Chapter 2: System of Linear Equations

2.1 Definition and Examples

A system of linear equations is a collection of two or more linear equations, each having one or
more variables.

For example, the two equations together is called a system of two linear equations.

x  y  3z  5
2 x  2 y  z  1

Any solution of the system must satisfy each equation of the system.

For example, let’s consider the system below

x1  2 x2  4 (1)
3x1  2 x2  5 (2)

If x1  2, x2  1 , then although equation (1) is satisfied, equation (2) is not.

So we need to look for a solution set that satisfies all equations of a linear system.

2.2 Number of solutions of a system of linear equations.

A solution of a system of linear equations consists of values of variables that are present in the
equations. If there is at least one solution then the system is said to be consistent otherwise
inconsistent. The system could have either no solution, exactly one solution, or an infinite
number of solutions. Let’s look at each case.

No Solution

The systems have no solution when the lines are parallel. They have no common points, and the
system is called an Inconsistent system.

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Example 1:

Sketch the graphs of the following equations:

x  y 1
x  y  2.

Solution

1
2
1 x

Exactly one solution:

The system has exactly one solution when the lines do intersect and have one common point.
The system is Consistent and the equations are independent,

Example 2

Sketch the graphs of the following equations.

x y 3
x  y  1

Solution: y

(1, 2)
1

-1 3 x

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Infinitely many solutions:

The system has infinitely many solutions when the lines are Coincident. There are many
common points and the equations are dependent.

Example 3: Sketch the graphs of the following equations.

x  y 3
2 x  2 y  6

Solution:
y

3 x

Example 4:

Determine values of a and c so that the system

ax  2 y  1 (1)

x  y  c (2)

has:

(i) unique solution;

(ii) infinitely many solutions;

(iii) no solutions.

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Solution

First we need to express each equation in the slope-intercept form. For equation (1) we
have
a 1
y  x .
2 2
a 1
This implies that the slope is and the y-intercept is  . For equation (2) we have
2 2
y  x  c

and therefore the slope is 1 while the y-intercept is c.

(i) For the system to have exactly one solution or unique solution, each line should
intersect and therefore should have different slopes. Hence

a
1  and so a  -2.
2

Since the y-intercept for both lines can be either the same or not then c can have any
value.

(ii) For the system to have infinite many solutions the equations should be dependent,
that is, they should have exactly the same slope and y-intercept.

a 1
1  , a  2 and so c   .
2 2

(iii) For the system to have no solution, the two lines should be parallel, that is the
slope are the same but the y-intercept should be different, so
1
a  2, and c   .
2

2.3 Solving systems of linear equations

There are many techniques of solving systems of linear equations. These include graphical
method, algebraic method and elementary row operation. However in this context, we will be
dealing with algebraic method only.

Algebraic method is where algebraic operations are performed on linear equations to yield an
equation with only one variable and then solve the new equation.

There are two algebraic methods to study and these are Substitution and Elimination Methods.

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Substitution Method

Summary of Steps

1 Make one variable the subject, for one of the equations.

2 Substitute the resultant equation in the remaining equations.

3 If we obtain an equation with only one variable, solve it. Otherwise, repeat steps
1 and 2 until such an equation is obtained.

4 Find the values of the remaining variables by back-substitution.

5 Check the solution.

Example 5:
2 x  3 y  3 (1)
Solve 
 x  y  4 (2)

Solution

Step 1: Making y the subject of equation (2) we have

y  x  4.
Step 2: We substitute this result in equation (1) and simplify, we have
2 x  3( x  4)  3
Step 3: 2 x  3 x  12  3
5 x  15
x  3.
Step 4: Knowing x  3, we can find y from the equation
y  x  4  3  4  1.
2(3)  3(1)  3
Step 5: Check 
(1)  3  4

The solution of the system is x  3, y  1.

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Elimination Method

The second method is called Elimination method. It is preferable over Substitution if substitution
leads to fractions or the system contains more than two variables. The main idea in elimination is
to replace the original system of equations by an equivalent system so that adding two of the
equations eliminates a variable. The rules for obtaining any two equivalent equations are shown
below.

Equation Operations Producing Equivalent Systems

Theorem: A system of linear equations is transformed into an equivalent system if:

(1) Two equations are interchanged.

(2) An equation is multiplied by a nonzero constant.
(3) A constant multiple of one equation is added to another equation.

Equivalent systems of equations are systems that have the same solution set.

Summary of Steps

1 Select two equations from the system and eliminate a variable from them.

2 If there are additional equations in the system, pair off equations and eliminate
the same variable from them.

3 Continue steps 1 and 2 on successive systems until one equation containing one
variable remains

4 Solve for this variable and back-substitute in previous equations until all the
variables have been found.

Example 6.
2 x  3 y  1 (1)
Solve 
 x  y  3 (2)

Solution

Multiply equation (2) by 2 so that the coefficient of x in both equations have the same
value but different signs. The result is the equivalent system:

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 2 x  3 y  1 (3)

2 x  2 y  6 (4)

Lets replace Equation (4) by the sum of the two equations (3) and (4) to obtain
2 x  3 y  1 (5)

5 y  5. (6)

We can now solve equation (6) because it contains just the variable y and we obtain
 5 y  5
y  1.

We back substitute this value of y into equation (5)

2 x - 3(1)  1
2x  4
x2

The solution of the original system is x  2, y  1.

Example 7

Solve the following by substitution.

 y  36  9 x (1)

 y
3x  3  12 (2)

Substitute (1) into (2)

1
3x  (36  9 x)  12
3
3x  12  3x  12
12  12

This result does not give a value of either y nor x . However it gives a true statement.

