elimination we solve the system:
The a and the b get eliminated as they are constants throughout the equation.
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Now that we have an equation for y, as a solution for the general 2 x 2 system, we use
substitution to find the solution for x.
�=�+�
�=−��
Now we find the values of r in the first equation and q in the second equation. To do
this we divide the third term by the second:
With these two values we can now use the general solution to find the interception
point.
To see if the general solution works with the system of equations portrayed above, I
am going to solve the system through elimination method.
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So:
Now we substitute the value of y into one of the equations to get the value of x.
It can be observed that the values achieved through both methods coincide, so we
see that the general solution for a 2 x 2 system of linear equations, which have
constants that form a GP, will be:
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General Conclusion:
After this investigation is clearer than in mathematics everything is related, there are no
coincidences. For instance, having a pattern in the constants of different systems of equations, 2
x 2 or 3 x 3, or even an AP as the pattern or a GP, they all have a resulting pattern; and that these
patterns have a mathematical proof, which makes them real and logical. After doing this
investigation I will feel comfortable predicting that if I investigated constants forming an
exponential progression or a 3 x 3 system which constants formed a GP, they will both form a
resulting pattern with a clear, logical mathematical proof.
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