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See also: Gauss-Jordan algorithm, linear equations |
A key to solving linear equations is equivalence operations which change a system of linear equations without changing the solution. For the following section it is important to remember that systems of linear equations can be depicted as matrices.
Definition: Row Equivalence Operations
Let A be an arbitrary matrix. Then the following operations
are called row equivalence operations:
|
For other purposes, you may replace row operations by column operations
leading to the same result, though they don't keep the solutions of a system
of linear equations.
A := | 0
1 |
-1
2 |
First of all, we extend this matrix with the identity matrix of appropriate
order (red part):
0
1 |
-1
2 |
|
0
1 |
Now we are going to apply equivalence operations to transform the green part of the extended matrix into an identity matrix. This will result in the inverted matrix A-1 contained in the red sub-matrix.
We start by swapping both rows (rule 1 of those mentioned above).
1
0 |
2
-1 |
0
1 |
1
0 |
Next, we add two times the second row to the first row (rule 2) and
get
1
0 |
0
-1 |
2
1 |
1
0 |
After finally having multiplied the second row with -1 (rule 3), we
end up with:
1
0 |
0
1 |
2
-1 |
1
0 |
So, we eventually have calculated A-1:
A-1 = | 2
-1 |
1
0 |
Last Update: 2004-Jul-03