1 Linear Equations

in Linear Algebra
1.4
THE MATRIX EQUATION Ax  b

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MATRIX EQUATION Ax  b
 Definition:
  If A is an m  n matrix, with columns a1,
…, an, and if x is in , then the product ofA and x,
denoted by Ax, is the linear combination of the
columns ofAusing the corresponding entries in x as
weights; that is,
 x1 
x 
Ax   a1 a 2  an   2
  x1a1  x2 a 2  ...  xn a n.
 
x 
 n
 Note that Ax is defined only if the number of columns
of A equals the number of entries in x.
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MATRIX EQUATION Ax  b

 Example
  2: For v1, v2, v3 in , write the linear
combination 3v1  5v 2  7v3 as a matrix times a
vector.
 Solution: Place v1, v2, v3 into the columns of a matrix
A and place the weights 3, 5 , and 7 into a vector x.
 That is,  3
3v1  5v 2  7v3   v1 v2 v3   5   Ax
  .
 7 

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MATRIX EQUATION Ax  b

 Now, write the system of linear equations as a vector

equation involving a linear combination of vectors.
 For example, the following system
x1  2 x2  x3  4 (1)
5 x2  3 x3  1
is equivalent to

 1  2  1  4 .
x1    x2    x3      (2)
0   5  3  1

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MATRIX EQUATION Ax  b

 As in the example, the linear combination on the left

side is a matrix times a vector, so that (2) becomes

 x1 
 1 2 1    4 . (3)
0 5 3  x2    1
   
 x3 
 Equation (3) has the form Ax  b. Such an equation
is called a matrix equation, to distinguish it from a
vector equation such as shown in (2).

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MATRIX EQUATION Ax  b

THEOREM 3
 If A is an matrix, with columns a1, …, an, and if b is in
, then the matrix equation
Ax = b
has the same solution set as the vector equation

which, in turn, has the same solution set as the system

of linear equations whose augmented matrix is
[ b]

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EXISTENCE OF SOLUTIONS
 The equation Ax  b has a solution if and only if b
is a linear combination of the columns of A.
THEOREM 4
 Let A be an matrix. Then the following statements are
logically equivalent. That is, for a particular A, either they
are all true statements or they are all false.
a. For each bin , the equation Ax=b has a solution.
b. Each bin is a linear combination of the columns
of A.
c. The columns of A span .
d. A has a pivot position in every row.

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 COMPUTATION OF Ax
 2 3 4

 Example 4: Compute Ax, where A  1 5 3 
 
 x1   6 2 8

and x  x2 . 
 
 x3 
 Solution: From the definition,

 2 3 4   x1   2  3  4
 1 5 3  x   x  1  x  5  x  3
  2 1  2   3  
 6 2 8  x3   6   2   8
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COMPUTATION OF Ax
 2 x1   3 x2   4 x3 
   
  x1  5 x2  3x3 (1)  
     
 6 x1   2 x2   8 x3 
 2 x1  3 x2  4 x3 
   x1  5 x2  3 x3 
 
 6 x1  2 x2  8 x3  .
 The first entry in the product Ax is a sum of products
(sometimes called a dot product), using the first row
of A and the entries in x.
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COMPUTATION OF Ax
 2 3 4   x1   2 x1  3 x2  4 x3 
 That is,   x    .
  2  
   x3   
 Similarly, the second entry in Ax can be calculated by
multiplying the entries in the second row of A by the
corresponding entries in x and then summing the
resulting products.
   x1   
 1 5 3  x     x  5 x  3 x 
  2  1 2 3

   x3   
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ROW-VECTOR RULE FOR COMPUTING Ax

 Likewise, the third entry in Ax can be calculated from

the third row of A and the entries in x.
 If the product Ax is defined, then the ith entry in Ax is
the sum of the products of corresponding entries from
row i of A and from the vector x.
 The matrix with 1’s on the diagonal and 0’s elsewhere
is called an identity matrix and is denoted by I.
 1 0 0
 For example,  0 1 0  is an identity matrix.
 
 0 0 1
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PROPERTIES OF THE MATRIX-VECTOR PRODUCT Ax

   Theorem 5: If A is an m  n matrix, u and v are

vectors in , and c is a scalar, then
A(u  v)  Au  Av;
a. A(cu)  c( Au).
 Proof: For simplicity, take n  3, A  a1 a 2 a 3 ,
and u, v in .
 For i  1,2,3, let ui and vi be the ith entries in u and
v, respectively.

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PROPERTIES OF THE MATRIX-VECTOR PRODUCT Ax

THEOREM 5

 If A is an matrix, u and v are vectors in, and c is a scalar,

then
a. A(u + v) = Au + Av;
b. A(cu) = c(Au).

  Proof: For simplicity, take n = 3, A = [a1 a2 a3], and

u, vin .
 For i = 1, 2, 3, let ui and vi be the ith entries in u and
v, respectively.
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PROPERTIES OF THE MATRIX-VECTOR PRODUCT
Ax
 To prove statement (a), compute A(u  v) as a linear
combination of the columns of A using the entries in
u  v as weights.
 u1  v1 
A(u  v)   a 1 a 2 a 3  u2  v2 
 
 u3  v3 
Entries in u  v
 (u1  v1 )a1  (u2  v2 )a 2  (u3  v3 )a 3
Columns of A
 (u1a1  u2 a 2  u3a 3 )  (v1a1  v2 a 2  v3a 3 )
 Au  Av
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PROPERTIES OF THE MATRIX-VECTOR PRODUCT Ax

 To prove statement (b), compute A(cu) as a linear

combination of the columns of A using the entries in cu as
weights.
 cu1 
A(cu)   a1 a 2 a 3  cu2   (cu1 )a1  (cu2 )a 2  (cu3 )a 3
 
 cu3 
 c(u1a1 )  c(u2a 2 )  c(u3a 3 )
 c(u1a1  u2a 2  u3a 3 )
 c( Au)
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