[Math] How to get the parametric form solution of a linear system from reduced row-echelon form

linear algebra

I have the following system of equations:

x1 + 6x2 + 2x3 - 5x4 = 0
-x1 - 6x2 - x3 - 3x4 = 0
2x1 + 612x2 + 5x3 - 18x4 = 0

and I understand that it translated into the following matrix:

1       6     2     -5     0
-1     -6    -1     -3     0
2      12     5     -18    0

Finally, I understand how to use Gauss-Jordan elimination to change this to reduced row-echelon form:

1    6    0   11    0
0    0    1   -8    0
0    0    0    0    0

However, in an example solution that my instructor has prepared, this is then used to find the general solution in parametric form:

x1 = -6s - 11t
x2 = s
x3 = 8t
x4 = t

No intermediate steps are given. I can see that a similarity in the numbers, but I'm not sure exactly what to do.

It looks like arbitrary letter variables have been assigned to those columns which don't start any row with a one and then these variables are used to complete equations for the columns which do start rows. Is that all this is? Or is there something that I'm missing?

Best Answer

Remember that augmented matrices correspond to systems of linear equations. Once you've finished row-reducing, turn the row-reduced matrix back into a system of equations and solve for the variables in the pivot columns:

$$\begin{pmatrix}1 & 6 & 0 & 11 & | & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & 1 & -8 & | & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & | & 0\end{pmatrix} \longrightarrow \begin{cases}x_1 + 6x_2 + 11x_4 = 0 \\ x_3 -8x_4 = 0\end{cases}\longrightarrow \begin{cases}x_1 = -6x_2 - 11x_4 \\ x_3 = 8x_4.\end{cases}$$ The free variables $x_2,x_4$ are now parameters. Once you specify them, you specify a single solution to the equation. So subsitute $x_2 = s,x_4 = t$ and arrive at the parametrized form: $$\begin{cases} x_1 = -6s - 11t\\ x_2 = s\\ x_3 = 8t\\ x_4 = t \end{cases}$$

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