THEME 102

MATRICES
WHY SHOULD YOU KNOW ABOUT MATRICES?
You solved two equations in two unknowns in previous mathematics courses, but real
engineering problems usually involve a large number of equations. For example, electrical
networks may have a large number of equations in many unknowns. By "storing" these
equations in matrix form a computer may be used to solve the unknowns. In order to
determine the correctness of the solutions you need to do some of the calculations by hand
and thus you need to understand the theory of matrices.

In this chapter we will look at definitions and two matrix methods to solve systems of linear
equations.

OUTCOME
Use matrices to solve problems involving systems of linear equations

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA
By the end of this chapter you must be able to
1. Represent a system of linear equations in matrix form
2. Evaluate 2 × 2 and 3 × 3 determinants
3. Multiply a matrix by a scalar
4. Add, subtract and multiply matrices
5. Determine cofactors and minors
6. Determine the adjoint matrix of a given matrix
7. Determine the inverse matrix using the definition and/or the adjoint matrix
8. Solve a system of two or three linear equations using matrix inversion
9. Solve a system of two or three linear equations using Cramer’s rule

TERMINOLOGY
At the end of this chapter you must be able to explain and use the following concepts.
Adjoint matrix Adjugate matrix Antisymmetric matrix
Augmented matrix Cofactor Coefficient determinant
Coefficient matrix Column Constant matrix
Cramer’s rule Diagonal expansion Diagonal matrix
Determinant Dimension Equal matrices
Element Entry Expansion
Homogeneous Identity matrix Inhomogeneous

1
Inverse matrix Linear equation Linear system
Lower triangular matrix Matrix Matrix equation
Matrix inversion Minor Minor determinant
Negative of a matrix Nonhomogeneous Non-singular matrix
Order Place sign Place sign table
Principal diagonal Row Scalar
Scalar multiplication Secondary diagonal Singular matrix
Size Skew-symmetric matrix Square matrix
Symmetric matrix Trace Transpose
Trivial solution Unique solution Unit matrix
Upper triangular matrix Vector Zero matrix

TIME ALLOCATION
Approximately 8 hours

IN THE TEXT BOOK

pp. 508-534

EXERCISES
Exercise 11(a), pp. 515-516; Exercise 11(b), pp. 521-522; Exercise 11(c), pp. 533-534;
Miscellaneous exercise 12, pp. 563-566, numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20

K In these notes the brackets [] were used to indicate matrices and the lines *A* for
determinants. The textbook uses ( ) for matrices and det(A) for determinants. Make sure
you understand the various notations!

2.1 SOME DEFINITIONS IN MATRIX THEORY

2.1.1 WHAT IS A MATRIX?

ACTIVITY 2.1 NN
1. Solve for x and y using any valid mathematical method.

2. Solve for a and b using any valid mathematical method.

3. Solve for p and q using any valid mathematical method.

4. Solve for x and y using any valid mathematical method.

2
5. Solve for x and y using any valid mathematical method.

6. Take another look at your solutions. What played a bigger role in the actual solution: the
constants on the right, the coefficients of the variables or the variables themselves?
OOOO

Based on our observations we will concentrate on the coefficients of the variables when
solving systems. We will arrange these coefficients in a specific format, i.e. a rectangular
array, called a matrix. For example, we will write the coefficients in

as

A matrix (plural: matrices) is a rectangular array of numbers, usually enclosed in brackets, in

which the value of each number and its position in the array is very important.

For example,

and

are all rectangular arrays of numbers and are therefore matrices. Each number in a matrix is
known as an element or entry of the matrix. The horizontal lines are called rows and the
vertical lines are called columns.

To describe the size or order or dimension of a matrix, we state its number of rows and
columns. Matrix B has three rows and two columns, and is said to be a ‘three-by-two’ matrix,
written as . Matrix C is a matrix.

K The first integer in the size always gives the number of rows in the matrix and the
second integer the number of columns.

We will use an upper-case letter to refer to a matrix and lowercase letters for its elements. A
double-subscript is used to indicate the position of the element in a matrix. The first
subscript refers to the row in which the element lies, and the second subscript to the column
in which the element lies. Therefore, refers to the element in row 2 and column 4 of
matrix A. In general, if A is a matrix, we can write

3
K It is not necessary for the number of rows and columns to be the same.

2.1.2 SPECIAL MATRICES

‚ Square matrix: A matrix in which the number of rows equals the number of columns.
For example, A defined by

is a square matrix. Since the number of rows equals the number of columns, we say the
A is of order 2 or A is two-dimensional.

