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Augmented Matrix & System of Linear Equations

Linear Equation

y= mx (1)
y, x = variables
m = constant

Here, y is expressed in terms of x.

This is an equation of a line.

A Linear Equation in n variables:

a1x1  a2 x2  a3 x3  ....  an xn  b (2)

where are variables

are constants/scalars

Linear System

A Linear System of linear equations and unknowns is:

a11 x1  a12 x2  a13 x3  ....  a1n xn  b1

a21 x1  a22 x2  a23 x3  ....  a2 n xn  b2
a31 x1  a32 x2  a33 x3  ....  a3n xn  b3
....................................................... (3)
.......................................................
........................................................
am1 x1  am 2 x2  am3 x3  ....  amn xn  bm

where x1, x2 , x3 ,..., xn are variables/unknowns

aij’s and bij’s are constants.
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Solution:

Solution of the linear system (3) is a sequence of n numbers

s1, s2 , s3 ,..., sn , which satisfies system (3) when we substitute

x1  s1, x2  s2 , x3  s3 ,..., xn  sn .

Example.1. Solve the system of equations

x - 3y   3  Eq1
2x  y  8  Eq 2

Solution:

-2Eq1 + Eq2 

2 x  6y  6
2x  y  8
______________
+7y = 14  y = 2

From Eq 1

x = -3 +3y
x = -3 + 6 = 3

Solution is x = 3 and y = 2

Check Substitute the solution in Equations 1 and 2

Equation 1  3 – 3(2) = 3 – 6 = -3

Equation 2  2(3) +2 = 6 + 2 = 8 .

Example.2. Solve the system of equations

x - 3y   7  Eq1
2 x - 6y  7  Eq 2
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Solution:

2Eq - Eq2 

2 x - 6y  -7
2 x  6 y  -14
_____________________
0 + 0 = -21

This makes no sense because 0  -21, hence there is no solution.

NOTE:

Inconsistent: the system of equations is inconsistent, if the system has no

solution.
Consistent: the system of equations is consistent if the system has at least
one solution.

Example: Inconsistent and consistent system of equations

For the system of linear equations which is represented by straight lines:

a11 x - a12 y  c1  l1
a21 x - a22 y  c2  l2

There are three possibilities:

No solution one solution infinitely many solutions

[inconsistent] [consistent] [consistent]

Note:1. A system can have a unique solution (only one solution) only when the
number of unknowns is equal to the number of equations.

Note:2. A system is over determined , if there are more equations then unknowns
and it will be mostly inconsistent.

Note:3. A system is under determined if there are less equations then unknowns and
it can be inconsistent.
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Augmented Matrix

System of linear equations:

a11 x1  a12 x2  a13 x3  b1

a21 x1  a22 x2  a23 x3  b2
a31 x1  a32 x2  a33 x3  b3

can be written in the form of matrices product

 a11 a12 a13   x1   b1 

a a a23   x2   b2 
 21 22    
 a31 a32 a33   x3  b3 

or we may write it in the form AX=b,

 a11 a12 a13   x1   b1 

where A=  a21 a22 a23  , X = x  , b = b2 
   2  
 a31 a32 a33   x3   b3 

 a11 a12 a13 b1 

Augmented matrix is  A b    a21 a22 a23 b2 
 
 a31 a32 a33 b3 

Example: 4. Write the matrix and augmented form of the system of linear
equations

3x – y + 6z = 6
x+y+ z=2
2x + y +4z = 3

Solution: Matrix form of the system is

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3 1 6   x  6 
1 1 1   y   2

2 1 4  z  3

 3 1 6 6
Augmented form is  A b   1 1 1 2 .
 
 2 1 4 3 

Methods for solving System of Linear equations

Gaussian Elimination Method (get REF)

Gauss – Jordan Method (get RREF)

Gaussian Elimination Method

STEP 1. by using elementary row operations

 a11 a12 a13 b1  1 A12 A13 B1 

a a a23 b2   0 1 A23 B2 
 21 22   
 a31 a32 a33 b3  0 0 1 B3 

STEP 2. Find solution by back – substitutions.

Example:3. Solve the system of linear equations by Gaussion- elimination

method
x1 + x2 + 2x3 = 8
- x1 - 2x2 + 3x3 = 1
3x1 - 7 x2 + 4x3 = 10

Solution: Augmented matrix is

1 1 2 8
 1 2 3 1 
 
 3 7 4 10 
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STEP 1.
 1 1 2 8  R12 (1) 1 1 2 8
 1 2 3 1    
  R13( 3)  
 3 7 4 10   
 

1 1 2 8 
R 2 ( 1) 0 1 5 9 

 
0 10 2 14 

1 1 2 8 
R 23(10)  0 1 5
 9 
 
0 0 52 104

1 1 2 8 
 

 0 1 5 9 
R 3 
  
 
0 0 1 2 

Equivalent system of equations form is:

x1 + x2 + 2x3 =8
x2 - 5x3 = -9
x3 = 2

STEP 2. Back Substitution

x3 = 2
x2 = 5x3 -9 =10 – 9 =1
x1 = - x2 - 2x3 + 8 = -1 – 4 +8 = 3
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Solution is x1 = 3, x2 = 1, x3 = 2.
or written as  x1, x2 , x3    3,1,2 

