National Institute of Technology Calicut

Department of Mathematics
MA1012E - Mathematics-II
Winter Semester 2024-2025 Tutorial - 8

Gauss elimination method, row echelon form, row space, row rank, existence
and uniqueness, homogeneous system, Linear independence and span of row
vectors, Linearly independent solutions, rank-nullity relation for homogeneous
linear system

1. Using Gauss elimination method, solve the following system of linear equations:

(a) x + y + z = 6, 2x − y + z = 3, x + z = 4.
(b) x + y + z = 6, 2x − y + z = 3, x + z = 4, 2x + y + z = 7.
(c) x + y + z = 6, 2x − y + z = 3, x + z = 4, 2x + y + z = 8.

2. Prove that the system 3x + 4y + 5z = a, 4x + 5y + 6z = b, 5x + 6y + 7z = c does not

have a solution unless a + c = 2b.

3. The height, y, of an object thrown into the air is known to be given by a quadratic
function of t (time) of the form y = at2 + bt + c. If the object is at height y = 23
4 at
1
time t = 2 , at y = 7 at time t = 1, and at y = 2 at t = 2, determine the coefficients
a, b, and c.

4. Prove that regardless of the number of unknowns its equations contain, a linear system
will have either no solutions, exactly one solution, or infinitely many solutions.

5. Which of the following matrices are in row echelon form? Which are in reduced row
echelon form?
 
        0 0 0 0
1 3 5 2 0 0 1 0 2 3 1 1 0 1 
 1 0 0 0
2 3 0 , 0 2 0 , 0 1 2 0 , 0 0 0 1 , 
       

0 1 0 0
1 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1
0 0 0 1

6. Reduce following matrices to echelon form and then to reduced row echelon form
   
1 2 −1 2 1 2 3 −2 5 1
2 4 1 −2 3 , 3 −1 2 0 4
   
3 6 2 −6 5 4 −5 6 −5 7

7. Using elementary row operations, determine the ranks of the following matrices
 
  1 2 3 4
2 0 −1 
 2 3 4 5
5 1 0  , 
 

1 11 15 19
0 1 3
9 15 21 27
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8. Find the rank, a basis for the row space, and a basis for the column space for
   
0 3 5 6 −4 0
3 5 0  , −4 0 2
   
5 0 10 0 2 6

9. By using Gaussian elimination method, balance the following chemical reaction equations
C2 H6 + O2 → H2 O + CO2 .
P4 O10 + H2 O → H3 P O4 .
 
1 2 −3
10. Solve the homogeneous system Ax = 0, where A is given by 1 1 −1 .
 
2 3 −4

11. Solve the following systems of homogeneous equations

(a) 3x + 2y + 7z = 0, 4x − 3y − 2z = 0, 5x + 9y + 23z = 0.
(b) 2x + 3y − z = 0, x − y − 2z = 0, 3x + y + 3z = 0.

12. Determine the values of λ and µ for which the system of equations
x + 2y + z = 6, x + 4y + 3z = 10, x + 4y + λz = µ has

(a) a unique solution.

(b) infinitely many solutions.
(c) no solution.

13. Show that the following homogeneous system has nontrivial solutions
x − y + 2z − w = 0, 2x + 2y + w = 0, 3x + y + 2z − w = 0.

14. Determine whether each system has a nonzero solution

(a) x + 3y − 2z = 0, x − 8y + 8z = 0, 3x − 2y + 4z = 0.
(b) x + 3y − 2z = 0, 2x − 3y + z = 0, 3x − 2y + 2z = 0.

15. Find all values of α for which the system has nontrivial solutions and determine all
solutions
x − 2y + z = 0, x + αy − 3z = 0, −x + 6y − 5z = 0.

16. Find all values of k for which the given linear system is consistent

(a) x − 3y + 2z = 1; 2x − 2y = k 2 ; 3x − 5y + z = 0; −2x + 8y + 4z = 49.

(b) 3x − 6y + 2z − 5w = 3 − k; 2x − y + 2z = 1 − k; 2x − y + z − 2w = 1; x − 2y + z − 2w =
1; x + 2y − 2z + w = −2.

17. Test whether the following row vectors are linearly independent

(a) (2, 2, 1), (1, −1, 1), (1, 0, 1)

(b) (1, 3, 4), (1, 1, 0), (1, 4, 2), (1, −2, 1).

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18. (a) If x = (1, 2, 3, 4, 5), z = (−1, 0, −4, 1, 2) find y in R5 such that 2x + (−3)y = −z.
(b) If x = (−3, 9, 9), y = (3, 0, −5), find z such that 4x − y + 2z = 0.

19. Show that the vectors x + y, y + z, and z + x are linearly independent given that x, y, z
are linearly independent.

20. Find a if the vectors (1, −1, 3), (1, 2, −3), and (a, 0, 1) are linearly dependent.

21. Show that rank(A) = rank(B) does not imply rank(A2 ) = rank(B 2 ). Give a counterexample.

22. If A, B, C are n × n matrices, prove

(a) If rank(A) = n and AB = AC, then B = C.

(b) If rank(A) = n, then AB = 0 implies B = 0. Hence if AB = 0, but A ̸= 0 as well as
B ̸= 0, then rank(A) < n and rank(B) < n.
(c) If A is singular, so are BA and AB.
     
1 1 1
23. For which values of c is  c  a linear combination of 2 and 3?
     
c2 4 9

24. Determine the values of λ for which the following systems have nontrivial solutions:

(a) (1 − λ)x1 + 2x2 = 0, 3x1 + (2 − λ)x2 = 0.

(b) (5 − λ)x1 + 4x2 − 2x3 = 0, 4x1 + (5 − λ)x2 − 2x3 = 0, −2x1 − 2x2 + (3 − 2λ)x3 = 0.

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