‚ Row vector/matrix: A matrix with only one row. For example, C defined by

is a 1 × 3 row vector.

‚ Column vector/matrix: A matrix with only one column. For example, D defined by

is a 3 × 1 column vector.

‚ Zero matrix: All the elements in the matrix are zero. For example,

is a 2 × 3 zero matrix.

‚ Scalar: A single number. For example, in 2A the 2 is a scalar and A is a matrix.

‚ Principal/leading/main diagonal: The diagonal in a square matrix running from top

left to bottom right. In A the principal diagonal is .

4
‚ Secondary diagonal: The diagonal in a square matrix running from top right to bottom
left. In A the secondary diagonal is .

‚ Trace: The sum of the elements in the main diagonal. The trace of A is 11.

‚ Diagonal matrix: A square matrix with zeros everywhere except on the principal
diagonal. For example,

is a third order diagonal matrix.

‚ Upper triangular matrix: Every element below the principal diagonal is zero as in F.

‚ Lower triangular matrix: Every element above the principal diagonal is zero as in G.

‚ Identity/unit matrix ( ): A diagonal matrix with all its principal diagonal

elements equal to 1 as in I3 below.

‚ Transpose of a matrix: The transpose of a (m × n) matrix A, denoted by AT, is a

(n × m) matrix obtained from A by interchanging the rows and columns of A, that is, the
rows of A become the columns of AT. For example, if

, then .

Properties of the transpose of a matrix:

1.
2. For any matrix A,
3.

5
‚ Symmetric matrix: A square matrix A and its transpose AT are identical. For example,

is a symmetric matrix since .

K A symmetric matrix is symmetrical about its principal diagonal.

‚ Antisymmetric/skew-symmetric matrix: A square matrix for which . For

example,

is skew-symmetric since

‚ Inverse of a matrix: If A is a square matrix and we can find another matrix B with the
property that
,
then B is said to be the inverse of A, written as A-1, that is
.
We will have a closer look at the inverse in a later section.

K A-1 does not mean a reciprocal; there is no such thing as matrix division.

K The term ‘inverse’ cannot be applied to a matrix which is not square.

‚ Negative of a matrix: The negative of A, denoted by -A, is the matrix obtained by

multiplying each element of A by -1. For example, if

then

ACTIVITY 2.2 NN
Consider the following matrices.

6
 Write down the following.
1. The transpose of B 2. DT
3. The negative of C 4. -A
5. The principal diagonal of D 6. The secondary diagonal of A
7. A fourth order identity matrix 8. A 2 × 2 zero matrix
9. The trace of D 10. The dimensions of B and C
11. The name of a column matrix 12. Any third order diagonal matrix
13. The size of A and E 14. The elements d23 and c12
OOOO

2.2 CALCULATIONS WITH MATRICES

2.2.1 EQUALITY OF MATRICES

‚ Equal matrices: Two matrices A and B are equal if and only if their corresponding
elements are equal. That is, if , then the two matrices will have the same number
of rows, the same number of columns and for all i and j.

The matrices

are not equal since the corresponding elements in the third column are not the same.

If , where and , then .

2.2.2 ADDITION AND SUBTRACTION OF MATRICES

In order to add two matrices, they must have the same size, that is they must have the same
number of rows and the same number of columns. If so, addition is performed by adding
corresponding elements together. Subtraction is performed by subtracting corresponding
elements.

7
EXAMPLE 2.1
If

then

It is impossible to determine because A is a (2 × 2) matrix and C is a (2 × 1) matrix.U

Properties of addition:
If A, B and C are matrices, then
1. (commutative law)
2. (associative law)
3. where 0 is an zero matrix
4. where 0 is the zero matrix

2.2.3 SCALAR MULTIPLICATION

A matrix of any size can be multiplied by a single number and the process is called scalar
multiplication. To do this, each element in the matrix is multiplied by that number.

For example, if

then

Properties of scalar multiplication:

For any real number k and any matrices A and B,
1.
2.

ACTIVITY 2.3 NN
1. Given

, and .

