3. Set of Linear Equations 971
3. Set of Linear Equations
Mathematical modeling of most physical phenomena reduces to a set of simulta-
neous differential equations the solution of which would determine the parameters
of interest. The solution to such set of equations involves the approximation of
the differential terms by finite difference, for example, and then linearization of
the nonlinear terms. The linearization of a set of non-linear differential equations
is discussed in Chapter VIIe. The net result is a set of linear simultaneous equa-
tions as given in Equation VIId.3.1, which must be solved in each time interval to
obtain the trend of the parameters. There are several techniques for solving a set
of n simultaneous linear equations in n unknowns:
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=++++
=++++
=++++
nnnnnnn
nn
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cxaxaxaxa
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#
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VIId.3.1
such as matrix inversion and the Gauss – Seidel iteration method.
3.1. Solution to a Set of Linear Equations by Matrix Inversion
The above general set of linear equations can be written in the form of a matrix
equation as:
Ax = c VIId.3.2
where A is the coefficient matrix, x is the unknown vector, and c is the constant
vector. If we now multiply both sides of Equation VIId.3.2 by A
–1
we get A
–1
(Ax)
= A
–1
c. Since A
–1
A = I, the left hand-side becomes:
x = A
–1
c
As a result, to solve a set of algebraic equations, we must find the inverse of the
coefficient matrix and multiply it by the vector of the constants. If we place the
vector of constants c as the last column inside the coefficient matrix A, the resul-
tant is called the augmented matrix. Several examples are provided below. The
reader should try to solve these sets and compare the results with those given be-
low.
Example 1. Consider the set of linear equations as shown in Figure VIId.3.1(a).
This set in matrix form is shown in Figure VIId.3.1(b). The augmented matrix of
this set is shown is Figure VIId.3.1(c).