Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-year-1-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2001/paper-2/7/b/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 1 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge 2001 Paper 2 7 b Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-20
The homogeneous linear system has coefficient matrixNonzero solutions exist exactly when its determinant vanishes. Expanding along the first row givesThus or . The first equation always gives . For , the second then gives ; the third imposes the same relation. For , the second gives , again consistent with the third. Therefore the nonzero solutions areFor every other , the matrix is invertible and only the zero solution exists.
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