Row Reduced Echelon Form (RREF) Continued
Row Reduced Echelon Form (RREF) Continued
Row Reduced Echelon Form (RREF) Continued
1 1 1 1
2 3 7
1 32 27
1
0
3. Now, Region = 2 3 7 6= 0. Then, E2 ( 2 )B =
= C(say). Then,
0 2 3 7
0 0 1
0 0 0 1
1 0 −1 2
−5
2
0 3 7
1 2 2
E12 (−1)E32 (−2)C = 0 = D(say).
0 0 0
0 0 0 1
1 0 −12
−5
2
" # 3 7
0 0 0 1 2
2
4. Now, Region = . Then, E34 D = . Now, multiply on the left by
0 1 0
0 0 1
0 0 0 0
1
1 0 −2 0
0 3
1 0
E13 ( 52 ) and E23 ( −7
2 ) to get
0
2 , a matrix in RREF. Thus, A is row equivalent
0 0 1
0 0 0 0
1
1 0 −2 0
0 3
1 2 0
to F , where F = RREF(A) = .
0 0 0 1
0 0 0 0
5. Note that we have multiplied A on the left by the elementary matrices, E12 , E31 (−1), E2 (1/2),
E32 −2, E12 (−1), E34 , E23 (−7/2), E13 (5/2), i.e.,
Recall that a matrix A is in RREF if A is staircase/ ladder-like, all its pivots are 1 and every other
entry in the pivotal column is 0.
4. If A and B are row-equivalent then there exists an invertible matrix P such that P A = B.
Theorem 1.3. Consider the linear system Ax = b. If its augmented matrix [A b] is row equivalent
to the matrix [C d] then the systems Ax = b and Cx = d have the same solution set. Thus, if
A and B are two row equivalent matrices then, the systems Ax = 0 and Bx = 0 have the same
solution set.
Important: Consider a matrix A of size m×n. Then the application of Gauss Elimination method
to A may lead to different matrices depending on the pivots that each one of us have chosen. But,
it turns out that what ever pivots we choose, the RREF (A) will be the same for all of us. That is,
the RREF of a matrix is unique. We will use this idea in later classes.