COLLEGE ALGEBRA

Practice Problems
Systems of Equations

Paul Dawkins
 College Algebra

Table of Contents

Preface ............................................................................................................................................ ii
Systems of Equations..................................................................................................................... 3
Introduction ................................................................................................................................................ 3
Linear Systems with Two Variables .......................................................................................................... 3
Linear Systems with Three Variables ........................................................................................................ 4
Augmented Matrices .................................................................................................................................. 4
More on the Augmented Matrix ................................................................................................................. 5
Non-Linear Systems ................................................................................................................................... 6

© 2007 Paul Dawkins i http://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/terms.aspx

 College Algebra

Preface

Here are a set of practice problems for my Algebra notes. If you are viewing the pdf version of
this document (as opposed to viewing it on the web) this document contains only the problems
themselves and no solutions are included in this document. Solutions can be found in a number
of places on the site.

1. If you’d like a pdf document containing the solutions go to the note page for the section
you’d like solutions for and select the download solutions link from there. Or,

2. Go to the download page for the site http://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/download.aspx and

select the section you’d like solutions for and a link will be provided there.

3. If you’d like to view the solutions on the web or solutions to an individual problem you
can go to the problem set web page, select the problem you want the solution for. At this
point I do not provide pdf versions of individual solutions, but for a particular problem
you can select “Printable View” from the “Solution Pane Options” to get a printable
version.

Note that some sections will have more problems than others and some will have more or less of
a variety of problems. Most sections should have a range of difficulty levels in the problems
although this will vary from section to section.

© 2007 Paul Dawkins ii http://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/terms.aspx

 College Algebra

Systems of Equations

Introduction
Here are a set of practice problems for the Systems of Equations chapter of my Algebra notes. If
you are viewing the pdf version of this document (as opposed to viewing it on the web) this
document contains only the problems themselves and no solutions are included in this document.
Solutions can be found in a number of places on the site.

4. If you’d like a pdf document containing the solutions go to the note page for the section
you’d like solutions for and select the download solutions link from there. Or,

5. Go to the download page for the site http://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/download.aspx and

select the section you’d like solutions for and a link will be provided there.

6. If you’d like to view the solutions on the web or solutions to an individual problem you
can go to the problem set web page, select the problem you want the solution for. At this
point I do not provide pdf versions of individual solutions, but for a particular problem
you can select “Printable View” from the “Solution Pane Options” to get a printable
version.

Note that some sections will have more problems than others and some will have more or less of
a variety of problems. Most sections should have a range of difficulty levels in the problems
although this will vary from section to section.

Here is a list of topics in this chapter that have practice problems written for them.

Linear Systems with Two Variables

Linear Systems with Three Variables
Augmented Matrices
More on the Augmented Matrix
Nonlinear Systems

Linear Systems with Two Variables

For problems 1 – 3 use the Method of Substitution to find the solution to the given system or to determine
if the system is inconsistent or dependent.

1. x − 7 y =
−11
5x + 2 y =
−18

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 College Algebra

2. 7x − 8y =
−12
−4 x + 2 y =
3

3. 3x + 9 y =
−6
−4 x − 12 y =
8

For problems 4 – 6 use the Method of Elimination to find the solution to the given system or to determine
if the system is inconsistent or dependent.

4. 6x − 5 y =8
−12 x + 2 y =
0

5. −2 x + 10 y =
2
5 x − 25 y =
3

6. 2 x + 3 y =
20
7x + 2 y =
53

Linear Systems with Three Variables

Find the solution to each of the following systems of equations.

1. 2 x + 5 y + 2 z =
−38
3x − 2 y + 4 z =17
−6 x + y − 7 z =−12

2. 3x − 9 z =33
7 x − 4 y − z =−15
4 x + 6 y + 5z =−6

Augmented Matrices

1. For the following augmented matrix perform the indicated elementary row operations.

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 College Algebra

 4 −1 3 5
 0 2 5 9
 
 −6 1 −3 10 

(a) 8R1 (b) R 2 ↔ R 3 (c) R 2 + 3R1 → R 2

2. For the following augmented matrix perform the indicated elementary row operations.

 1 −6 2 0 
 2 −8 10 4 
 
 3 −4 −1 2 

1
(a) R2 (b) R1 ↔ R 3 (c) R1 − 6 R 3 → R1
2

3. For the following augmented matrix perform the indicated elementary row operations.

10 −1 −5 1
 4 0 7 −1
 
 0 7 −2 3

(a) −9R 3 (b) R1 ↔ R 2 (c) R 3 − R1 → R 3

Note : Problems using augmented matrices to solve systems of equations are in the next section.

More on the Augmented Matrix

For each of the following systems of equations convert the system into an augmented matrix and use the
augmented matrix techniques to determine the solution to the system or to determine if the system is
inconsistent or dependent.

1. x − 7 y =
−11
5x + 2 y =
−18

2. 7x − 8y = −12
−4 x + 2 y =
3

© 2007 Paul Dawkins 5 http://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/terms.aspx

 College Algebra

3. 3x + 9 y =
−6
−4 x − 12 y =
8

4. 6x − 5 y =
8
−12 x + 2 y =
0

5 x − 25 y =
3
5.
−2 x + 10 y =
2

6. 2 x + 3 y =
20
7x + 2 y =
53

7. 2 x + 5 y + 2 z =
−38
3x − 2 y + 4 z =17
−6 x + y − 7 z =−12

8. 3x − 9 z =
33
7 x − 4 y − z =−15
4 x + 6 y + 5z =−6

Non-Linear Systems
Find the solution to each of the following system of equations.

1. y = x 2 + 6 x − 8
=
y 4x + 7

2. y = 1 − 3 x
x2
+ y2 =
1
4

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 College Algebra

3. xy = 4
x2 y 2
+ =
1
4 25

4. y = 1 − 2 x 2
y2
x2 − =
1
9

© 2007 Paul Dawkins 7 http://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/terms.aspx