Gauss – Jordan Method

 a11 a12 a13 b1  1 0 0 B1 

a a a23 b2   0 1 0 B2 
 21 22   
 a31 a32 a33 b3  0 0 1 B3 

Example.4. Solve the system of linear equations by Gauss - Jordan

elimination method

x1 + x2 + 2x3 = 8
- x1 - 2x2 + 3x3 = 1
3x1 - 7 x2 + 4x3 = 10

Solution: Augmented matrix is

1 1 2 8
 1 2 3 1 
 
 3 7 4 10 

The first step is to reduce the matrix to REF

 Step 1 of Gaussian Elimination

 1 1 2 8  R12 (1) 1 1 2 8 
 1 2 3 1    0 1 5 9 
  R13( 3)  
 3 7 4 10    0 10 2 14 
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1 1 2 8 
R 2 ( 1) 0 1 5 9 

 
0 10 2 14 

1 1 2 8 
R 23(10)  0 1 5
 9 
 
0 0 52 104

1 1 2 8 
 1 

 0 1 5 9 
R 
3  52 
  
 
0 0 1 2 

R 31 2  1 1 0 4 
 0 1 
R 32   


0 0 1 2 
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Example: 5. Use the Gauss – Jordan method to solve the following system
of linear equations

x  y  2 z  w  1
2 x  y  2 z  2w  2
x  2 y  4z  w  1
3x - 3w  3
Solution:

Gauss-Jordan method is same as to reduce the augmented matrix to reduced

row echelon from.

Augmented matrix is

 1 1 2 1 1
 2 1 2 2 2 
 
 1 2 4 1 1 
 
 3 0 0 3 3

There is a leading entry ‘1’ in the first row, making all other entries in the
first column zero
 1 1 2 1 1  1 1 2 1 1
 2 1 2 2 2  0 1 2 0 0 
    
 1 2 4 1 1  0 1 2 0 0 
    
 3 0 0 3 3 0 3 6 0 0 

1 0 1 1
0
 0 1 2 0 0 
 
 0 0 0 0 0
 
0 0 0 0 0
is the reduced row echelon form.

Equivalent system of equations form is

x  w  1
y  2z  0
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there are four variables x, y, w and z in the example, variables appearing as

leading entries are called LEADING VARIABLES, and other variables are
FREE VARIABLES

 x and y are leading variables and w and z are free variables.

Let z =  and w =  , where  and  are real numbers ,

x = -1 +w = -1 + 
y = 2z = 2
z=
w = ,

We write the solution in this form:

 x, y, z, w   1,0,0,0    0,2,1,0   1,0,0,1 , ,  

or
Solution set =  x, y, z, w   1,0,0,0     0,2,1,0    1,0,0,1  ,   
There are infinite many solutions of the given system.

SYSTEM WITH NO SOLUTION

Example: 6 . Solve the system of linear equations

x 2y  z  4u  1
x  3 y  7 z  2u  2
x  12 y  11z  16u  5

Solution:
Augmented matrix is:

1 2 1 4 1 
1 3 7 2 2
 
1 12 11 16 5 
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Reducing it to row echelon form (using Gaussian - elimination method)

1 2 1 4 1  R12 1 1 2 1 4 1 
1 3  
7 2 2 0 5 6 6 1 etc.
  R13 1  
1 12 11 16 5    0 10 12 12 4 

Last equation is

0 x  0 y  0 z  0u  3
but 0  -3

hence there is no solution for the given system of linear equations.

Conditions on Solutions

Example:7. For which values of ‘a’ will be following system

x  2 y  3z 4
3x  y  5 z 2
4 x  y  (a 2  14) z  a  2

(i) infinitely many solutions?

(ii) No solution?
(iii) Exactly one solution?

Solution:
Augmented matrix is

1 2 3 4 
 3 1 5 2 
 
 4 1 a  14 a  2 
2

Reducing it to row echelon form

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1 2 3 4  1 2 3 4 
 3 1 
5 2  0 7 14 10 
   
 4 1 a 2  14 a  2  0 7 a 2  2 a  14

1 2 3 4 

 0 1 2 10 
 7 
0 7 a 2  2 a  14 

1 2 3 4 

 0 1 2 10 
 7 
0 0 a  16 a  4 
2

writing in the equation form,

x  2 y  3z 4 1
y  2z  107 2
( a 2  16) z  a  4 3

or equation 3 can be written as

(a  4) (a  4) z  a  4

CASE I .

a4  0z  0

x  2 y  3z  4
y  2 z  107

as number of equations are less than number of unknowns, hence the system
has infinite many solutions,

let z=t
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y  107  2t
x  4  3t  4t  207  t  87

where ‘t’ is any real number.

CASE II

a  4  0z  -8 ,but 0  -8 , hence, there is no solution.

CASE III

a  4, a  4, let a 1

Equation 3  (1  4)(1  4) z  1  4
-15z  -3
z  15

y  107  52  35
64

x  4  53  2( 64
35 )  35
47

the system will have unique solution when a  4 and a  -4

and for a=1 the solution is

x 47
35
, y  64
35
and z  15 .

NOTE: (i) a=-4, no solution,

(ii) a=4, infinite many solutions and
(iii) a  4, a  -4, exactly one solution .
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Example:8. What conditions must a, b, and c satisfy in order for the system
of equations

x  y  2z  a
x  z b
2 x  y  3z  c

to be consistent.

Solution: The augmented matrix is

1 1 2 a 
1 0 1 b 
 
 2 1 3 c 

reducing it to reduced row echelon form we obtain its row-equivalent matrix

1 1 2 a 
0 1 1 ba 
 
0 0 0 c  a  b 

The system will be consistent if only if c – a – b = 0

or c = a + b

Thus the required condition for system to be consistent is

c = a + b.