8
 Find, if possible,
1.1 A+B 1.2 2A 1.3 B + 2C 1.4 B-A
1.5 2(A - B) 1.6 ¾A + ½B

2. Determine the value of the unknowns in each of the given matrix equalities.

2.1 2.2

2.3 2.4

OOOO

2.2.4 MULTIPLICATION OF TWO MATRICES

Suppose A is a (m × p) matrix and B is a (q × n) matrix.
1. The product AB (in that order) is defined only if p = q, that is, the product can only be
found when the number of columns in the first matrix equals the number of rows in the
second matrix.
2. The resulting matrix C = AB is of order (m × n), that is, C has the same number of rows
as the first matrix and the same number of columns as the second matrix.

ACTIVITY 2.4 NN
In the following, determine if AB and BA are defined. For whichever products are defined,
give the dimensions of the product matrix.
1. A is 14 × 21 and B is 21 × 14
2. A is 18 × 4 and B is 18 × 4
3. A is 6 × 22 and B is 4 × 6
4. A is 1 × 3 and B is 3 × 3
5. A is 7 × 6 and B is 7 × 7
OOOO

We determine the elements of C as follows:

Å Do you understand this last statement? Neither do I! Let’s look at examples.

We may represent the multiplication as follows.

9
The product of two matrices is found as follows: If

then

EXAMPLE 2.2

If , find, if possible, the matrix C where .

SOLUTION
Matrix A has two columns and matrix B has two rows. It is therefore possible to find C.
A has two rows and B has two column so that C has size .

or, in a diagram, write the matrices as shown. To find the product, let your fingers move
along the arrows.

EXAMPLE 2.3
Find, if possible, AB and BA where

SOLUTION
It is possible to find AB since A has two columns and B has two rows. The product is a
matrix. Thus,

10
 It is, however, not possible to determine BA since B has two columns and A has three
rows. U

Properties of matrix multiplication:

If it is possible to find the products, then
1. , except in special cases. For example,

but

2. where I is the identity matrix

3.
4.
5.
6. where m is a scalar
7.
8. does not imply that . For example,

but

9. is possible even though neither A nor B is 0. For example,

ACTIVITY 2.5 NN
1. Find the following product if it is defined.

11
1.1 1.2

1.3 1.4

1.5 1.6

1.7 1.8

2. Determine A2 if .

OOOO

EXERCISE 2.1
1. Evaluate, if possible.

1.1 1.2

1.3 1.4

1.5 1.6

1.7 1.8

1.9 1.10

12
2. Is where A and B are matrices? Motivate your answer
using the following matrices.

3. Find x and y if

3.1 3.2

2.3 DETERMINANTS

2.3.1 WHAT IS A DETERMINANT?

‚ Determinant: An unique value associated with a square matrix.

The determinant of matrix A is denoted by or det A. If matrix A is of order n, then is

of order n. For the matrix A,

the determinant is

For example, the determinant of the matrix

is

K Vertical lines are used for determinants and brackets for matrices. The lines in does
not indicate absolute values!

13
2.3.2 FIRST AND SECOND ORDER DETERMINANTS
If A is a matrix , then . For example, if , then
(and not +21).

If A is a matrix

then

K is a matrix and is a determinant; the two are not the same!

EXAMPLE 2.4

If , then .

If , then . U

ACTIVITY 2.6 NN
Find

1. 2.

3. 4.

5. 6.

14
7. 8.

OOOO

2.3.3 MINORS AND COFACTORS

Consider the determinant

‚ Minor: If we choose an element of A and cross out its row and column and form the
determinant of the remaining elements, this determinant is known as the minor
determinant or minor of that element. For example, the minor of a11 is

and the minor of a22 is

Consider the determinant

To find the minor of 3, cancel the row and the column with the 3 in.

Thus, the minor of 3 is . The minor of 4 is .

‚ Cofactor: A signed minor, given by the formula

.
Alternatively, the cofactor is the minor together with a positive or negative sign
depending on its position, that is a place sign, according to the following place sign
table.

15
 Place sign table

For example, in matrix P above 3 is in row 1, column 2. Therefore and the

place sign is negative. The minor of 3 is 7 and thus the cofactor of 3 is -7. 4 is in row 3,
column 3. Thus, and the place sign is positive. The cofactor of 4 is then -6.

EXAMPLE 2.5
Find the cofactors of 9 and 7 in

SOLUTION

Minor of 9 . But 9 is in the second row, first

column. Compare this position to the place sign table or calculate . The
place sign is negative and the cofactor is -11.

