Linear Algebra and Its Applications

Sixth Edition, Global Edition

Session 3
Solution Sets of
Linear Systems
and their
Applications

Slides by Author, Modified by Fernando H. Calderon Slide - 1

Section 1.5: Solution Sets Of Linear
Systems

Slides by Author, Modified by Fernando H. Calderon. Slide - 2

Homogeneous Linear Systems (1 of 5)
• A system of linear equations is said to be homogeneous if it can be written

in the form Ax = 0, where A is an m  n matrix and 0 is the zero vector in ℝ𝑚 .

• Such a system Ax = 0 always has at least one solution, namely, x = 0 (the

𝑛
zero vector in ℝ ).
• This zero solution is usually called the trivial solution.

• The homogeneous equation Ax = 0 has a nontrivial solution if and only if the

equation has at least one free variable.

Slides by Author, Modified by Fernando H. Calderon. Slide - 3

Homogeneous Linear Systems (2 of 5)
• Example 1: Determine if the following homogeneous system has a
nontrivial solution. Then describe the solution set.

3 x1 + 5 x2 − 4 x3 = 0
−3 x1 − 2 x2 + 4 x3 = 0
6 x1 + x2 − 8 x3 = 0
• Solution: Let A be the matrix of coefficients of the system and row
reduce row the augmented matrix A 0 to echelon form:

Slides by Author, Modified by Fernando H. Calderon. Slide - 4

Homogeneous Linear Systems (3 of 5)
 3 5 −4 0   3 5 −4 0   3 5 −4 0 
 −3 −2 4 0  0 3 0 0 0 3 0 0 
     
 6 1 −8 0  0 −9 0 0  0 0 0 0 

• Since x3 is a free variable, Ax = 0 has nontrivial solutions (one for

for each choice of x3 .)

• Continue the row reduction of A 0 to reduced echelon form:

1 0 − 4 3 0  x1 − 4 / 3 x3 = 0
0 1 0 0 x2 = 0
 
0 0 0 0  0=0

Slides by Author, Modified by Fernando H. Calderon. Slide - 5

Homogeneous Linear Systems (4 of 5)
4
• Solve for the basic variables x1 and x2 to obtain x1 = x3 , x2 = 0,
3
with x3 free.
• As a vector, the general solution of Ax = 0 has the form given below.

 x1   4 3 x3   4 3  4 / 3
x =  x2  =  0  = x3  0  = x3 v, where v =  0 
       
 x3   x3   1   01 

Slides by Author, Modified by Fernando H. Calderon. Slide - 6

Homogeneous Linear Systems (5 of 5)
• Here x3 is factored out of the expression for the general solution
vector.
• This shows that every solution of Ax = 0 in this case is a scalar
multiple of v.

• The trivial solution is obtained by choosing x3 = 0.

• Geometrically, the solution set is a line through 0 in .3

See the figure below.

Slides by Author, Modified by Fernando H. Calderon. Slide - 7

Parametric Vector Form
• The equation of the for x = su + tv (s, t in ) is called a parametric
vector equation of the plane.

• In Example 1, the equation x = x3 v ( with x3 free), or x = tv (with t in

?? ) is a parametric vector equation of a line.

• Whenever a solution set is described explicitly with vectors as in Example

1, we say that the solution is in parametric vector form.

Slides by Author, Modified by Fernando H. Calderon. Slide - 8

Solutions Of Nonhomogeneous
Systems (1 of 9)
• When a nonhomogeneous linear system has many solutions,
the general solution can be written in parametric vector form as
one vector plus an arbitrary linear combination of vectors that
satisfy the corresponding homogeneous system.
• Example 2: Describe all solutions of Ax = b, where

 3 5 −4   7
A =  −3 −2 4  and b =  −1
   
 6 1 −8  −4 

Slides by Author, Modified by Fernando H. Calderon. Slide - 9

Solutions Of Nonhomogeneous
Systems (2 of 9)
• Solution: Row operations on  A 0 produce
 4 
 1 0 − −1 
4
x1 − x3 = −1
 3 5 −4 7  3
 −3 −2 4 −1   3
 0 1 0 2  , x2 = 2 .
 
 6 1 −8 −4  0 0 0 0
  0=0
 
4
• Thus x1 = −1 + x3 , x2 = 2, and x3 is free.
3

Slides by Author, Modified by Fernando H. Calderon. Slide - 10

Solutions Of Nonhomogeneous
Systems (3 of 9)
• As a vector, the general solution of Ax = b has the form
given below.

Slides by Author, Modified by Fernando H. Calderon. Slide - 11

Reasonable Answers
• Verify your solution is correct:
 3 5 −4    −1  4 / 3 
 −3 −2 4    2  + x  0  
   3  
 6 1 −8   0   1  

 −1  4 / 3  7  0  7 
= A  2  + x3 A  0  =  −1 + x3 0  =  −1
         
 0   1   −4  0   −4 

Slides by Author, Modified by Fernando H. Calderon. Slide - 12

Solutions Of Nonhomogeneous
Systems (4 of 9)
• The equation x = p + x3 v , or, writing t as a general parameter,

x = p + tv ( t in R ) - - - - (1)

describes the solution set of Ax = b in parametric vector form.

