Definition. Let a1 , . . . , an , b be real numbers.

An equation of the form

a1 x1 + · · · + an xn = b

is called linear equation in n variables.

The numbers a1 , . . . , an are the coefficients of the equation. The number
b is the constant term.
Definition. A finite collection
a11 x1 + a12 x2 + · · · + a1n xn = b1
a21 x1 + a22 x2 + · · · + a2n xn = b2
..
.
am1 x1 + am2 x2 + · · · + amn xn = bm

of m linear equations in variables x1 , . . . , xn is called a system of linear

equations.
The arrays
   
a11 a12 ... a1n b1
 a21 a22 ... a2n   b2 
A= . and b= . 
   
.. .. .. 
 .. . . .   .. 
am1 am2 ... amn bm

are called the coefficient matrix A and the constant matrix b of the
system.
Definition. The combined array
 
a11 a12 ... a1n b1
 a21 a22 ... a2n b2 
 
 .. .. .. .. .. 
 . . . . . 
am1 am2 ... amn bm

is called the augmented matrix of the system of linear equations.

Definition. A solution to a linear equation

a1 x1 + a2 x2 + · · · + an xn = b

is a sequence of numbers s1 , . . . , sn such that

a1 s1 + a2 s2 + · · · + an sn = b.

Definition. A solution to a system of linear equations is a sequence

s1 , . . . , sn that is a solution to each of the equations in the system.
Definition. A system of linear equations is called consistent if there exists
at least one solution.
If there exists no solution the system is called inconsistent.
Definition. Two systems of linear equations are equivalent if they have
the same set of solutions.

Definition. The following operations on a system of linear equations are

called elementary operations:
I exchanging two equations,
I multiplying an equation by a nonzero number,
I adding a multiple of an equation to a different equation.

Theorem. Suppose a sequence of elementary operations is performed on

a system of linear equations. Then the original system and the resulting
system are equivalent.
Definition. The following operations on a matrix A are called elementary
row operations:
I exchanging two rows,
I multiplying a row of A by a nonzero number k (that is, multiply
each entry in that row by k),
I adding a multiple of a row of A to a different row of A.
Definition. A matrix is in row-echelon form if it satisfies the following
conditions:
I All zero rows are at the bottom.
I The leftmost nonzero entry in each row is a 1. (Such a 1 is called
leading 1.)
I Each leading 1 appears strictly to the right of all leading 1s above it.
A matrix is in reduced row-echelon form if in addition
I each leading 1 is the only nonzero entry in its column.
 Theorem. Every matrix can be transformed into (reduced) row-echelon
form using elementary row operations.

Gaussian Algorithm.
Step 1 If all entries of the matrix are zero, stop.
Step 2 Otherwise find the leftmost column that contains a nonzero entry,
say a, and move the row containing this entry to the top (by
exchanging rows).
Step 3 Multiply the new top row by 1/a to create a leading 1.
Step 4 Subtract multiples of the top row from the other rows to create
zeroes below this leading 1.
Step 5 The top row is now in the desired form, and will not be changed
during the remainder of the algorithm. Repeat Steps 1–5 on the
remaining rows.
 Gaussian Elimination. Let A be the augmented matrix of a system of
linear equations.
Step 1 Transform A into reduced row-echelon form using elementary row
operations.
Step 2 The system is inconsistent if and only if a row (0, . . . , 0, 1) appears.
Step 3 If the system is consistent, assign the nonleading variables as
parameters, and solve for the leading variables.
Definition. Let A by a matrix. The rank of A is defined as the number of
leading 1s in any row-echelon matrix that can be obtained from A using
elementary row operations.

Theorem. Suppose a system of m linear equations in n variables is

consistent and has an augmented matrix with rank r .
I Then the set of solutions has exactly n − r parameters.
I If r < n then the system has infinitely many solutions.
I If r = n then the system has a unique solution.
Definition. A system of linear equations is called homogeneous if all
constant terms are equal to zero.
The solution x1 = 0, . . . , xn = 0 of a homogeneous system of linear
equations is called trivial solution.
Any solution in which at least one variable has a nonzero value is called
nontrivial solution.
Theorem. If a homogeneous system of linear equations has more
variables than equations, then it has infinitely many nontrivial solutions.

Theorem. Every linear combination of solutions to a homogeneous

system of linear equations is again a solution to that system.
Definition. Gaussian elimination produces a particular solution to a
homogeneous system of linear equation for each parameter. These
solutions are obtained by letting one parameter be equal to 1 and all
other parameters be equal to 0, and called basic solutions.

Theorem. Let A be an m × n matrix of rank r . Then the homogeneous

system of linear equations with coefficient matrix A has n − r basic
solutions.
Every solution to this system is a linear combination of the basic
solutions.