Minor of 7 . But 7 is in the first row, third

column and has place sign +. Thus the cofactor is -12. U

‚ Adjoint/adjugate matrix: The transpose of the matrix of cofactors. Consider, for

example, the matrix

The cofactor of 1 is +8, the cofactor of 3 is -2, the cofactor of 2 is -3 and the cofactor of
8 is +1. The matrix of cofactors is thus

and the adjoint matrix is

K Compare the elements of A and its adjoint matrix. The elements 1 and 8 changed

16
 position, while the signs of 2 and 3 changed in the adjoint. Thus, in general, if

, then .

Å This method to determine the adjoint matrix works for 2 × 2 matrices only!

ACTIVITY 2.7 NN

1. Given .

1.1 Write down the minor of elements a22 and a13.

1.2 Write down the cofactors of a33 and a21.

2. Find the cofactors of -2 and 5 in

3. Derive the adjoint of the following matrices.

3.1 3.2

OOOO

2.3.4 THIRD AND HIGHER ORDER DETERMINANTS

We will look at two methods to expand third order determinants.

Using cofactors
The value of a third order determinant is the sum of three products obtained by multiplying
each element of any row (or each element in any column) by its cofactor. Let's apply this
statement to an example.

Consider the matrix

and let’s find by expansion along the first row. This means we will multiply each
element in row 1 by its cofactor, that is,

so that

17
Now we determine by expansion along the second column, that is, multiply each
element in column 2 by its cofactor. Thus,

Thus,

K The value of a given determinant is the same no matter which row or column we choose
to use for the expansion. We usually choose the row or column with the most zeros to
simplify calculations.

K If the determinant of a matrix is zero, then the matrix is singular and its inverse does
not exist.

ACTIVITY 2.8 NN

1. Evaluate by expanding by

1.1 the second row 1.2 the third column.

2. Evaluate each determinant using cofactors.

2.1 2.2

OOOO

Diagonal expansion
The method using cofactors works for determinants of any order. There is an alternative
method for evaluating third order determinants. The steps are as follows:
C Rewrite the elements of the determinant
C Repeat on the right the first two columns of the determinant
C Add the signed products of the elements on the various diagonals

18
Adding along the diagonal yields
.

Consider the previous example once again. Then

Thus,

K Remember, this method is only applicable for third order determinants.

K We can find the determinant of a square matrix only.

ACTIVITY 2.9 NN
1. Repeat Activity 2.8, but now using diagonal expansion.

2. Determine

using diagonal expansion.

OOOO

EXERCISE 2.2
1. Evaluate the following determinants.

19
1.1 1.2

1.3 1.4

1.5 1.6

1.7 1.8

1.9 1.10

2. For what values of t is the determinant of equal to zero?

3. If A is the matrix , find values of x for which .

4. If and , show that .

2.4 THE INVERSE OF A MATRIX

As mentioned before, not all matrices have inverses.

‚ Singular matrix: If A is a square matrix that has no inverse, then A is singular. A

matrix that has an inverse is called non-singular.

There are several methods we can use to determine these inverse matrices; we will look at
only two methods.

20
2.4.1 USING THE DEFINITION
Let

be the inverse of the matrix

Then, from the definition,

Find the product on the left, then

From the definition of equal matrices we have four equations in four unknowns:

We can solve this system of linear equations using any valid method. The result is
.
Thus

This method can also be used on higher order matrices, although the calculations may become
awful!

ACTIVITY 2.10 NN
Determine the inverse, if it exists, of each of the following matrices.

1. 2.

OOOO

2.4.2 USING ADJOINT MATRICES

If A in a (n × n) non-singular matrix, then and

Let’s look at Then

21
The minor of the 2 is The place sign of 2 is +; thus the cofactor of 2 is +8.

Calculating the rest of the cofactors results in the matrix

with transpose

Substitution in the formula yields

ACTIVITY 2.11 NN
1. Find the inverse of the matrices in Activity 2.10 using adjoint matrices.

2. Find the inverse if it exists.

2.1 2.2

OOOO

EXERCISE 2.3
1. Find A-1 if it exists.

1.1 1.2

1.3 1.4

1.5 1.6

1.7 1.8

22
1.9 1.10

2. The rotations of a robot arm such as that shown in the

sketch are often represented by matrices. The values
represent trigonometric functions of the angles of
rotation. For the following rotation matrix R, find R-1.

3. Which one of the following statements is true?

Use the matrices

to motivate your answer.

