Systems of Linear Equations Reviewer

by Lance Dy Chua

1 Using Elimination
A System of Linear Equation is a collection of one or more linear equations involv-
ing the same variables. Problems involving a System of Linear Equations often
have multiple unknowns. For example:
(
5x − 2y = 7
−2x + y = 3

One way to solve for x and y is by elimination. You can’t solve for both unknowns
at the same time, so we would need to multiply each equation such that either x
or y will be canceled, then we can deal with the remaining unknown. That should
look something like this:
( ( (
1 5
5x − 2y = 7 (5x − 2y = 7) x − y = 27
=⇒ 2 =⇒ 2
−2x + y = 3 −2x + y = 3 −2x + y = 3

Now that we have a −y and +y that will cancel out, we can combine the two
equations and focus on solving for the x unknown.
5 7
−y
( x
Z) + (−2xZ
+y
) = + 3
2 Z Z 2

x 13
∴ =
2 2

=⇒ x = 13

Now that we have solved for the y, we can do the same thing to solve for x,
cancelling the y term and combining the equations to solve for x.

1
Page 2 Handout

( ( (
5x − 2y = 7 2(5x − 2y = 7) 10x − 4y = 14
=⇒ =⇒
−2x + y = 3 5(−2x + y = 3) −10x + 5y = 15
Now that we have a −10x and +10x that will cancel out, we can combine the two
equations and focus on solving for the y unknown.

(H
10x −10x
H − 4y) + ( X + 5y) = 14 + 15
 X
X


∴ 5y − 4y = 29

=⇒ y = 29

5x − 2y = 7 −2x + y = 3
5(13) − 2(29) = 7 −2(13) + 29 = 3
65 − 58 = 7 −26 + 29 = 3
7 = 7✓ 3 = 3✓

And that’s it! Remember that this is only one of the methods to solve a System of
Linear Equations, but this is definitely the most obvious solution.
Page 3 Handout

Here we can see the graph of both equations 5x − 2y = 7 and −2x + y = 3. When
they meet is when they have the same exact input (x), and the same output (y).
Page 4 Handout

2 Using Substitution
This method is similar to the first one, but instead of multiplying the equation such
that a term cancels out when combined, we isolate the equation and solve for the
unknown in terms of the other unknown.

( 5x − 7
5x − 2y = 7 − 2x + =3
2
−2x + y = 3 5x − 7
=⇒ (2
)(−2x + ) = (2)(3)
2

=⇒ 5x − 2y = 7 =⇒ 5x − 4x − 7 = 6
5x − 7 =⇒ x−7=6
=⇒ y =
2 =⇒ x = 13

( 2y + 7
5x − 2y = 7 − 2( )+y =3
5
−2x + y = 3 −4y − 14
=⇒ (5
)[( ) + y] = (5)(3)
5

=⇒ 5x − 2y = 7 =⇒ − 4y + 5y − 14 = 15
2y + 7 =⇒ y = 29
=⇒ x =
5 =⇒ y = 29

We can see the two main methods (substitution and elimination) that both deal
with the equation by cancelling out one of the unknown terms in order to deal
with the other one. The next method uses Cramer’s rule, matrices and determi-
nants. A matrix is simply put a collection of numbers; it has collumns and rows.
In two dimentions, the determinant is simply the scale factor for the ”area” of a
parallelogram with the dimentions in the matrix.
Page 5 Handout

3 Using Cramer’s Rule

This method is a little bit more intricate, but it can be faster once you know the
general idea. First, we must write the coefficients of x and y in a matrix which
we will call A, and we must write the constant of equation one and two in a 1x2
matrix. This is just optional if you want a faster method.
(    
5x − 2y = 7 5 2 7
=⇒ A = , B=
−2x + y = 3 −2 1 3

We can then express this System of Linear Equations as in the form of matrix
multiplication and this equation still holds:

   
5x − 2y 7
=
−2x + y 3
    
5 −2 x 7
=
−2 1 y 3

To solve for x and y, we can use Cramer’s Rule that states:

Dx Dy
x= , y=
D D

where D is a determinant. We can solve for these determinants using these for-
mulas, where we replace the coefficients for x in matrix A with the values of 1x2
matrix C, and do the same thing for y.

a1 b 1 c 1 b1 a1 c 1
D= Dx = Dy =
a2 b 2 c 2 b2 a2 c 2

Now let’s implement these using the matrices in this example:

Page 6 Handout

5 −2 7 −2 5 7
D= Dx = Dy =
−2 1 3 1 −2 3

D = (5)(1) − (−2)(−2) Dx = (7)(1) − (−2)(3) Dy = (5)(3) − (7)(−2)

D =5−4 Dx = 7 + 6 Dy = 15 + 14
D=1 Dx = 13 Dy = 29

Dx Dy
x= y=
D D
13 29
x= y=
1 1
x = 13 y = 29

It looks complicated but from here we can derive a formula for a System of Linear
Equations with two equations:

( Dx Dy
a1 x + b1 y = c1 x= y=
D D
a2 x + b2 y = c2 c 1 b2 − b1 c 2 a1 c 2 − c 1 a2
= =
a1 b 2 − b 1 a2 a1 b 2 − b 1 a2
Here’s how this formula can be used to solve the equation:

c 1 b2 − b1 c 2 a1 c 2 − c 1 a2
x= y=
a1 b 2 − b 1 a2 a1 b2 − b1 a2
(7)(1) − (−2)(3) (5)(3) − (7)(−2)
= =
(5)(1) − (−2)(−2) (5)(1) − (−2)(−2)
7+6 15 + 14
= =
5−4 5−4
13 29
= =
1 1
= 13✓ = 29✓