Is There More Than Meets the Eye in Finding the General Solution for a Matrix?

nk735
Messages
13
Reaction score
0

Homework Statement



Given the matrix A=[...], find the general solution of; A[x;y;z]=[0;0;0]

Homework Equations





The Attempt at a Solution



This question has me lost. When I look at that it tells me x, y and z are all equal to 0. Is there something I'm missing, perhaps in the words 'general solution'?
 
Physics news on Phys.org
A[x;y;z]=[0;0;0] is stating in matrix form the general solution to a set of 3 equations of variables x,y,z all = 0. For example If A=[a b c;d e f;g h i], how does one write what x, y and z are in terms of a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h and i IF ax+by+cz=0, dx+ey+fz=0 and gx+hy+iz=0? That's what I got out of the question.
 
There are two things I don't understand about this problem. First, when finding the nth root of a number, there should in theory be n solutions. However, the formula produces n+1 roots. Here is how. The first root is simply ##\left(r\right)^{\left(\frac{1}{n}\right)}##. Then you multiply this first root by n additional expressions given by the formula, as you go through k=0,1,...n-1. So you end up with n+1 roots, which cannot be correct. Let me illustrate what I mean. For this...
Back
Top