2.5 SOLVING SYSTEMS OF LINEAR EQUATIONS

2.5.1 MATRIX EQUATIONS AND THEIR SOLUTIONS

Consider the matrix equation

where

We thus have

Multiplication yields

From the definition of matrix equality follows

which is a system of two linear equations in two unknowns.

Thus, in general, a matrix equation of the form

represents a system of m linear equations in n unknowns with

23
‚ A= matrix of the coefficients, called the coefficient matrix
‚ X= (column) matrix of variables
‚ B= (column) matrix of constants, called the constant matrix
‚ The augmented matrix Ab is a combination of the coefficient matrix and constant
matrix, that is

A system such as

is called a system of linear equations or a linear system since both equations are linear. But
what is a "linear equation"? A linear equation in x1, x2, ..., xn has the general form

where a1, a2, ..., an and b are real numbers.

K Note that the exponents of all the variables are one. The equation is

therefor not linear!

In order to use the methods for solving linear systems described later we need to write a
system of equations in matrix form. As mentioned before, the position of an element is of the
utmost importance. Therefor the first step is to rearrange the given system so that the
unknowns are in a specific order and to fill in zeros where unknowns are not present. For
example, the system

should be rewritten as

and we can write the matrix equation with

If , the equations are called homogeneous. If , they are called inhomogenous or

24
nonhomogeneous.

Based on the values of and B we have different solution possibilities.

Case 1: and
Since , we know that A-1 exists so that

or

and the system of equations has an unique solution that is, one solution only.

Case 2: and
Again A-1 exists and

or
.
Thus, the system of equations has only the trivial solution , that is, all variables
are equal to zero.

Case 3: and
A-1 doesn't exist and we have either infinitely many solutions or no solution. You will
learn more about this case in a later course.

ACTIVITY 2.12 NN
1. Write down the system of linear equations if and

1.1

1.2

1.3

2. Will any of the matrix equations above have an unique solution? Show all calculations
to motivate your answer.

3. Write the given systems in matrix form.

25
3.1 3.2

4. For the following systems, write down A, B, X and Ab.

4.1 4.2

4.3

OOOO

2.5.2 MATRIX INVERSION

This method for solving systems of linear equations uses the inverse of the coefficient matrix
of the system of linear equations.

Consider the following system of two linear equations in two unknowns.

This system can be written in matrix form as

or

Let

then we can write the system as

.
Multiply on the left both sides of this equation by the inverse of A, that is A-1, then

But and so that

.
Thus, we can solve the system of linear equations by multiplying the constant matrix on the
left by the inverse of the coefficient matrix.

K and not .

26
THEOREM Let A be an n × n matrix. The system has a solution if
and only if A is non-singular. In this case the unique solution is .

EXAMPLE 2.6
Solve the following system of equations, using the theorem.

SOLUTION
From the system we have

It can be shown that

and we can write the system as

. U

This method is not very popular with computer programmers because of the need to find the
inverse matrix first. Then they have to perform matrix multiplication which need additional
computations, and as a result the method is not time-economic.
ACTIVITY 2.13 NN
Solve the variables using matrix inversion if
1. 2.

3. 4.

OOOO

2.5.3 CRAMER’S RULE

This method is especially useful for small systems of linear equations and uses the
determinant of the coefficient matrix, called the coefficient determinant, denoted by D.

Cramer's rule:
Given the system

27
 with

then

and .

K Note the position of the k's in the numerator!

If D 0, then the system has exactly one solution which is given by Cramer's rule. If D = 0,
the system is either inconsistent and has no solution or dependent and has infinitely many
solutions.

EXAMPLE 2.7
Solve for a and c if

SOLUTION
Let

then

To solve a, substitute the first column by the column of constants and calculate a.

To find c, we can use Cramer’s rule again. It is, however, much easier to substitute a in
any one of the equations and then solve for c. Thus,

so that
. U

EXAMPLE 2.8
Two investments totalling R18 000 yield an annual income of R700. If the first investment
has an interest rate of 5.5% and the second a rate of 3.0%, what is the value of each
investment?
SOLUTION
Let x = the value of the first investment and y = the value of the second investment. We
know the total investment is R18 000. This leads to the equation .

28
 The first investment yields 0.055x rands annually, and the second yields 0.030y rands
annually. This leads to the equation . Thus we must solve the
system
.
Now,

and

Substitute this value of x in the first equation, then

.

