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Fundamentals of Matrix Algebra, 2011a

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1.4 Existence and Uniqueness <strong>of</strong> Soluons<br />

Look also at the reduced matrix in Example 9. There were two leading 1s in that<br />

matrix; one corresponded to x 1 and the other to x 2 . This meant that x 1 and x 2 were<br />

not free variables; since there was not a leading 1 that corresponded to x 3 , it was a<br />

free variable.<br />

We formally define this and a few other terms in this following definion.<br />

.<br />

Ḋefinion 6<br />

Dependent and Independent Variables<br />

Consider the reduced row echelon form <strong>of</strong> an augmented<br />

matrix <strong>of</strong> a linear system <strong>of</strong> equaons. Then:<br />

.<br />

a variable that corresponds to a leading 1 is a basic, or<br />

dependent, variable, and<br />

a variable that does not correspond to a leading 1 is a free,<br />

or independent, variable.<br />

One can probably see that “free” and “independent” are relavely synonymous. It<br />

follows that if a variable is not independent, it must be dependent; the word “basic”<br />

comes from connecons to other areas <strong>of</strong> mathemacs that we won’t explore here.<br />

These definions help us understand when a consistent system <strong>of</strong> linear equaons<br />

will have infinite soluons. If there are no free variables, then there is exactly one<br />

soluon; if there are any free variables, there are infinite soluons.<br />

.<br />

Consistent Soluon Types<br />

. Key Idea 2<br />

.<br />

A consistent linear system <strong>of</strong> equaons will have exactly<br />

one soluon if and only if there is a leading 1 for each<br />

variable in the system.<br />

If a consistent linear system <strong>of</strong> equaons has a free variable,<br />

it has infinite soluons.<br />

If a consistent linear system has more variables than leading<br />

1s, then the system will have infinite soluons.<br />

A consistent linear system with more variables than equa-<br />

ons will always have infinite soluons.<br />

Note: Key Idea 2 applies only to consistent systems. If a system is inconsistent,<br />

27

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