Systems of Linear Equations ‘Tse VARIABLES encountered ina problem may have to fulfill more than one condition. In a produetion problem, for example, the numbers of units of various products made will be restricted by conditions such as time available for produetion and money available for the purchase of raw materials, When each of the conditions can be expressed in the form of a linear equation, the mathematical description of the problem is a system of linear equations. The procedures for solving such systems are the subject matter of this chapter. NUMBER OF SOLUTIONS POSSIBLE A solution of a system of linear equations is a set of values for the variables which simultaneously satisfy all equations of the system. Geometrically, a set of values for the variables is repre- sented by a point, and a set satisfying all the equations is a point which lies on the graphs of all the equations; that is, a solution set is a point of intersection of all the graphs. We shall appeal to the geometry of intersections of lines and planes to illustrate that the number of solutions of a linear system is either zero, one, or un- limited. Intersections of Straight Lines Linear equations in two-space are straight lines. The parts of Figure 2-1 show the intersection possibilities for such lines. If a system has two equations in two variables, the corresponding lines either intersect in a single point, or they are parallel and have no intersection point, as shown in Figures 2-1A and 2-1B. The three lines representing a system of three equations in two variables may intersect in a single point, as in Figure 2-1C, or there may be no point which lies on all three lines, as in Figures 2-1D and 2-1E. The 32 Google sick 5SYSTEMS OF LINEAR EQUATIONS 33 y FIG. 214 FIC. 218 FIG, 216 FIG. 21D FIC. 21E same intersection possibilities exist if more than three lines are plotted, and we conelude that two or more different lines have one point in common or no points in common. As a special case, how- ever, we note that if the system has two equations, and the terms of one equation are a constant multiple of the corresponding terms Google34 MATHEMATICS of the other, then both equations have the same graph. All of the (unlimited) points on one line also lie on the “other” line, so that in this special sense the system has an unlimited number of solutions. Intersections of Planes Linear equations in three-space are represented by planes. A system of two equations in three variables is represented geomet- tically by two planes. Any points which lie on both planes will satisfy both equations and therefore be solutions of the system. ‘Figures 2-2A and 2-2B show that two different planes either inter- sect in a complete straight line, and so have an unlimited number of points in common (Figure 2-2A), or they do not intersect at all (Figure 2-2B). FIG, 2-24 FIG. 2-2 The three planes representing a system of three equations in three variables may have either zero, one, or an unlimited number of points in common, Observe Figure 2-24, and visualize the inter- section possibilities if a third plane cut into the figure. The third Google HERS OE NR