Therefore, the values invested are R6 400 and R11 600 respectively. Checking, we see
that the total income is . This agrees with the
statement in the problem. U

EXAMPLE 2.9
An 8.0% solution, an 11% solution, and an 18% solution of nitric acid are to be mixed to get
150 mR of a 12% solution. If the volume of acid from the 8.0% solution equals half the
volume of acid from the other two solutions, how much of each is needed?
SOLUTION
Let x = volume of 8.0% solution needed, y = volume of 11% solution needed, and z =
volume of 18% solution needed. The sum of the volumes of the three solutions is 150
mR, which leads to the equation . Since there are 0.080x mR of pure
acid from the first solution, 0.11y mR of the second solution, and 0.18z mR from the third
solution, and 0.12(150) mR in the final solution, we are led to the equation
. Finally, using the last stated condition, we have the
equation . Thus, we must solve the system

Thus

(CHECK!)

and

29
 . (CHECK!)

Also,

Substitute these values in the first equation to find z:

.
Therefore, 75 mR of the 8,0% solution, 21 mR of the 11% solution and 54 mR of the 18%
solution are required to make the 12% solution. U

ACTIVITY 2.14 NN
Solve, using Cramer's rule.
1. 2.

3. 4.

OOOO

EXERCISE 2.4
1. Solve the following systems of equations.

1.1. 1.2.

1.3 1.4 (THINK!)

1.5 1.6

1.7

1.8

30
1.9

1.10

1.11

2. Find the value of c if

3. Solve for b if

4. A pharmacist is mixing a 3.0% saline solution and an 8.0% saline solution to get 2.0 R of
a 6.0% solution. How much of each solution is needed?

5. In an experiment, a variable voltage V is in a circuit with a fixed voltage V0 and a

resistance R. The voltage V is related to the current I in the circuit by
.
If V for A and V for A, find V as a function of i.

6. One personal computer can perform x calculations per second and a second personal
computer can perform y calculations per second. If each operates for 2 seconds, 25.0
million calculations are performed. If the first operates for four seconds and the second
for three seconds, 43.2 million calculations are performed. Find x and y.

2.5.4 EXAMPLES OF ELECTRICAL NETWORKS

To illustrate the usefulness of matrix methods, consider the electrical network in Figure 2.1.
The symbols have the usual meaning.

Using Kirchhoff's laws and electrical principals the equations representing the network can be
written in matrix form as

31
 Figure 2.1 An electrical network

(Since this is not a course in electrical engineering, we leave the verification of this matrix
equation to you.)

ACTIVITY 2.15 NN
Consider the network in Figure 2.2.

FIGURE 2.2
1. Solve for I1, I2 and I3.

2. Use electrical knowledge and write down the values of Ia, Ib, Ic, Id, Ie and If.
OOOO

2.6 A FINAL WORD

This was only an introduction to matrices. In Mathematics III you may use some of this new
knowledge to solve problems involving differential equations, but in your chosen career you
will definitely come across more realistic applications. Hopefully you will then be able to use
computers to do the tedious calculations, and you will be able to enjoy the beauty of
Mathematics! Good luck.

REVIEW EXERCISE
1. Evaluate, if possible.

32
1.1 1.2

1.3 1.4

2.

Determine, if possible,
2.1 A-1 - 2B 2.2 AC 2.3 DC 2.4 C+D

3. In each of the following, calculate if

and .

4. Solve for x if

4.1 4.2

5. In each of the following, find the inverse of the matrix or else show that the matrix is
singular.

5.1 5.2

5.3 5.4

5.5 5.6

5.7 5.8

33
6. In each of the following systems, find the unique solution of the system using matrix
inversion

6.1 6.2

7. If possible, find a solution of each of the following linear systems and interpret each
solution geometrically. Use matrix inversion.
7.1 7.2

8. Solve the following linear systems, using Cramer’s rule.

8.1 8.2

8.3

9. One ampere of electric current is passed through a solution of sulfuric acid, silver nitrate
and cupric sulfate, releasing hydrogen gas, silver and copper. A total mass of 1.750 g is
released. The mass of silver deposited is 3.40 times the mass of copper deposited, and
the mass of copper and 70 times the mass of hydrogen combined equals the mass of
silver deposited less 0.037 g. How much of each is released?

10. A network of guy wires is used to support the 50 kg mass until it can finally be anchored
in position. See Figure 2.3. The forces in the wires are described by the system of
equations

Find the forces in the wire.

Figure 2.3 Figure 2.4

11. The forces acting on a certain girder, as shown in Figure 2.4, can be found by solving
the following system of equations.

