MA1014 Page 3 of 4 Lecture 6

5. Show that A adj A = adj AA = |A|I.

6.3 Elementary transformations (row and column operations)

on matrices

The following three types of matrix transformations are known as elementary row and
column operations or elementary transformations.

1. Interchange of any columns or rows.

2. Addition to any column or row a multiple of any other column or row.

3. Multiplication of each element of a column or a row by a non-zero constant.

If the matrix B is obtained by applying elementary row or column operations to A

then the matrix A is equivalent to B, which is denoted by A ≈ B.

Theorem 6.3.1. The elementary row operations that reduce a given matrix A to the
identity matrix transform the identity matrix to the inverse of A.
 
2 3 4
 
Example 2. Use the elementary row operations to find the inverse of A = 
4 3 1.

 
1 2 4

     
 2 3 4 1 0 0   1 2 4 0 0 1   1 2 4 0 0 1 
     
 4 3 1 0 1 0  −→  4 3 1 0 1 0  −→  0 −5 −15 0 1 −4 
     
     
1 2 4 0 0 1 2 3 4 1 0 0 0 −1 −4 1 0 −2

   
 1 2 4 0 0 1   1 2 4 0 0 1 
   
−→ 
 0 1 3 0 −1/5 4/5  −→  0 1 3 0 −1/5 4/5
 
 −→

   
0 −1 −4 1 0 −2 0 0 −1 1 −1/5 −6/5
MA1014 Page 4 of 4 Lecture 6
   
 1 0 −2 0 2/5 −3/5   1 0 0 −2 4/5 9/5 
   
 −→  0 1 0 3 −4/5 −14/5 
0 −1/5 4/5 
 0 1 3  

   
0 0 1 −1 1/5 6/5 0 0 1 −1 1/5 6/5

 
−2 4/5 9/5 
 
∴ A−1 =
 3 −4/5 −14/5.

 
−1 1/5 6/5
 MA1014 Mathematics (Algebra) Lecturer: Aruna Bandara
Semester 1 (Intake 2023)
Lecture 7

7 Systems of Linear Equations

Any system of linear equations can be represented in matrix notation as shown below.
a11 x + a12 y + a13 z = b1
a21 x + a22 y + a23 z = b2
a31 x + a32 y + a33 z = b3

A is called the coefficient matrix. If B ̸= 0 then the system is called non-

homogeneous; otherwise, it is homogeneous.

7.1 Solution of non-homogeneous systems

Three methods will be discussed here in lecture 7.

7.1.1 Method 1 (Direct Approach)

This method is used for a system where the number of linear equations is equal to the
number of unknowns and the inverse of the coefficient matrix exists. In other words, the
coefficient matrix is a square matrix and it is invertible. In that case,

AX = B =⇒ X = A−1 B

and the system has a unique solution.

MA1014 Page 2 of 5 Lecture 7
 
2 3 4
 
Example 1. Find the inverse of A = 
 1 2 1. Hence solve the system

 
4 6 5

2x + 3y + 4z = 4

x + 2y + z = −12

4x + 6y + 5z = 11.

 
−4/3 −3 5/3 
 
It can be shown that A−1 = 
 1/3 2 −2/3.

 
2/3 0 −1/3
    
−4/3 −3 5/3   4  1
     
Then we have X = A−1 B =   1/3 2 −2/3   4  =  2  . Therefore x = 1,
   
    
2/3 0 −1/3 11 −1
y = 2, and z = −1.

Exercise 1. Solve the following system.

x + y + 2z = 1

x + 2y + z = 2

2x + y + z = 3

7.1.2 Method 2 (Cramer’s Rule)

This method is also applied when the coefficient matrix is a square matrix and it is
invertible.  
x
 1
 
.
 
 
Consider the system AX = B. If A is invertible (i.e. |A| =
̸ 0) and X = 
 .  then

 
.
 
 
xn
MA1014 Page 3 of 5 Lecture 7

|Ai |
for each i ∈ {1, 2, · · · , n}, xi = where |Ai | is the determinant obtained from the
|A|
coefficient matrix A by replacing its ith column by B.

Example 2. Using Cramer’s rule solve the following system.

x + 3y + z = 8

2x + y + 3z = 7

x+y−z =2

 
1 3 1 
 
It can be shown that A =  2 1 3  and |A| = 12. Then
 
 
1 1 −1

7.1.3 Method 3 (Reducing to Echelon Form)

In the system AX = B the coefficient matrix A together with the constant matrix B i.e.
(A|B) is called the augmented matrix.
A matrix equivalent to the augmented matrix is obtained by applying a series of elemen-
tary row operations to the augmented matrix. That matrix is called the Echelon form
MA1014 Page 4 of 5 Lecture 7

of the matrix. A matrix is in Echelon form if it has the following properties:

• Any row consisting entirely of zeros occurs at the bottom of the matrix.

• For each row that does not contain entirely zeros, the first non-zero entry is 1.

• For two successive (non-zero) rows, the leading 1 in the higher row is further left
than the leading one in the lower row.

The process of reducing the augmented matrix to row Echelon form is known as
Gaussian elimination.

Example 3. Solve the following system using Gaussian eliminations.

2x + 3y + 4z = 10

x + 2y − z = −1

3x + 4y = 3.

     
 2 3 4 10   1 2 −1 −1   1 2 −1 −1 
     
 1 2 −1 −1  −→  2 3 4 10  −→  0 −1 6 12 
     
     
3 4 0 3 3 4 0 3 0 0 −9 −18

 
 1 2 −1 −1 
 
−→ 
 0 −1 6 12 

 
0 0 1 2
∴ The reduced system is

x + 2y − z = −1

y − 6z = −12

z=2

and hence the solution is x = 1, y = 0, and z = 2.

MA1014 Page 5 of 5 Lecture 7

Exercise 2. Solve the system

3x + 2y + z = 3

x − y + 3z = 5

2x − 4y + z = 2

x + y − z = 1.

 
 1 −1 3 5 
 
 0 1 −8/5 −12/5 
Since the Echelon form of the above problem is  , the fourth
 
 0 0 1 4/3 
 
 
0 0 0 1
equation of the reduced system is 0 = 1, which leads a contradiction. Hence the system
has no solutions.