• The solution set of Ax = 0 has the parametric vector equation

x = tv ( t in R ) - - - - ( 2)
[with the same v that appears in (1)].

• Thus the solutions of Ax = b are obtained by adding the vector p to the

solutions of Ax = 0.

Slides by Author, Modified by Fernando H. Calderon. Slide - 13

Solutions Of Nonhomogeneous
Systems (5 of 9)
• The vector p itself is just one particular solution of Ax = b [corresponding to

t = 0 in?( ) .]

• Now, to describe the solution of Ax = b geometrically, we can think of vector

addition as a translation.

• Given v and p in 2
or 3
, the effect of adding p to v is to move v in a
direction parallel to the line through p and 0.

Slides by Author, Modified by Fernando H. Calderon. Slide - 14

Solutions Of Nonhomogeneous
Systems (6 of 9)
• We say that v is translated by p to v + p. See the following figure.

• If each point on a line L in 2

or 3
, is translated by a vector p, the
result is a line parallel to L. See the following figure.

Slides by Author, Modified by Fernando H. Calderon. Slide - 15

Solutions Of Nonhomogeneous
Systems (7 of 9)
• Suppose L is the line through 0 and v, described by
equation (2).
• Adding p to each point on L produces the translated line
described by equation (1).
• We call (1) the equation of the line through p parallel to
v.
• Thus the solution set of Ax = b is a line through p parallel
to the solution set of Ax = 0. The figure on the next slide
illustrates this case.

Slides by Author, Modified by Fernando H. Calderon. Slide - 16

Solutions Of Nonhomogeneous
Systems (8 of 9)

• The relation between the solution sets of Ax = b and Ax =

0 shown in the figure above generalizes to any consistent
equation Ax = b, although the solution set will be larger
than a line when there are several free variables.

Slides by Author, Modified by Fernando H. Calderon. Slide - 17

Solutions Of Nonhomogeneous
Systems (9 of 9)
• Theorem 6: Suppose the equation Ax = b is consistent
for some given b, and let p be a solution. Then the
solution set of Ax = b is the set of all vectors of the form
w = p + v h , where v h is any solution of the homogeneous
equation Ax = 0.
• This theorem says that if Ax = b has a solution, then the
solution set is obtained by translating the solution set of
Ax = 0 using any particular solution p of Ax = b for the
translation.

Slides by Author, Modified by Fernando H. Calderon. Slide - 18

Writing A Solution Set (Of A Consistent
System) In Parametric Vector Form
1. Row reduce the augmented matrix to reduced echelon
form.
2. Express each basic variable in terms of any free
variables appearing in an equation.
3. Write a typical solution x as a vector whose entries
depend on the free variables, if any.
4. Decompose x into a linear combination of vectors (with
numeric entries) using the free variables as parameters.

Slides by Author, Modified by Fernando H. Calderon. Slide - 19

Section 1.6: Applications of Linear
Systems

Slides by Author, Modified by Fernando H. Calderon. Slide - 20

A Homogeneous System In Economics (1 of 9)
• Suppose a nation's economy is divided into many sectors.
• Suppose that for each sector we know its total output for
one year and we know exactly how this output is divided or
"exchanged" among the other sectors of the economy.
• Let the total dollar value of a sector's output be called the
price of that output.

Slides by Author, Modified by Fernando H. Calderon. Slide - 21

A Homogeneous System In Economics (2 of 9)
• Leontief proved the following result:

There exist equilibrium prices that can be assigned to the

total outputs of the various sectors in such a way that the
income of each sector exactly balances its expenses.

Slides by Author, Modified by Fernando H. Calderon. Slide - 22

A Homogeneous System In Economics (3 of 9)
Suppose an economy consists of the Coal,
Electric (power), and Steel sectors, and the
output of each sector is distributed among
the various sectors as in Table 1

Table I A Simple Economy

Distribution of Output from

Coal Electric Steel Purchased by

.0 .4 .6 Coal

.6 .1 .2 Electric

.4 .5 .2 Steel

Slides by Author, Modified by Fernando H. Calderon. Slide - 23

A Homogeneous System In Economics (4 of 9)
• Denote the prices of the total annual outputs of the Coal,
Electric, and Steel sectors by PC , PE ,and PS .
• A sector looks down a column to see where its output
goes, and it looks across a row to see what it needs as
inputs.

Slides by Author, Modified by Fernando H. Calderon. Slide - 24

A Homogeneous System In Economics (5 of 9)
• For instance, the first row of Table 1 says that Coal
receives (and pays for) 40% of the Electric output and
60% of the Steel output.

