MA1002 : Mathematics II
Dr. Hiranmoy Pal1
1 Department of Mathematics
National Institute of Technology Rourkela
March 13, 2023
Outline
Reduced Row Echelon Form
Leading and Free Variables
Method of RREF
Gauss-Jordan Elimination Method
Rank of a Matrix
Reduced Row Echelon Form
I A matrix A is said to be in reduced row echelon form
(RREF) if it satisfies the following:
I A is in row echelon form.
II The pivot (leading entry) in each non-zero row is a 1.
III Each column containing a pivot has zeros elsewhere.
I The following matrices are in reduced row echelon form
1 0 0 0 1 0 2
1 0
, 0 1 0 , 0 0 1 10 .
0 1
0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Problem. Find whether the following matrices are in reduced row
echelon form:
1 1 0 0 1 0 2
1 1
, 0 1 0 , 1 0 0 1 .
0 1
1 0 1 0 0 1 1
Problem. Use elementary row operations to transform the above
matrices in RREF.
Problem. What are the possible types of RREF forms of 2 × 2 and
3 × 3 matrices.
Leading and Free Variables
I Consider the system Ax = b in n variables and m equations.
a11 a12 · · · a1n x1 b1
a21 a22 · · · a2n x2 b2
Ax = = =b
··· ··· ··· · · · · · · · · ·
am1 am2 · · · amn xn bm
a11 a12 a1n b1
a21 a22 a2n b2
⇒ x1
· · · + x2 · · · + · · · + xn · · ·
= .
· · ·
am1 am2 amn bm
I Let [R | r] be a row echelon form of [A | b].
I The variables corresponding to the leading columns in the first
n columns of [R | r] are called the leading variables or basic
variables.
I The variables which are not leading are called free variables.
Theorem 1
Every matrix has a unique reduced row echelon form.
Proof.
I Use induction on the number of columns.
I If A = [B | C], and RREF (A) = [R1 | R2 ], then note that
R1 is the RREF of B.
Method of RREF I
Let A be an m × n matrix. The following step by step method is
used to obtain the reduced row echelon form of A.
1. Let the i-th column be the left most non-zero column of A.
Interchange rows, if necessary, to make the first entry of this
column non-zero. Now use elementary row operations to
make all the entries below this first entry equal to 0.
2. Forget the first row and first i columns. Start with the lower
(m − 1) × (n − i) sub matrix of the matrix obtained in the
first step and proceed as in Step 1.
3. Repeat the above steps until we get a row echelon form.
Method of RREF II
4. Now use the leading term in each of the leading column to
make (by elementary row operations) all other entries in that
column equal to zero. Use this step starting form the
rightmost leading column.
5. Scale the leading entries of the matrix obtained in the
previous step, by multiplying the rows by suitable constants,
to make all the leading entries equal to 1, ending with the
unique reduced row echelon form of A.
Gauss-Jordan Elimination Method
Use the following steps to solve a system of equations Ax = b.
1. Write the augmented matrix [A | b].
2. Use elementary row operations to transform [A | b] to
reduced row echelon form.
3. Use back substitution to solve the equivalent system that
corresponds to the reduced row echelon form.
Example. Solve the following systems using Gauss-Jordan
elimination method.
a. w−x−y+2z = 1, 2w−2x−y+3z = 3, −w+x−y = −3.
b. 2y + 3z = 8, 2x + 3y + z = 5, x − y − 2z = −5.
c. x − y + 2z = 3, x + 2y − z = −3, 2y − 2z = 1.
Rank of a Matrix
Definition 1
The rank of a matrix A, denoted rank(A), is the number of
non-zero rows in its row echelon form.
Theorem 2
Let Ax = b be a system of equations with n variables. Then
number of free variables is equal to n − rank(A).
Theorem 3
Let Ax = 0 be a homogeneous system of equations with n
variables. If rank(A) < n then the system has infinitely many
solutions.
Theorem 4
Let Ax = b be a system of equations with n variables.
1. If rank(A) 6= rank([A | b]) then Ax = b is inconsistent.
2. If rank(A) = rank([A | b]) = n then Ax = b has a unique
solution.
3. If rank(A) = rank([A | b]) < n then Ax = b has infinitely
many solutions.
