System of Linear Equations

Dr. DPRV Subba Rao

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Contents
1. Formation of system of linear equations
2. Representation of system of linear equations in
matrix form.
3. Consistency of system of linear equations
i. Consistency of Non homogeneous equations
ii. Consistency of homogeneous equations
4. Rank of the matrix
5. Echelon form of a matrix
6. Elementary row operations

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Formation of System of Linear Equations:

In the field of geometry, in the construction of curves and surfaces through

specified points one can see the formation of system of linear equations.

Suppose that two points A = (x, y) and B = (x', y' ) in the xy - plane are given.

We are intended to find the equation of the line passing through these points.

For this, theory of linear algebra will help us to find the equation of the line passing through
the given points.

We know that the general form of a line equation is ax+by+c = 0.

Hence to find the equation of the line passing through the points A and B in the xy-plane,
we need to find the coefficients a, b, c so that the points A and B satisfy the equation
ax+by+c = 0.

Let us work out this with a problem

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 Formation of System of Linear Equations:
Let A = (3, 5) and B = (-1, 2) be any in two points in the xy - plane.
we find the equation ax + by + c = 0 that passes through the points A and B.

Solution: Substituting the given points A , B in the equation ax + by + c = 0

We obtain the following linear system of equations:

xa + yb + c = 0 One or more equations
3a + 5b + c = 0 consisting of same set of
-1a + 2b + c = 0 variables is known as system
equations

These equations can be written in the following form of matrix equation:

 x y 1  a   0
3 5 1  b    0
    
- 1 2 1  c   0
which is known as a homogeneous equation.
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 Formation of System of Linear Equations:
From linear algebra theory a homogeneous matrix equation has a non zero
solution if and only if the determinant of the coefficient matrix is zero.

 x y 1  a   0
Hence from the matrix equation 
3 5 1  b    0
    
- 1 2 1  c   0

x y 1
to have a non zero solution we must have
3 5 10
1 2 1

5 1 3 1 3 5
that is x y 1 0 . Hence 3x - 4y +11 = 0.
2 1 1 1 1 2

Therefore the equation of the line passing through the points A = (3, 5) and
B = (-1, 2) is 3x - 4y +11 = 0.
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Formation of System of Linear Equations:

Find the equation of the circle passing through the three points A = (1, 4) and
B = (-2, 3) and C = (7, 1) .

Solution: General form of an equation of a circle is

ax  by  cx  dy  e  0
2 2

Substituting the points A, B, C in this equation we obtain the system of equations

( x  y )a  xb  yc  d  0
2 2

 (1  16)a  1b  4c  d  0


 ( 4  9) a  2b  3c  d  0
 (0  1)a  0b  c  d  0
This linear system of equations can be written as DX = 0. This system has none zero solution
when |D| = 0. Finding |D| = 0 we can find the equation of the circle passing through the points
A, B and C.

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 System of Linear Equations
A system of linear equations is a collection of one or more
linear equations involving the same set of variables .

System of m linear equations in n variables is

a x  a x  a x  b
11 1 12 2 1n n 1

a x  a x  a x  b
21 1 22 2 2n n 2

  
a x  a x  a x  b
m1 1 m2 2 mn n m

a ij
x i

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When m and n are large it is difficult to solve the
system of equations using elimination and graphical
methods which were learnt in earlier classes.
Hence to avoid difficulty we represent the
system of linear equations a x  a x    a x  b
11 1 12 2 1n n 1

a x  a x  a x  b
21 1 22 2 2n n 2

  
a x  a x  a x  b
m1 1 m2 2 mn n m

in the matrix form Ax = b, and can be solved using matrix methods.

a a  a  x   b  A is called the
where A =  ; x =   ; b = 
11 12 1n 1 1

a a  a  x b coefficient matrix, x is
 21 22

2n
   
2 2

         a solution vector and

a a  a  x  b  b is a constant vector.
 m1 m2 
mn    
n m
Consistency of Systems of Linear Equations

In order to discuss about consistency of system of equations

we first define the solution of a system of equations.

A solution of system of equations we mean values of the variables

which satisfy all the equations in the system.
For example, Take x = 5 and y = 3 Taking x =7 and y = 2 in
in 2x +4y = 22;
x–6y ≠ -13
2x+4y = 22;

x - 6y = -13 x = 7 and y = 2 is not a

solution to the system.
x = 5 and y = 3 is a solution to
system 9
Note: In the matrix form of equations, i.e., Ax = b, x is the solution
Consistency of System of Equations

System of linear equations is said to be consistent if the

system has at least one solution, otherwise it is said to be
inconsistent.

