Maths342

7.5 Solution of Linear systems:Existence,

Uniqueness

Dr. Nasser Metwally

Department of Mathematics, college of Science

October 3, 2020
Existence and uniqueness

We learn from the previous sections, that if we have a system of

equations, one can use Gauss elimination method to solve it. Our
main task is discussing, is this system has a solution? is the
solution is unique. The idea behind this issues is discussing the rank
of the coecient matrix and the augmented matrix. Now, consider
that we have the following system

a11 x1 + a12 x2 + ........... + a1n xn = b1

a21 x1 + a22 x2 + ........... + a2n xn = b2
..................
am1 x1 + am2 x2 + ........... + ann xn = bn (1)
Existence and uniqueness

This systems has a solution if the coecient matrix

A = [amn ]andtheaugmentedmatrix [A, b] has the same rank.
namely,  
a11 a12 a13 ..... a1n
 a21 a22 a23 ..... a2n 
A=
 ... ....

... ... 
am1 am2 ...... .. am3
and  
a11 a12 a13 ..... a1n b1
 a21 a22 a23 ..... a2n b2 
[A, b] = 
 ... ....

... ... 
am1 am2 ...... .. am3 bn
Now we have the following remarks:
Existence and uniqueness

I If the rank of [A, b] > rank[A] then the system

has no solution.
I If the rank of [A, b] = rank[A] = n (full rank)
then the solution exists and unique.
I If the rank of [A, b] < rank[A] < n then the
system has innite number of solutions.
I If the solution exists, then it can be obtained by
using the Gauss elimination method.
See the following Example
Existence and uniqueness:EXAMPLE

Investigate the existence and the uniqueness of the following

system. If the solution exists nd it

−3x1 + 2x2 − x3 = −1
6x1 − 6x2 + 7x3 = −7
3x1 − 4x2 4 + 4x3 = −6

First we have to nd the rank of the coecient matrix

−3 2 −1 −3 2 −1 −3 2 −1
     

A =  6 −6 7  →  0 −2 −5 →  0 −2 5 
3 −4 −4 0 −2 3 0 0 3

This means that the rank{A} = 3.

Existence and uniqueness:EXAMPLE

−3 2 −1 −1 −3 2 −1 −1
   

[A, b] =  6 −6 7 −7 →  0 −2 5 −9 (2)

3 −4 −4 −6 0 −2 3 −7

−3 2 −1 −1
 

[A, b] =→  0 −2 5 −9
0 0 −2 2
This means that the rank{A, b} = 3. SO, the rank of A and the
rank of A, B are equals. namely rank{A} = ank{A, b} = 3. To
nd the solution, we use the Gauss elimination method. i.e
−2x3 = 2 ⇒ x3 = −1, and −2x2 + 5x3 = −9 ⇒ x2 = 2. Finally
−3x1 + 2x2 − x3 = −1 ⇒ x1 = 2
Existence and uniqueness:Exercies
1. nvestigate the existence and the uniqueness of the following
system. If the solution exists nd it

x1 − 3x2 + 4x3 = 12
2x1 − x2 − 2x3 = −1
5x1 − 2x2 − 3x3 = 3

show your steps clearly.

2. Find the value(s) of the constant a so that the following
system has innite number of solutions { Final Exam
FS20190-2020}

x + az = 2
x + y + 4z = 4
y + 2z = a (3)