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LINEAR ALGEBRA
LINEAR EQUATION SYSTEMS AND MATRICES III

Mechatronics Engineering
Prof. Dr. Namık Yener

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 LINEAR EQUATION SYSTEMS AND MATRICES III

FUNDAMENTAL THEOREM. Suppose we are given a set of 𝑚

linear equations in 𝑛 unknowns. Let the rank of the coefficient
matrix be 𝑟, and let the rank of the augmented matrix be 𝑟′. If
𝑟 ′ > 𝑟, the equations have no solution. If 𝑟 = 𝑟 ′ = 𝑛, there is
one and only one (unique) solution. If 𝑟 = 𝑟 ′ < 𝑛, we may give
arbitrary values to 𝑛 − 𝑟 of the unknowns and express the others
in terms of these (infinite number of solutions).

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Example:

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Here 𝑛 = 3, 𝑟 = 3, 𝑟 ′ = 3. 𝑟 = 𝑟 ′ = 𝑛 Unique solution. 8
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Definition: The number of nonzero rows in row echelon form of
a matrix is called the rank of a matrix

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Example :

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Here 𝑟 = 2 = 𝑟 ′ < 𝑛 = 4 𝑛 − 𝑟=2 unknowns are arbitrary. 13
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Here 𝑟 = 2, 𝑟 ′ = 3, 𝑟 < 𝑟′ Hence no solution exists.

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𝑟 = 2 = r ′ < n = 3 𝑛 − 𝑟 = 1 unknown arbitrary

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𝑟 = 𝑟′ = 3 = 𝑛 One and only one (unique) solution
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