Chapter 1: Q20E (page 1)
In Exercise 19 and 20, choose \({\rm{h}}\) and \({\rm{k}}\) such that the system has
a. no solution
b. unique solution
c. many solutions.
Give separate answers for each part.
20. \(\begin{array}{l}{x_1} + 3{x_2} = 2\\3{x_1} + h{x_2} = k\end{array}\)
Short Answer
(a) No solution:
There is no solution when \(h - 9 = 0\) and \(k - 6 \ne 0\). The matrix has a row with the nonzero number in the last column; \(h = 2\) and \(k \ne {\rm{8}}\).
(b) Unique solution:
There is a unique solution when pivots are in columns 1 and 2 but not in column 3; \(h - 9 \ne 0\),i.e., \(h \ne 9\).
(c) Many solutions:
There are many solutions when the number of variables is more than the number of nonzero rows in the row-reduced matrix; when \({\rm{h - 9 = k - 6 = 0}}\), or when \({\rm{h = 9}}\) and \({\rm{k = 6}}\).