1

1.4
2012 Pearson Education, Inc.
Linear Equations
in Linear Algebra
THE MATRIX EQUATION x b A =
Slide 1.4- 2 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.
MATRIX EQUATION
Definition: If A is an matrix, with columns a
1
,
, a
n
, and if x is in , then the product of A and x,
denoted by Ax, is the linear combination of the
columns of A using the corresponding entries in x
as weights; that is,


.


Ax is defined only if the number of columns of A
equals the number of entries in x.

x b A =
m n
n
| |
1
2
1 2 1 1 2 2
x a a a a a ... a
n n n
n
x
x
A x x x
x
(
(
(
= = + + +
(
(

Slide 1.4- 3 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.
MATRIX EQUATION
Example 1: For v
1
, v
2
, v
3
in , write the linear
combination as a matrix times a
vector.
Solution: Place v
1
, v
2
, v
3
into the columns of a matrix
A and place the weights 3, , and 7 into a vector x.
That is,

.
x b A =
m
1 2 3
3v 5v 7v +
5
| |
1 2 3 1 2 3
3
3v 5v 7v v v v 5 x
7
A
(
(
+ = =
(
(

Slide 1.4- 4 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.
MATRIX EQUATION
Now, write the system of linear equations as a vector
equation involving a linear combination of vectors.
For example, the following system
----(1)

is equivalent to

. ----(2)
x b A =
1 2 3
2 3
2 4
5 3 1
x x x
x x
+ =
+ =
1 2 3
1 2 1 4
0 5 3 1
x x x

( ( ( (
+ + =
( ( ( (

Slide 1.4- 5 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.
MATRIX EQUATION
As in the given example (1), the linear combination
on the left side is a matrix times a vector, so that (2)
becomes

. ----(3)


Equation (3) has the form . Such an equation
is called a matrix equation.
x b A =
1
2
3
1 2 1 4
0 5 3 1
x
x
x
(

( (
(
=
( (
(

(

x b A =
Slide 1.4- 6 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.
MATRIX EQUATION
Theorem 3: If A is an matrix, with columns
a1, , an, and if b is in , then the matrix equation

has the same solution set as the vector equation
,
which, in turn, has the same solution set as the system
of linear equations whose augmented matrix is
.
x b A =
m n
m
x b A =
1 1 2 2
a a ... b
n n
x x x a + + + =
| |
1 2
a a a b
n
Slide 1.4- 7 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.
EXISTENCE OF SOLUTIONS
The equation has a solution if and only if b
is a linear combination of the columns of A.
Theorem 4: Let A be an matrix. Then the
following statements are logically equivalent. That
is, for a particular A, either they are all true
statements or they are all false.
a. For each b in , the equation has a
solution.
b. Each b in is a linear combination of the
columns of A.
c. The columns of A span .
d. A has a pivot position in every row.
x b A =
m n
m
x b A =
m
m
Slide 1.4- 8 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.
PROOF OF THEOREM 4
Statements (a), (b), and (c) are logically equivalent.
So, it suffices to show (for an arbitrary matrix A) that
(a) and (d) are either both true or false.
Let U be an echelon form of A.
Given b in , we can row reduce the augmented
matrix to an augmented matrix for
some d in :

If statement (d) is true, then each row of U contains a
pivot position, and there can be no pivot in the
augmented column.

m
| |
b A
| |
d U
m
| | | |
b ... d A U
Slide 1.4- 9 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.
PROOF OF THEOREM 4
So has a solution for any b, and (a) is true.
If (d) is false, then the last row of U is all zeros.
Let d be any vector with a 1 in its last entry.
Then represents an inconsistent system.
Since row operations are reversible, can be
transformed into the form .
The new system is also inconsistent, and (a)
is false.
x b A =
| |
d U
| |
d U
| |
b A
x b A =
Slide 1.4- 10 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.
COMPUTATION OF Ax

Example 2: Compute Ax, where

and .

Solution: From the definition,


2 3 4
1 5 3
6 2 8
A
(
(
=
(
(

1
2
3
x
x
x
x
(
(
=
(
(

1
2 1 2 3
3
2 3 4 2 3 4
1 5 3 1 5 3
6 2 8 6 2 8
x
x x x x
x
( ( ( ( (
( ( ( ( (
= + +
( ( ( ( (
( ( ( ( (

Slide 1.4- 11 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.
COMPUTATION OF Ax
---(1)




.
The first entry in the product Ax is a sum of products
(a dot product), using the first row of A and the
entries in x.
1 2 3
1 2 3
1 2 3
2 3 4
5 3
6 2 8
x x x
x x x
x x x
( ( (
( ( (
= + +
( ( (
( ( (

1 2 3
1 2 3
1 2 3
2 3 4
5 3
6 2 8
x x x
x x x
x x x
+ +
(
(
= +
(
+ (

Slide 1.4- 12 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.
COMPUTATION OF Ax
That is, .


Similarly, the second entry in Ax can be calculated by
multiplying the entries in the second row of A by the
corresponding entries in x and then summing the
resulting products.
1 1 2 3
2
3
2 3 4 2 3 4 x x x x
x
x
+ +
( ( (
( ( (
=
( ( (
( ( (

1
2 1 2 3
3
1 5 3 5 3
x
x x x x
x
( ( (
( ( (
= +
( ( (
( ( (

Slide 1.4- 13 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.
ROW-VECTOR RULE FOR COMPUTING Ax
Likewise, the third entry in Ax can be calculated from
the third row of A and the entries in x.
If the product Ax is defined, then the ith entry in Ax is
the sum of the products of corresponding entries from
row i of A and from the vertex x.
The matrix with 1s on the diagonal and 0s elsewhere
is called an identity matrix and is denoted by I.

For example, is an identity matrix.
1 0 0
0 1 0
0 0 1
(
(
(
(

Slide 1.4- 14 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.
PROPERTIES OF THE MATRIX-VECTOR
PRODUCT Ax
Theorem 5: If A is an matrix, u and v are
vectors in , and c is a scalar, then
a.
b. .
Proof: For simplicity, take , ,
and u, v in .
For let u
i
and v
i
be the ith entries in u and
v, respectively.
m n
n
(u v) u v; A A A + = +
( u) ( u) A c c A =
3 n =
1 2 3
a a a A=
(

3
1, 2,3, i =
Slide 1.4- 15 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.
PROPERTIES OF THE MATRIX-VECTOR
PRODUCT Ax
To prove statement (a), compute as a linear
combination of the columns of A using the entries in
as weights.

(u v) A +
u v +
| |
1 1
1 2 3 2 2
3 3
(u v) a a a
u v
A u v
u v
+
(
(
+ = +
(
+ (

1 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 3
( )a ( )a ( )a u v u v u v = + + + + +
Entries in
u v +
Columns of A
1 1 2 2 3 3 1 1 2 2 3 3
( a a a ) ( a a a ) u u u v v v = + + + + +
u v A A = +
Slide 1.4- 16 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.
PROPERTIES OF THE MATRIX-VECTOR
PRODUCT Ax
To prove statement (b), compute as a linear
combination of the columns of A using the entries in cu as
weights.

( u) A c
| |
1
1 2 3 2 1 1 2 2 3 3
3
( u) a a a ( )a ( )a ( )a
cu
A c cu cu cu cu
cu
(
(
= = + +
(
(

1 1 2 2 3 3
( a ) ( a ) ( a ) c u c u c u = + +
1 1 2 2 3 3
( a a a ) c u u u = + +
( u) c A =