Systems of Linear Equations

So far, we have reviewed equations and inequalities which contain a single variable. Now we
will expand our knowledge by investigating equations that contain more than one variable. Lets
look at such an equation.

Consider the following equation with two variables ( x and y ):

2x + 4 y = 10
This example shows us how to:
Solve

Lets solve for x .

for a variable

aka Solve

for x

2x + 4 y = 10
2x
= 10 4 y
x = 5 2y

4 y from both sides

divide both sides by 2
subtract

Do we know what x is? Well, we sort-of know. What we mean is that we would know what x is
if we knew what y is.

Say that y = 2 . Then we could substitute this y value into our equation

x = 5 2y

and get a specific solution.

In this case,

Substitute

x = 5 2y
x = 5 2(2)
x =54
x =1

y =2

What this example illustrates is that a single equation with two variables is not solvable. In fact,
a single equation with more than one variable is not solvable. In order to be able to solve for two
As we saw in the previous example, once we knew what y
variables, we need two equations.
was we were able to give a solution for x .

Your instructor will now present another example of solving for a variable and then
substituting in a value. Record the example below:
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________

These observations lead to the following statement:

We need at least n equations in order to solve for n variables.

We will mainly concentrate, in this chapter, on cases where n = 2 (i.e. a system of two equations
with two variables). Furthermore, we will deal, throughout the text, exclusively with the case
where we have the same number of equations as the number of variables.

We describe the two equations necessary to solve for two variables as a system of two
equations.
In the case where n = 3 we say a system of three equations and so on for n = 4,5,6,.... We will
meet large systems ( n > 3) in Chapter 3 when we discuss the matrix.

Although there are many methods to solve a system of equations,we will learn the simplest and

most straightforward method called the Substitution Method. We will also, in a later chapter,
learn how to solve systems of equations in the calculator. However, is it vital to passing The
Exam that you can solve by hand as many questions ask you to provide answers that require
you to manipulate equations like solving for a variable.

Exercises

Solve the following equations for x .

1. x + 4 y = 5
4. y 5x = 10z

2. 2x + 4 y = 8

3. 2x + 4 y = z

5. 2(y + x) = z

6. ax + by = c
9.

1
8. x 2(x + y) = 3x 4
2

7. a(x y) = y

10.

(a + y)
=z
x

a
+ b cy = 0
x

Your instructor may suggest additional problems. Record them below:

_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________