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Exercise:

Write the following system of equations into matrix

Form:
2x – y – z = 2;
x + 2y + z = 2;
4x - 7y – 5z = 2

Solution:
2  1  1   x   2
1 2 1  y    2
     
4  7  5  z   2
which is a non-homogeneous system of equations.

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Consistency of Non- homogeneous Equations

To determine whether a given system of m equations in n

unknown variables, Ax = b, b ≠ 0 is consistent or not
we proceed as follows:

We first define a notion called rank of a matrix B, denoted as 𝜌 (B),

which is defined as follows:

The positive integer r is said to be the rank of the matrix B if it

holds the following properties:

(i) There is at least one minor of the matrix B of order r which is

non zero.
(ii) Every minor of order grater than r is zero.

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Definition:

One more definition is needed for the discussion of

consistency of non homogeneous equations.

Augmented Matrix: An augmented matrix of the system

of equations, Ax = b, is a matrix obtained by appending
the constant vector b to the coefficient matrix A.

Augmented matrix will be denoted by [A : b].

Equations Augmented Matrix
2 x  3 y  10 2 - 3 10
4x  5 y  9 4 - 5 9  = [A : b]
 

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Consistency of Non- homogeneous Equations

We now give the condition for consistency of system of

non homogeneous equations

Theorem: The system of m equations in n unknown variables,

Ax = b, b≠0 is consistent iff 𝜌(A) = 𝜌([A : b])

There are two cases:

Case I: If 𝜌(A) = 𝜌([A : b]) = n, the system has a unique solution.

Case II: If 𝜌(A) = 𝜌([A : b]) < n, the system has infinite solutions.

When 𝜌(A) ≠𝜌([A : b]), the system is in consistent.

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Consistency of homogeneous equations

We now give the condition for consistency of system of

m homogeneous equations in n variables, Ax = 0.
Suppose the rank of the matrix is r.

We have the following cases:

Case I : If the rank of the matrix A is r and r = n then Ax = 0 has

only trivial solution.

i.e., x = 0 is the only solution of Ax = 0.

Case II : If the rank of the matrix A is r and r < n then Ax = 0 has

infinite solutions.

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For large size matrices (even for m, n >3) finding rank
of the matrix according to definition is difficult.

To avoid such difficulty a notion was introduced namely

echelon form of a matrix.

From echelon form, the rank of the matrix is the number of nonzero
rows in the echelon form.

Once echelon forms of the coefficient matrix and augmented matrix

are obtained, we can check the consistency of system of equations
easily.

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Definition:

Echelon Form: a matrix A is said to be in echelon form If

i). all zero rows of A (if any exists) are below the non zero rows .

ii). each leading entry of a row is always to the right side of the
leading coefficient of the preceding row and all the entries under the
leading coefficient are zero.

Example:

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For finding Echelon form of the given matrix elementary
row transformations were introduced .

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Elementary Row Transformations

1. All the numbers in a row may be multiplied (or divided) by any

nonzero real number.

2. All the numbers in a row may be multiplied by any nonzero real

number. These products may then be added to the corresponding
in any other row.

3. The order of the rows may be interchanged.

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Applying suitable elementary transformations to obtain echelon form

of a matrix and finding rank of the matrix.

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Example:
Find the consistency of the system equations
2 x  4 y  2
3x  2 y  5
Sol: writing the system as an augmented matrix 2 4  2
3  2 5 
 
We begin by using row transformation procedure 1 to replace the 2 in
the first column, first row, with 1. To do so, we multiply the first row
of numbers by ½ (1/2 R1).

 1   1   1  2  1 1 2  1
 2 2  2 4  
2
   ~ R1 ~  
  2 3 - 2 5 
 3 -2 5 
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We next use the row transformations to produce 0 in the
first column, second row, where currently 3 is in this
position. We will multiply the elements in row 1 by -3
and add the products to row 2.
The elements in the first row multiplied by -3 are:

-3(1) -3(2) -3(-1)

or
-3 -6 3
Now add these products to their respective elements in the second
row to get
 1 2 1  1 2  1
 3  3 - 6  (-2) 3  5  3R1 R2 0 - 8 8 
   
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Now rank of A = rank of [A : b] = 2 = n

Hence the system is consistent and has a unique solution.

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Thank you

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