Math 21b: Linear Algebra Spring 2017

Homework 1: Linear Equations

This homework is due on Monday, January 30, respectively Tuesday January 31, 2017. Homework
is due at the beginning of each class in the classroom.

2x y + 2z = 3
1 Find all solutions of the linear system x + y z =6
x + 2y 4z = 16

Solution:
The solution is x = 2, y = 1, z = 3.
2 A secret fraction lab near Boston has discov-
ered three nonzero fractions x, y, z such that
their sum adds up to 1. One of the fractions is
twice as big the other. You also know that one
of the fractions is three times as big as an other.
The lab has found two solutions but knows that
there are four. Can you find them all?

Solution:
We have the following possibilities
x + y + z = 1, x = 2y, x = 3z
x + y + z = 1, x = 2y, y = 3z
x + y + z = 1, x = 2y, z = 3y
The solutions are 1/3, 1/6/1/2 or 3/5, 1/10, 3/10 or
6/11, 3/11, 2/11 or x = 2/9, y = 1/9, z = 2/3.
3 A 10 km trip from the Swiss waterfall Rhein-
fall to the village Rheinau takes 30 minutes.
The return trip takes an hour. How fast is the
speed v (in km/h) of the boat traveling relative
to the water, and how fast is the speed s (in
km/h) of the river?
Solution:
Let v be the speed of the boat relative to the water, and s be
the speed of the stream; then the speed of the boat relative to
the land is v + s downstream and v s upstream. Using the
fact that (distance) = (speed)(time), we obtain the system
1

10 = (v + s) 2 downstream

10 = (v s) upstream

The augmented matrix is

1 1
2 210
.


1 1 10

We first scale this to get

1 1 20
,


1 1 10

then swap rows and eliminate to get

2 0 30
.


1 1 20

Scaling gives us
1 0 15
,


1 1 20

and subtraction yields

1 0 15
.


0 1 5

From this, we can see that the solution is v = 15 and s = 5.

4 On a heating mesh, the temperature at exterior
mesh points is 0, 400 or 800 F as given in the 0

picture. In thermal equilibrium, each interior 400 T1 0

mesh point has the average of the temperatures
400 T2 T3 0
at the 4 adjacent points. For example T2 =
(T3 + T1 + 400 + 0)/4. Find the temperatures 0 800
T1, T2, T3.

Solution:
The thermal equilibrium condition requires that
T2 + 400 + 0 + 0
T1 = ,
4
T1 + T3 + 400 + 0
T2 = ,
4
T2 + 800 + 0 + 0
T3 = .

4
4T1 + T2 = 400



We can rewrite this system as T1 4T2 + T3 = 400 .



T2 4T3 = 800

The solutions are T1 = 150, T2 = 200, T3 = 250.

5 A polyhedron has v vertices, e edges and f tri-
angular faces. Euler proved his famous formula
v e + f = 2. There is an other relation,
3f = 2e called a Dehn-Sommerville relation
which always holds. The number f is called
the area. You get a polyhedron with area 288.
Write down a system of equations in matrix form
Ax = b. Then determine the number of vertices
and edges.
Solution:
We already know that the number of faces is 288, as each face has
unit area, so there is the relation f = 288. Using this, along with
the two given relations, we obtain the system with augmented
1 1 1 2

matrix 0 2 3 0 . We can very easily eliminate the

0 0 1 288


1 1 0 286

values in the left column to obtain 0 2 0 864 . From

0 0 1 288

this, we can scale the middle row and add it to the top row,
1 0 0 146

getting 0 1 0 432 . This tells us that there are 146 vertices,

0 0 1 288

and 432 edges and 288 faces.

What you can see in this problem is the general fact that for a
polyhedron with triangular faces, the volume alone determines
all the combinatorics!

Main definitions
A linear equation for finitely many variables
x1, x2, . . . , xn is an equation of the form

a1x1 + a2x2 + + anxn = b .

If m equations of this type are given, we have a system of
linear equations. It can be written in matrix form A~x =
~b, where ~x is a column vector containing the n variables and
the m n matrix A lists all the m n coefficients. Finally,
~b is the column vector listing the values to the right. For
example, the system x + 2y + z = 8, 3x y 7z = 4 of
equations can be written as

x
1 2 1 8


y = .


3 1 7 4


z

Unlike in the homework examples given here, the number of

variables and equations do not always have to be the same.