Scribd
Upload
45 views

Practice Class 1: Systems of Linear Equations

This document provides practice exercises on solving systems of linear equations. After completing the practice class, students should be able to solve systems of linear equations using augmented matrices and Gaussian elimination, recognize row echelon and reduced row echelon form, and identify when a system has 0, 1, or infinitely many solutions. The document contains 13 exercises of varying difficulty on working with systems of linear equations.

Uploaded by

Bean
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
45 views

Practice Class 1: Systems of Linear Equations

This document provides practice exercises on solving systems of linear equations. After completing the practice class, students should be able to solve systems of linear equations using augmented matrices and Gaussian elimination, recognize row echelon and reduced row echelon form, and identify when a system has 0, 1, or infinitely many solutions. The document contains 13 exercises of varying difficulty on working with systems of linear equations.

Uploaded by

Bean
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

MATH1012 (Semester 2, 2018)

Practice Class 1: Systems of Linear Equations

This week’s concepts, methods and goals

After completing this practice class, you should be able to:


• Solve a system of linear equations (SLE) in several variables using augmented
matrices, Gaussian elimination and back-substitution or Gauss-Jordan elimination.
• recognise when a matrix is in row echelon form or reduced row-echelon form.
• Identify when an SLE has 0, 1 or infinitely many solutions, and in the “infinite
solutions” case, express the solution set parametrically using the non-basic variables
as parameters.

Foundation Questions
Exercise 1. Which of the following four equations are linear ?
√
x2 + 2y + 7z = 3, 2 x − 52 y = 0, x2 − 23x = 10, x + 2y = 3z
Exercise 2. What is the augmented matrix of the following system of linear equations?
3x + y + z − t = 2
x+y =3
y − 2t = 7

Exercise 3. Which of the following matrices are in reduced row-echelon form, row-echelon
form but not reduced, or neither?
   
        1 0 1 1 0 1
1 2 1 5 0 1 1 0 1 1 2 1  0 1 3   0 0 0 
1 0 2 0 1 3 0 1 3 0 1 3
0 0 0 0 1 0
Exercise 4. Write down the solution sets for each of the following SLEs:
5x + 2y = 1 5x + 2y = 1 5x + 2y = 1
−10x − 4y = 0 −10x − 3y = 1 −10x − 4y = −2

Exercise 5. For each of the systems of the previous question, draw a diagram in R2 showing
the points satisfied by each individual linear equation (e.g. 5x + 2y = 1 is a particular line in
the plane) making sure that it is consistent with your answers to the previous question.
Exercise 6. A system of linear equations has the following matrix after it has been reduced
to reduced row-echelon form:  
1 0 0 0 3
0 1 0 4 2
0 0 0 1 −1
How many solutions does this SLE have? Write out the solution set.
Exercise 7. Suppose that an SLE has 3 equations in 4 variables — is it possible to say
anything about whether this system can have 0, 1 or infinitely many solutions without more
information?
1
Exercise 8. Do any two of the following SLEs have the same solution set?
x + 2y = 5 3x − 4y = 2 5x + y = 7
2x − 3y = −4 x − 3y = −1 6x − 2y = 2

Exercise 9. Suppose that an SLE has an augmented matrix that has been reduced to row
echelon form  
1 0 2
0 k k−1
where k is some scalar (real number) whose value you do not know. For which values of k does
the system have no solutions, one solution or infinitely many solutions?
Advanced concepts
Exercise 10. Use Gauss-Jordan elimination to solve the following system:

−4x1 + 2x2 − 2x3 = 2


x1 − 3x2 − 2x3 = −3
2x1 − x2 + 3x3 = 3
Exercise 11. Suppose that an SLE has the following augmented matrix
 
1 2 0 0 1
 0 1 1 0 2 .
0 −1 0 1 2
Is this matrix in row echelon form? What is the solution of this system?
Exercise 12. For the system of linear equations,
−4x1 + 2x2 = 2
4x1 − 3x2 − 2x3 = −3
2x1 − x2 + (k − k 2 )x3 = −k
find all values of k for which the system has: (i) a unique solution, (ii) infinitely many solutions,
(iii) no solution. In the first and second cases, find all the solutions.
Exercise 13. Given a system of three equations in three variables, each equation defines
a plane in R3 . If two of the planes are parallel then there are no solutions to the system of
equations. Find a configuration of the planes with no two parallel that also implies that there
is no solution.

You might also like