National Institute of Technology Calicut
Department of Mathematics
MA1003E - Mathematics-I
Monsoon Semester 2025–2026
Tutorial – 7
Topics Covered: Gauss elimination method, row echelon form, row space, row rank, existence
and uniqueness, homogeneous system, Linear independence and span of row vectors, Linearly
independent solutions, rank-nullity relation for homogeneous linear system
1. Using Gauss elimination method, solve the following system of linear equations:
a. x + y + z = 6, 2x − y + z = 3, x + z = 4.
b. x + y + z = 6, 2x − y + z = 3, x + z = 4, 2x + y + z = 7.
c. x + y + z = 6, 2x − y + z = 3, x + z = 4, 2x + y + z = 8.
2. Prove that the system 3x + 4y + 5z = a, 4x + 5y + 6z = b and 5x + 6y + 7z = c does
not have a solution unless a + c = 2b.
3. The height y of an object thrown into the air is known to be given by a quadratic
function of t (time) of the form y = at2 + bt + c. If the object is at height y = 23
4
at
1
time t = 2 , at y = 7 at time t = 1, and at y = 2 at t = 2, determine a, b, and c.
4. Prove that regardless of the number of unknowns its equations contain, a linear system
will have either no solutions, exactly one solution, or infinitely many solutions.
5. Which of the following matrices are in row echelon form? Which are in reduced row
echelon form?
0 0 0 0
1 3 5 2 0 0 1 0 2 3 1 1 0 1 1
2 3 0 , 0 2 0 , 0 1 2 0 , 0 0 0 1 , 0 0 0
.
0 1 0 0
1 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1
0 0 0 1
6. Using elementary row operations, determine the ranks of the following matrices
1 2 3 4 2 0 −1 0
2 0 −1 2 3 4 5 1 −2 1 −1
, 4 1 0 5
5 1 0 ,
1 11 15 19
, 1 1 −2 3 0 1
,
3 6
0 1 3 4 1 −5 8
9 15 21 27 6 1 −2 6
7. By using Gaussian elimination method, balance the chemical reaction equations:
C2 H6 + O2 −→ H2 O + CO2 ; P4 O10 + H2 O −→ H3 P O4
8. Solve the following systems of homogeneous equations.
a. 3x + 2y + 7z = 0, 4x − 3y − 2z = 0, 5x + 9y + 23z = 0.
1
b. 2x + 3y − z = 0, x − y − 2z = 0, 3x + y + 3z = 0.
9. Determine the values of λ for which the following system of equations
x + y + 3z = 0, 4x + 3y + λz = 0, 2x + y + 2z = 0,
has i) a unique solution (ii) a non-trivial solution.
10. Show that the following homogeneous system has nontrivial solutions,
x − y + 2z − w = 0, 2x + 2y + w = 0, 3x + y + 2z − w = 0
11. In each of the following, find all values of α for which the system has nontrivial
solutions, and determine all solutions in each case
a. x − 2y + z = 0, x + αy − 3z = 0, −x + 6y − 5z = 0.
b. x + 2y + z = 0, x + 3y + 6z = 0, 2x + 3y + αz = 0.
12. For each of the following homogeneous systems, find a set of basic solutions and express
the general solution as a linear combination of these basic solutions.
a. x1 +2x2 −x3 +2x4 +x5 = 0, x1 +2x2 +2x3 +x5 = 0, 2x1 +4x2 −2x3 +3x4 +x5 = 0.
b. x1 +2x2 −x3 +x4 +x5 = 0, −x1 −2x2 +2x3 +x5 = 0, −x1 −2x2 +3x3 +x4 +3x5 = 0.
13. Find the values of λ and µ for which the system of equations
x + 2y + z = 6, x + 4y + 3z = 10, x + 4y + λz = µ,
has a) unique solution, b) infinite many solutions and c) no solution.
14. Test whether the following row vectors (vectors in R3 or R4 ) are linearly independent.
a. (2, 2, 1), (1, -1, 1), (1, 0, 1).
b. (1, 3, 4), (1, 1, 0), (1, 4, 2), (1, -2, 1).
c. (4, 1, 2, -6), (1, 1, 0, 3), (1, -1, 0, 2), (-2, 1, 0, 3).
d. (1, 2, 3, 4), (2, 0, 1, -2), (3, 2, 4, 2).
15. If x, y, z are linearly independent row vectors of a matrix, then prove or disprove that
(i) x+y, y+z, z+x and (ii) x, x+y, x+y+z are also linearly independent elements
in the row space.
16. Write (−4, 7, 9) as a linear combination of the elements of the row vectors (1, 2, 3),
(1, 3, 4), (3, 1, 2). Also show that the later 3 vectors can span any row vector (a, b, c).
17. Solve the following homogeneous system of equation Ax = 0, where A is given by
1 2 −3 2 1 1 1 −1 1
(i) 1 1 −1 (ii) 1 −1 (iii) 2 3 1 4 .
2 3 −4 3 2 3 2 −6 1
and in each case,
a. Find the rank of A
b. Find the number of independent solutions of the system
c. Establish the rank-nullity relation for A.
c. Express the general solution of the system as a linear combination of independent
solutions, in the case of nontrivial solutions.
**************