It implies that the system is dependent and that there are many solutions.

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Example 8

Solve the following system by substitution.

7 x  2 y  16 (1)

21x  6 y  24 (2)

Solution

Let’s solve for y in equation (1).

7 x  2 y  16
2 y  7 x  16
7
y   x8
2

Substitute the value of y in every y in equation (2), and we get

7
21x  6( x  8)  24
2
21x  21x  48  24
48  24

In this case the answer is nonsense which implies that the system of equations is inconsistence
and therefore there are no solutions for the system.

Fractional Systems of Equations

Systems may contain fractional coefficients, for instance,

 x y
   1 (1)
2 3

 x y
  1 (2)
 3 6

To solve the system we need to manipulate the two equations and convert them to those with
whole number coefficients. We multiply the entire equation having the fractions by the Lowest
Common Denominator (LCD). The LCD for equation (1) is 6 and 6 for equation (2) as well.

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We should get
 3x  2 y  6 (3)

 2x  y  6 (4)

after multiplying 6 to both equations (1) and (2). Then we proceed as outlined in the previous
algebraic methods.

We should now be familiar with the substitution and elimination method of solving a system of
two linear equations in two variables.
Next, let us look at how to approach a word problem.

There are several approach and techniques that can be used to solve a word problem. In this text
we will use a Five-Step approach listed below.

Five-Step Approach.

1 Define the variables that you want to find.

2 Find the equations .
3 Solve the equations using either substitution or elimination method.
4 Checking .
5 Relate the solution to the question.

Example 9.
A restaurant manager wants to purchase 400 sets of dishes. One design costs $25 per set,
while another costs $50 per set. If he only has $8000 to spend, how much of each design
should he order?

Solution
Read the question many times until it starts to make sense to you. Scribble any
information given to help you understand the question, such as:

400 sets of dishes

$25-Design cost $25 per dish
$50-Design cost $50 per dish
Total amount to spend is $8000

Read the statement or question which asks you to find the answer: how much of each
design should be ordered? Read this several times.

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 The question is asking you to find the number of dishes of design A and of design B.

Step 1: Define the variables that you want to find.

In this case,
Let x be the number of dishes of a $25-design dish, and y be the number of dishes
of a $50-design.

Step 2: Find the equations.

The manager wants 200 sets of dishes which contains x number of $25-design
and y number of $50-design. So the first equation is
x  y  200.

The second equation involves the cost.

Total cost for Total cost for Total amount to

+ =
x number of y number of spend
$25-design $50-design

x  $25 y  $50 $8000

+ =

So the second equation is 25x  50 y  8000.

The difficult part is now over. We have defined the two variables and the two
equations.

Step 3: Now, we need to solve these 2 linear equations (either by substitution or

elimination method.)
x  y  200 (1)
25 x  50 y  8000 (2)
Solving by elimination.

Multiply -25 to equation (1) and add to equation (2).

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 25 x  25 y  5000
25 x  50 y  8000

we get 25 y  3000
y  120.

Substituting this y into the second equation

25x  50 y  8000

we obtain
25 x  50(120)  8000
25 x  2000
x  80.

So x  80 and y  120.

Step 4: Check
x  y  200
80  120  200
200  200

25 x  50 y  8000
25(80)  50(120)  8000
2000  6000  8000
8000  8000

Hence, if we have written our 2 equations correctly we can be confident that our
solution is correct.

Step 5: Relate the solution to the equation. Look back at the question and ask yourself
does it make sense?

The question was asking how much of each design should be ordered.
Since
x  80 and y  120
where

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 x  the number of dishes of a $25-design
y  the number of dishes of $50-design.

So the manager should order 80 dishes of a $25-design and 120 dishes of a $50-
design.

You should approach all word problems in the same way as in this example.

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TUTORIAL 2
1. Decide whether the values of the variables listed are the solutions of the system of
equations.

(a)

(b)

2. State whether the system of equations are consistent or inconsistent.

(a)

(b)

(c)

3. Solve the following system of linear equations by elimination.

2m  n  12

2m  5n  20

4. Solve the following system of linear equations by substitution.

1 1
 2 m  3 n  3

 1 m  2 n  1
 4 3

5. The John family’s farm has 50 acres of land to raise pineapple and dalo. The cost for
planting pineapple was $150 per acre and the cost of planting dalo was $100 per acre. Mr
John has a budget of $7,000 for planting these crops. If Mr John wishes to use all the land
and all the money he budgeted, how many acres of each crop should he plant?

6. Village 6 Damodar, a movie theater in Suva charges adult for $6.50 and children for $5.
On a day when 300 people paid admission, the total receipts were $1,800. How many
were adults and how many were children?

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7. Billy has $150,000 to invest. He requires a return on his investments of $12,000 per year.
As his financial consultant, you recommend he invest some money in the Bank
Certificate that yield 5%, and some in the junk bonds that yield 10%. Find the amount of
each investment.

8. A movie theater sells 2 medium popcorns and 4 large coca-cola (coke) for $19.95. Two
large cokes costs $1 more than one medium popcorn. What is the cost of a medium
popcorn and large coca-cola?

9. Two investments are made totaling $90,000. In one year the first investment yields a
profit of 5% whereas the second yields a profit of 12%. Total profit for this year is
$10,000. Find the amount initially put into each investment.

10. A company produces two items A and B. Each unit of A requires 2 people in production
and 1 person in packaging (each day). Each unit of B requires 4 people in production and
5 people in packaging. How many units of each item must be produced per day to keep
70 people in production and 65 people in packaging employed?

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