DQ 1 System of Equations

Substitution Pros It is easy when you have 2 equations in which one of the equations is already in terms of one variable It requires just simple algebraic steps to solve 2 equations and find the answer Cons May be a pain when the equations are in such a way that putting it in terms of the other variable would take time and would have nasty numbers and decimals Substitution can take a long time, especially when the equations are big

Elimination (linear combination) Pros It is really easy when the equations are in such a way that multiplying one equation by a integer will result in an equation that will work perfectly with the other equation with the elimination method It is really quick and simple, as soon as you get the value of on variable, plug it in one of the equations and youll find the other variables value! Cons Sometimes elimination is not the best idea because the equations are in a way that it should be solved using substitution. So, you would have to turn it from an equation that is in terms of one variable into an equation where both variables are on one side Finding a number to multiply one of the equations by to make elimination work could be a pain, maybe its better to use substitution in that case

I personally like Substitution better because substitution requires just simple algebraic steps and it very easy unlike elimination and which you have to find a number to multiply the equation(s) by to have the elimination method work. Substitution is much easier to use when solving systems of equations with 3 variables. Using substitution to solve 3 variable systems, you can use substation and result with 2 equations with 2 similar variables, and then use substitution on those equations to get one answer, then plug it in and use substitution again, and then plug in the second value to get the 3rd value. In circumstances where substitution and elimination would both be a pain because of crazy decimals and fractions, I would use graphing. I would graph the equations using the intercepts and try to make it perfect. Then Id find the intersection between each line and the ordered pair would be my solution! Substitution Example:

Find the ordered pair solution Now, we can substitute 2y + 3 for x.

Now, we can plug in 1 for y and get x. ( ) The ordered pair is (5, 1) Lets perform a check with the second equation. ( ) ( )

The solutions work! Elimination Example:

Find the solutions So first, we want to get rid of one of the variables. If we multiply the top by -2, we can remove the x. ( Now, we can add them together. ) ( )

Add them together.

Now plug it back into the first or second equation. ( )

The solutions are: X= 16.5 Y = -7 Lets perform a check:

Lets perform a check with the other equation: ( ) ( )

The solutions work!