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1550 Lect 3

This document is a lecture note on systems of linear equations, providing definitions, examples, and theorems related to their solutions. It discusses the possibilities for solution sets, including unique solutions, infinite solutions, and no solutions, as well as equivalent systems and equation operations. The lecture is based on the textbook 'A First Course in Linear Algebra' by Beezer, and emphasizes the importance of understanding how equation operations preserve solution sets.

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Larry Lau
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23 views4 pages

1550 Lect 3

This document is a lecture note on systems of linear equations, providing definitions, examples, and theorems related to their solutions. It discusses the possibilities for solution sets, including unique solutions, infinite solutions, and no solutions, as well as equivalent systems and equation operations. The lecture is based on the textbook 'A First Course in Linear Algebra' by Beezer, and emphasizes the importance of understanding how equation operations preserve solution sets.

Uploaded by

Larry Lau
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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MATH1550

Lecture 3: System of linear equations

Warning: the note is for reference only. It may contain typos.


Read at your own risk.
The notes may be updated later. Check online for the latest version.
Last updated: September 5, 2018

The lecture is based on


Beezer, A first course in Linear algebra. Ver 3.5
Downloadable at http://linear.ups.edu/download.html
Print version can be downloaded at
http://linear.ups.edu/download/fcla-3.50-print.pdf
Textbook Reading:
Beezer, Ver 3.5 Sect SSLE (print version p7 - p14)

1 Introduction
Definition 1 (System of Linear Equations) A system of lin-
ear equations is a collection of m equations in the variable quan-
tities x1 , x2 , x3 , . . . , xn of the form,
a11 x1 + a12 x2 + a13 x3 + · · · + a1n xn = b1
a21 x1 + a22 x2 + a23 x3 + · · · + a2n xn = b2
a31 x1 + a32 x2 + a33 x3 + · · · + a3n xn = b3
..
.
am1 x1 + am2 x2 + am3 x3 + · · · + amn xn = bm
where the values of aij , bi and xj , 1 ≤ i ≤ m, 1 ≤ j ≤ n, are from
the set of real numbers
Definition 2 (s1 , s2 , . . . , sn ) is a solution of a system of linear
equations in n variables if we substitute s1 for x1 , s2 for x2 , s3 for
x3 , · · · , sn for xn , then for every equation of the system the left side
will equal the right side, i.e. each equation is true simultaneously.
The solution set of a linear system of equations is the set which
contains every solution to the system, and nothing more.

1
Example 1 Example, the following system of linear equations:
x1 + 2x2 + x4 = 7
x1 + x2 + x3 − x4 = 3
3x1 + x2 + 5x3 − 7x4 = 1
can be rewritten as
1x1 + 2x2 + 0x3 + 1x4 = 7
1x1 + 1x2 + 1x3 − 1x4 = 3
3x1 + 1x2 + 5x3 − 7x4 = 1
So it is a system of linear equations, with n = 4 variables and m = 3
equations. Also,
a11 = 1 a12 = 2 a13 = 0 a14 = 1 b1 = 7
a21 = 1 a22 = 1 a23 = 1 a24 = −1 b2 = 3
a31 = 3 a32 = 1 a33 = 5 a34 = −7 b3 = 1
And x1 = −2, x2 = 4, x3 = 2, x4 = 1 is one solution.
In fact, from the previous lecture The system of equations has infi-
nite many solutions. In fact the solution set is
{(−1 − 2a + 3b, 4 + a − 2b, a, b) | a, b real numbers}.


2 Possibilities for Solution Sets

Example 2
1. The following system of linear equation has only one solution.
2x1 + 3x2 = 3
x1 − x2 = 4
The solution set is (x1 , x2 ) = (3, −1)
2. The following system of linear equation has infinite many
solution.
2x1 + 3x2 = 3
4x1 + 6x2 = 6

2
The solution set is {(x1 , x2 ) = (t, 3−2t
3
)}, where t is any real
number.
3. The following system of linear equations has no solutions.
2x1 + 3x2 = 3
4x1 + 6x2 = 10
The solution set is empty.

Theorem 3 A system of linear equations can have (1) a unique
solution or (2) infinitely many solutions or (3) no solutions.
Remark: For example it is impossible for a system of linear equa-
tion to have exactly 2 solutions
Remark: (can be ignored) For higher mathematics, the above the-
orem is not entirely true. The coefficients aij in our course are real
numbers. However, in higher mathematics, the coefficients can be
something so called finite field.

3 Equivalent Systems and Equation Operations


Definition 4 (Equivalent Systems) Two systems of linear equa-
tions are equivalent if their solution sets are equal.
Definition 5 (Equation Operations) Given a system of linear
equations, the following three operations will transform the system
into a different one, and each operation is known as an equation
operation:
1. Swap the locations of two equations in the list of equations.
2. Multiply each term of an equation by a nonzero quantity.
3. Multiply each term of one equation by some quantity, and add
these terms to a second equation, on both sides of the equality.

Example 3 The following two systems equations are equivalent:


(
2x1 + 3x2 = 3
x1 − x2 = 4

3
and (
5x2 = −5
x 1 − x2 = 4
In fact, the second system of linear equations is obtained by applying
operation 3 on system of equation 1 (equation 1 - 2 × equation 2).


Theorem 6 (Equation Operations Preserve Solution Sets) If


we apply one of the three equation operations of Definition 5 to a
system of linear equations, then the original system and the trans-
formed system are equivalent.
Proof. You can skip the proof
(Sketch) Let S be a system of linear equations and S 0 be another
system of linear equations obtained by applying equation operations
on S.
Let (x1 , . . . , xn ) be a solution for S. Because S 0 is obtained by
equation operations on S, it is obvious that (x1 , . . . , xn ) is also a
solution for S 0 .
Conversely, suppose (x1 , . . . , xn ) is also a solution for S 0 . Note that
the reverse of the equation operations are also equation operations.
Reversing the equation operators on S, we can show that S can
be obtained by equation operations on S 0 . So (x1 , . . . , xn ) is also a
solution for S. Hence S and S 0 have the same solution set.
For details, See Beezer, Theorem EOPSS (Ver 3.5, print version
p. 10). 

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