What Values of c Result in No Solutions for This Linear System?

azupol
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http://www.scribd.com/doc/66759813/mat223tut1"
Question 2 and 3

Homework Statement


For what values of c does the system have no solutions? I figured out the other ones, for c=0 we can assign a parameter to x1 and it will then have infinite solutions. For c=1 the system will have a unique solution. I know that if the matrix is in reduced row echelon form, and if the last row is all zeroes except for the right hand side of the equality, it has no solutions, but how can I manipulate the augmented matrix to make it so?

Homework Equations


Here is the augmented matrix:
1 1 3|c
c 1 5|4
1 c 4|c

The Attempt at a Solution


I can use elementary row/column operations, but I end up with this matrix in trying to make the bottom row 0...

1 1 3 |c
0 (1-c) (5-3c) |-c2+4
0 (c-1) 1 |-c2
 
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azupol said:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/66759813/mat223tut1"
Question 2 and 3

Homework Statement


For what values of c does the system have no solutions? I figured out the other ones, for c=0 we can assign a parameter to x1 and it will then have infinite solutions. For c=1 the system will have a unique solution. I know that if the matrix is in reduced row echelon form, and if the last row is all zeroes except for the right hand side of the equality, it has no solutions, but how can I manipulate the augmented matrix to make it so?

Homework Equations


Here is the augmented matrix:
1 1 3|c
c 1 5|4
1 c 4|c


The Attempt at a Solution


I can use elementary row/column operations, but I end up with this matrix in trying to make the bottom row 0...

1 1 3 |c
0 (1-c) (5-3c) |-c2+4
0 (c-1) 1 |-c2

You have a mistake in your bottom row. You should have this:
1 1 3 |c
0 (1-c) (5-3c) |-c2+4
0 (c-1) 1 |0
 
Last edited by a moderator:
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...
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