MATH250 - Lecture Notes 03
MATH250 - Lecture Notes 03
in Linear Algebra
1.5
SOLUTION SETS OF LINEAR
SYSTEMS
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 the augmented matrix A 0
to echelon form:
4
Solve for the basic variables x1 and x2 to obtain x1 x3 ,
3
x2 0 , with x3 free.
As a vector, the general solution of Ax 0 has the form
given below.
4 4 4
x3 3 3
x1 3
x x2 0 x3 0 x3 v , where v 0
x3 x3 1 1
© 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 1.5- 5
HOMOGENEOUS LINEAR SYSTEMS
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 ℝ3 .
See Fig.1 below.
3 5 4 7
A 3 2 4 and b 1.
6 1 8 4
© 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 1.5- 8
SOLUTIONS OF NONHOMOGENEOUS SYSTEMS
4
Thus x1 1 x3 , x2 2 , and x3 is free.
3
© 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 1.5- 9
SOLUTIONS OF NONHOMOGENEOUS SYSTEMS
4 4 4
1 x3 x3 3
x1 3 1 3 1
x x2 2 2 0 2 x3 0
x3 x3 0 x3 0 1
p v
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 + 𝑣ℎ ,
where vh is any solution of the homogeneous equation.