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 Find the forces (in newton).

12. In applying Kirchhoff’s law to the circuit shown in Figure 2.5 the following equations
are found. Determine the indicated currents, in amperes.

Figure 2.5

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ANSWERS, THEME 102
Activity 2.1
1. x = 2, y = 1 2. a = 2, b = 1 3. p = 2, q = 1
4. x = 13/7, y = 3/7 5. x = 28/13, y = 14/13 6. Discussion

Activity 2.2

1. 2. 3.

4. 5. 6.

7. 8. 9. 4

10. B: 3 × 2, C: 2 × 4 11. F 12.

13. A: 2 × 2, E: 1 × 4 14. d23 = 5, c12 = -1

Activity 2.3

1.1 1.2 1.3 Impossible

1.4 1.5 1.6

2.1 a = 1, b = -3, c = 4, d = 7 2.2 x = 2, y = 3

2.3 x = 4, y = 6, z = 9 2.4 w = -2, x = -1, y = 3, z = 5

Activity 2.4
1. AB:14 × 14, BA:21 × 21 2. AB and BA doesn't exist
3. AB doesn't exist, BA: 4 × 22 4. AB: 1 × 3, BA doesn't exist
5. AB doesn't exist, BA: 7 × 6

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Activity 2.5

1.1 1.2 1.3

1.4 1.5 1.6 Doesn't exist

1.7 1.8 2.

Exercise 2.1

1.1 1.2 1.3

1.4 1.5 1.6

1.7 1.8 1.9 Impossible

1.10 2. No 3.1 No solution

3.2 x = -8, y = 2

Activity 2.6
1. 16 2. 5 3. -3
4. 20 5. -29 6. 23
7. -26 8. 1

Activity 2.7
1.1 -16; -27 1.2 -17; -24 2. -10; 4

3.1 3.2

Activity 2.8
1. 3 2.1 22 2.2 -120

Activity 2.9
1. 3; 22; -120 2. 3

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Exercise 2.2
1.1 -48 1.2 -16 1.3 -35
1.4 33 1.5 504 1.6 0
1.7 300 1.8 -12 1.9 6
1.10 -8 2. 7 3. 1; 6

Activity 2.10

1. 2.

Activity 2.11

1. See Act 2.9 2.1 2.2

Exercise 2.3

1.1 1.2 1.3

1.4 1.5 1.6

1.7 1.8 Doesn't exist 1.9

1.10 2. 3.

Activity 2.12
1.1
1.2
1.3

2. 1.1, 1.2 3.1 3.2

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4.1

4.2

4.3

Activity 2.13
1. -3; 6 2. No solution 3. Infinitely many
4. -1; -1; -1

Activity 2.14
1. 5; -2 2. 1; -1 3. 2; -2; -1
4. 1/4; 7/2; -11/4

Exercise 2.4
1. -1/4; -1/12; 2/3 1.2 9; 7 1.3 2; 4; -1
1.4 3/2; 4/5 1.5 -1; 4; 2 1.6 2; ½; -1
1.7 -5; 2 1.8 -5; 4; -1 1.9 47/5; 71/10
1.0 -2; 0; 2 1.11 -5; 1; 4 2. 1/5, -1/7; 1/3
3. -1/5; 1/4; -1 4. 0.8; 1.2 5. V = 4.5i - 3.2
6. 5.7; 6.8

Activity 2.14
1. 0.278 A; -0.281 A; 0.619 A
2. 278 mA; -559 mA; 341 mA; 281 mA; -900 mA; 619 mA

Review exercise

1.1 1.2 1.3 -5n2 - 12n +3

1.4 a2 + b2 2.1 2.2 Impossible

2.3 2.4 Impossible 3.

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4.1 -6 4.2 0; 3/2 5.1

5.2 Singular 5.3 5.4

5.5 5.6 5.7 Singular

5.8 6.1 34/25; 29/25; -9/25 6.2 9/11; 15/11; 13/11

7.1 -3; 6 7.2 No solution 8.1 x; 2x - 1; x - 2

8.2 No solution 8.3 -1; -1; 1 9. 0.013; 1.342; 0.395
10. 417.3; 156.16; 556.77 11. 9.4295; 8.3333; 1.6667
12. 21/17; -12/17; -9/17

The complete solutions to the exercises in the textbook are available on

www.palgrave.com/science/engineering/singh

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