Practice question · Multiple choice
While solving a linear system you reach the row . What has the algebra just told you?
Hints
- Translate the row back into an equation about the unknowns.
- It reads . Can any choice of arrange that?
Show the answer
D. The system is inconsistent
Why
The row asserts , a contradiction, so the original equations demand the impossible (geometrically: parallel lines that never meet). Elimination doesn’t just find solutions; it delivers verdicts about whether solutions exist at all.
Practise Systems of Linear Equations and Gaussian Elimination
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