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

The homogeneous linear system has coefficient matrix
Nonzero solutions exist exactly when its determinant vanishes. Expanding along the first row gives
Thus 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 are
For every other , the matrix is invertible and only the zero solution exists.

New to topics? Read the docs here!