Linear Algebra through Matrices; Lecture 04A, 05 April

Department of Mathematics and Statistics Indian Institute of Technology - Kanpur

Row Echelon Form (REF)

1 Row Echelon Form (REF)

In one of the previous classes, we had solved a system of linear equations and obtained corresponding
augmented matrices. So, let us discuss such an example.

Example 1.1. Solve the linear system x + y + z = 4, 2x + 3z = 5, y + z = 3.

 
1 1 1 4
 
Solution: Let B0 = [A | b] = 
2 0 3 5 be the augmented matrix. Then

0 1 1 3

1. The given system looks like (correspond to the augment matrix B0 ).

 
x+y+z =4 1 1 1 4
 
2x + 3z = 5 B0 = 
 2 0 3 5 .

y+z =3 0 1 1 3

2. In the new system, replace 2-nd equation by 2-nd equation minus 2 times the 1-st equation
(replace B0 [2, :] by B0 [2, :] − 2 · B0 [1, :] to get B1 ).
    
x+y+z = 4 1 0 0 1 1 1 4 1 1 1 4
    
−2y + z = −3 B1 = −2 1 0 2
   0 3 5=0
 -2 .
1 −3
y+z = 3 0 0 1 0 1 1 3 0 1 1 3

3. In the new system, replace 3-rd equation by 3-rd equation plus 1/2 times the 2-nd equation
(replace B1 [3, :] by B1 [3, :] + 1/2 · B1 [2, :] to get B2 ).
    
x+y+z = 4 1 0 0 1 1 1 4 1 1 1 4
−2y + z = −3
    
B2 = 
0 1 0 0
 -2 =0
1 −3  -2 1 −3 
.
3 3
z= 0 1/2 1 0 1 1 3 0 0 3/2 3/2
2 2
Now, note that the third equation givesz = 1. Substituting it in the second equation leads to
y = 2 and then the first equation gives x = 1.

Note that B2 corresponds to the last system of linear equations which helped us to get the solution
set (x, y, z)T = (1, 2, 1)T . Further,
 the two
 matrices
 which were
 multiplied
on the left of B0 and
1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0
     
B1 are invertible matrices as −2 1 02 1 0 = I3 and 1 0 00
      1 0 = I3 .
0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1/2 1 0 −1/2 1
 2

These matrices were obtained by changing exactly one row of the identity matrix and this row
change in the identity matrix corresponds to a similar operation on the corresponding equation of
the linear system. We now define some of the terms that have come up in the above discussion.

Definition 1.2. Let A be a nonzero matrix. Then, in each nonzero row of A, the left most nonzero
entry is called a pivot/leading entry. The column containing the pivot is called a pivotal
column. If aij is a pivot then we denote it by aij . Note that 0 cannot be a pivot entry.
 
0 3 4 2
 
In 
0 0 0 , a12 and a23 are pivots and the pivotal columns are 2-nd and 3-rd.
0
0 0 2 1

Definition 1.3. A matrix is in row echelon form (REF) (ladder like/staircase)

1. if the zero rows are at the bottom;

2. if the pivot of the (i + 1)-th row, if it exists, comes to the right of the pivot of the i-th row.

3. if the entries below the pivot in a pivotal column are 0.

Example 1.4. 1. The following matrices are in echelon form. 
      1 2 5  
0 2 4 2 0 1 2 1 1 1 0 2 3   1 0 0
      0 2 6   
, 0 0 ,  0 0 0 3 ,  0
 and  0
.
0 0 1 1  1 1  4  1 0
 0 1  
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1
 
0 0 0
2. The
 following matrices
 are not in echelon 
form (determine the rule(s) that fail).
0 1 4 2 1 1 0 2 3
   
 and  0 .
0 0 0 0  0 0 0 1

0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 4