• Coal must spend .4 pE dollars for its share of Electric's

output and .6 pS or its share of Steel's output.

PC = .4 PE + .6 PS

Slides by Author, Modified by Fernando H. Calderon. Slide - 25

A Homogeneous System In Economics (6 of 9)
• The Electric sector spends .6 pS for coal, .1pE for electricity, and
.2 pS for steel.

pE = .6 pC + .1 pE + .2 pS

• The third row of the exchange table leads to:

pS = .4 pC + .5 pE + .2 pS

Slides by Author, Modified by Fernando H. Calderon. Slide - 26

A Homogeneous System In Economics (7 of 9)
• To solve the system of equations move all the unknowns
to the left sides of the equations and combine like terms:

pC − .4 PE − .6 PE = 0
−.6 PC + .9 PE − .2 PE = 0
−.4 PC − .5 PE + .8 PE = 0

Slides by Author, Modified by Fernando H. Calderon. Slide - 27

A Homogeneous System In Economics (8 of 9)
• Putting in a matrix and row reducing we get
 1 −.4 −.6 0  1 0 −.94 0 
 −.6 .9 −.2 0  0 1 −.85 0 
   
 −.4 −.5 .8 0  0 0 0 0 

• Reading off the solution leads to

 PC  .94 PS  .94 
 P  = .85P  = P .85
 E  S S 
 PS   PS   1 

Slides by Author, Modified by Fernando H. Calderon. Slide - 28

A Homogeneous System In Economics (9 of 9)
• Any positive choice for pS results in a choice of equilibrium
prices.
• For instance, if we set the price pS = $100 million, then the
incomes and expenditures of each sector will be equal if the
output of Coal is priced at $94 million, that of Electric at $85
million, and that of Steel at $100 million.

Slides by Author, Modified by Fernando H. Calderon. Slide - 29

Balancing Chemical Equations (1 of 3)
• Chemical equations describe the quantities of substances consumed and
produced by chemical reactions. For instance, when propane gas burns:

( x1 ) C3H8 + ( x2 ) O2 → ( x3 ) CO2 + ( x4 ) H 2O
• To "balance" this equation, a chemist must find whole numbers x1 , , x4
such that the total numbers of carbon (C), hydrogen (H), and oxygen (O)
atoms on the left match the corresponding numbers of atoms on the right.

Slides by Author, Modified by Fernando H. Calderon. Slide - 30

Balancing Chemical Equations (2 of 3)
• Expressing each chemical as a vector:

• The chemical equation can be expressed as

3 0 1  0

x1 8  + x2  0  = x3  0  + x4  2 
       
0   2   2   1 

Slides by Author, Modified by Fernando H. Calderon. Slide - 31

Balancing Chemical Equations (3 of 3)
• To solve, move all the terms to the left, and solve the augmented
system to get
1 5 3
x1 = x4 , x2 = x4 , x3 = x4 , with x4 free
4 4 4

• Take x4 = 4, in which case, x1 = 1, x2 = 5, and x3 = 3.

The balanced equation is
C3 H8 + 5 O 2 → 3 CO 2 + 4 H 2 O

Slides by Author, Modified by Fernando H. Calderon. Slide - 32

Network Flow (1 of 5)
• Systems of linear equations arise naturally when scientists,
engineers, or economists study the flow of some quantity
through a network.
• A network consists of a set of points called nodes, with
lines called branches connecting some or all of the nodes.
The direction of flow in each branch is indicated and the
flow amount is shown.

Slides by Author, Modified by Fernando H. Calderon. Slide - 33

Network Flow (2 of 5)
• An example of a node

Slides by Author, Modified by Fernando H. Calderon. Slide - 34

Network Flow (3 of 5)
• The network in Figure 2 shows the traffic flow over several
one-way streets in downtown Baltimore. Determine the
general flow pattern for the network.

Slides by Author, Modified by Fernando H. Calderon. Slide - 35

Network Flow (4 of 5)

Blank

Intersection Flow in Flow Out

x1 + x2
x sub 1 + x sub 2

A 300 + 500 =
x2 + x4 300 + x3
x sub 2 + x sub 4 300 + x sub 3

B =
x4 + x5
x sub 4 + x sub 5

C 100 + 400 =
x1 + x5
x sub 1 + x sub 5

D = 600

Slides by Author, Modified by Fernando H. Calderon. Slide - 36

Network Flow (5 of 5)
x1 + x2 = 800
x2 − x3 + x4 = 300
x4 + x5 = 500
x1 + x5 = 600
x3 = 400

• Row reduction of the associated augmented matrix leads to

 x1 = 600 − x5
x1 + x5 = 600 x = 200 + x5
x2 − x5 = 200  2
 x3 = 400
x3 = 400
x = 500 − x5
x4 + x5 = 500  4
 x5 = x5 is free

Slides by Author, Modified by Fernando H. Calderon. Slide - 37