Assuming the temperature at each of the intersections of the grid is the average of the

temperatures at the four adjacent points in the grid, we can find the equation of the temperature
at each location. We can come up with 4 equations with 4 unknown variables.

Equation of temperature at the location of x 1:

1
x 1= ( 40+ 0+ x 2+ x 3 )
4
x2 x 3
x 1=10+ +
4 4
4 x1 −x2 −x3 =10

Equation of temperature at the location of x 2:

1
x 2= ( x 1 +40+ 40+ x 4 )
4
x1 x4
x 2= +10+10+
4 4
4 x2 −x1 −x 4=80

Equation of temperature at the location of x 3:

1
x 3= ( 40+ x 1+ x 4 +20)
4
4 x3 =40+ x 1 + x 4 +20

−x 1+ 4 x 3−x 4 =60

Equation of temperature at the location of x 4 :

1
x 4 = ( x3 + x 2 +0+20 )
4
x3 x2
x4= + +5
4 4
4 x 4−x 3−x 2=20

Next, the equations can be rearranged and placed into an augmented matrix.
E1: 4 x1 −x2 −x3 =10

E2: −x 1 + 4 x 2−x 4=80

E3:−x 1+ 4 x 3−x 4 =60

E4:−x 2−x 3 +4 x 4 =20

4 −1 −1 0 10

[ −1 4
−1 0
0 −1 80
4 −1 60
0 −1 −1 4 20
]
-R2, R1  R2

1 −4 0 1 −8 0

[ 4 −1 −1 0
−1 0
10
4 −1 60
0 −1 −1 4 20
]
-4R1 + R2, R1 + R3

1 −4 0 1 −8 0

[ 0 15 −1 −4 330
0 −4 4
0 −1 −1 4
0 −20
20
]
-R4, R4 R2

1 −4 0 1 −8 0

[ 0 1
0 −4 4
1 −4 −20
0 −20
0 15 −1 −4 330
]
4R2 + R1, 4R2 + R3, -15R2 + R4

1 0 4 −15 −16 0

[ 0
0
0
1
0
1
8
−4 −20
−16 −100
0 −1 6 56 630
]
(1/8)R3
 1 0 4 −15 −16 0

[ 0
0
0
1
0
1
1
−4 −20
−2 −25 /2
0 −1 6 56 630
]
-4R3 + R1, -R3 + R2, 16R3 + R4

1 0 0 −7 −1 10

[ 0
0
0
1
0
0
0 −2 −15/2
1 −2 −25/2
0 24 430
]
(1/24)R4

1 0 0 −7 −110

[ 0
0
0
1
0
0
0 −2 −15/ 2
1 −2 −25/ 2
0 1 215/12
]
7R4 + R1, 2R4 + R2, 2R4 + R3

1 0 0 0 185/12

[ 0
0
0
1
0
0
0
1
0
0 85 /3
0 70 /3
1 215/12
]
We are able to find the temperatures of each of the 4 locations of the metal grid by
putting the augmented matrix in reduced row echelon form. Each of the temperatures are as
follows:
x 1 = 185/12 = 15.42°

x 2 = 85/3 = 28.33°

x 3 = 70/3 = 23.33°

x 4 = 215/12 = 17.92°