System of Linear Equations

Gauss Elimination Method

Prerequisite knowledge for the lecture:

• Basic Row operations on a Matrix

• The Rank of a Matrix
• Row Echelon form

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 Revision:
Elementary Row Operations:
• To interchange two rows of the matrix.
• To change a row by adding to it a multiple of another row.
• To multiply each element in a row by the same non-zero number.

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 Revision:
Elementary Row Operations:
• To interchange two rows of the matrix.
• To change a row by adding to it a multiple of another row.
• To multiply each element in a row by the same non-zero number.

The Rank of a Matrix:

The number of non-zeros rows in the row Echelon form of a matrix is the rank of
the matrix.
We use elementary row operations to convert our matrix into the Row Echelon
form.
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 Learning Outcome

By the end of this lecture students will be able to:

• Understand the use of Matrices in linear systems.

• Apply Elementary Row operations to solve a linear system.
• Evaluate all possible solutions of a linear system.

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 Linear Equations
Linear Equations:
A linear equation in the variables is an equation of the form

where and are real constants.

Example:

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 System of Linear Equations
Linear System:
A linear system in the variables is a collection of one or more
linear equations in these variables.

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 System of Linear Equations
Linear System:
A linear system in the variables is a collection of one or more
linear equations in these variables.

Example of linear system:

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 Solution of Linear System
Solution of Linear System:
Consider the linear system

(1)
………………………………………........

If, by taking, …… , each equation of the system remains balanced,

we say is a solution of system .

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 Solution of Linear System
Solution of Linear System:
Example:

Note that, if we take both the equations are simultaneously satisfied. We say that
is a solution of .

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 Solution of Linear System
Question: How did we get the solution to the system?

We used the substitution method:

From the first equation, we get substituting this into the second equation gives us
and further solving, we get

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 Activity: Finding Solution
Solve the following systems using the Substitution Method:

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 Solution of Linear System
Solve the following systems using the Substitution Method:

Note that, is a solution of the system. From first equation, we get .

Also, Putting this into second equation, we
are also solutions of the system. get,
Multiple Solutions. or . Which is absurd.
Hence No solution.

Note: The substitution method is easy, however not applicable in all systems
especially higher-order systems.

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Activity 1:
Think-Pair-Share
• How many solutions can a Linear
system have?
• Is it possible that a linear system does
not have any solution?
• Is it possible that a linear system has a
finite number of solutions?
• Is it possible that a linear system has
infinitely many solutions?

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 General form of Linear System
Linear System:
The general form of a linear system with m equations in n
variables is

…… ……….
…. ……..
…… ……….
….

where and are fixed numbers

Schoolcalled parameters. A linear system
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 System of Linear Equations
Matrix form of a Linear System:
The general form of a linear system with m equations in n
variables can also be written as

where ,

and
.

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 System of Linear Equations
Activity 2:
Write the below Linear systems in the form

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 Solution of General Linear System

…….
Consider a system

where is a matrix of order and is a vector of order vector.

We say is a solution of if

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 Types of Solution
The solution of a Linear system can have three possibilities:
Unique Solution: Infinite Solution: No Solution:
There exists one and There exist infinitely There does not exist any
only one solution to the many solutions to the solution to the system.
linear system. linear system.
Ex: Ex: Ex:

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 Activity 3: Group Activity
Visualizing Solutions
Note: Each equation in the given example is an equation of a line
in the XY- plane.
Can you plot these lines and visualize what a unique solution,
infinite solution and no solution look like?
Unique Solution: Infinite Solution: No Solution:

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Visual representation of Linear Systems
in 2 variables:

−2 𝑥+ 𝑦=3 −2 𝑥+ 𝑦=3 −2𝑥+𝑦=3

No Solution
Unique
Solution ?

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 Types of Linear System
A Linear system can be divided into the following
categories:
Consistent Linear System Inconsistent Linear System:
A Linear system is called consistent if it A Linear system is called
has at least one solution. inconsistent if it does not have any
Ex: (1). Unique Solution solution.
(2) Infinite Solutions Ex:

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 Solution of Linear System
The augmented matrix of a Linear system is denoted by

Ex: Consider a system of 3 equations in 3 variables,

Then the augmented matrix of the system is given by

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 Solution of Linear System
Theorem 1:
Consider a system , with coefficient matrix and augmented
matrixVectors and are of size and mrespectively.
Below, we summarize the possibilities for solving the system:

• If rank(A) = rank([A|b])= Number of variables in the system, then

the system has a unique solution.
• If rank(A) = rank([A|b]) < Number of variables in the system, then
the system has infinitely many solutions.
• If rank(A) < rank([A|b]), then the system is inconsistent.
Note: We calculate rank using basic row operations, and these
operations do not change the solution of the system.

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 Example(Non-Homogeneous system)
Ex: Consider a system of 3 equations in 3 variables,

Then the augmented matrix of the system is given by

.
From above and . Clearly, rank(A) < Rank ([A| ]), therefore above
system is inconsistent and hence no solution.

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 Homogeneous Linear Systems
Homogeneous systems: A linear system is called a
homogeneous linear system if the vector .
For example:

Note: is always a solution of any homogeneous system.

This means at least one solution always exists for any
homogeneous system. Hence, all homogeneous systems
are consistent.

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 Homogeneous Linear Systems
Theorem 2:
Let be an matrix. A homogeneous system of equations
will have a unique solution, the trivial solution , if and
only if (no. of variables).

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 Homogeneous Linear Systems
Theorem 2:
Let be an matrix. A homogeneous system of equations
will have a unique solution, the trivial solution , if and
only if (no. of variables).

Problem: Find all solutions of the homogeneous system:

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 Example(Homogeneous system)
Solution: The augmented matrix of the system is given by

Furthermore, using elementary row operations:

.
From above = < 3(No. of variables). Therefore, the
homogeneous system is consistent and has infinitely many
solutions.

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 Example (Homogeneous system)

From the above-augmented matrix, our original system reduces to

Using the back substitution, we get and ; therefore

Taking (any constant), we get

Therefore, all the vectors that are multiple of will be solutions of

our homogeneous system, hence infinitely many solutions.

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 Summary
1. A system can have the following possibilities for solutions:
• If rank(A) = rank([A|b])= Number of variables in the system, then
the system has a unique solution.
• If rank(A) = rank([A|b]) < Number of variables in the system, then
the system has infinitely many solutions.
• If rank(A) < rank([A|b]), then the system is inconsistent.
2. A homogeneous system is always consistent.
3. A homogeneous system will have a unique solution i.e. trivial
solution if and only if number of variables.
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 Applications
Real-world applications:
 Economics (Linear Programming, supply and demand models)
 Engineering (Circuit analysis, Structural Analysis)
 Computer Science (Machine Learning, Network flow problems)
 Chemistry (Chemical Reactions, Stoichiometry)
 Biology (Population Dynamics, Biochemical Reactions)
 Transportation and Logistics (Traffic Flow, Supply Chain Management)
 Medicine (Medical Imaging, Pharmacokinetics)
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 Practice Questions
1. Let and then what is the value of (a + b)?

2. Let . Use the Gauss-Jordan elimination to find the inverse of A.

3. Find trace and determinant of the matrix 4

4. Solve the system of equations and by Gauss elimination method.

5. Find for what values of and the system of linear equations has
(i) a unique solution, (ii) no solution, (iii) infinite solutions.

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