Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 1 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge / 2010 / Paper 1 / 15 / b

Let $d=b\cdot x$. Taking a dot product with $b$ reduces the vector equation to $(1-b\cdot c)d=b\cdot a$. If $b\cdot c\ne 1$, this determines a unique scalar and hence a unique vector:Direct substitution verifies it, so necessity has also produced sufficiency. The formula includes $c=0$, when $x=a$.

If $b\cdot c=1$, the reduced scalar equation becomes $0=b\cdot a$. When $b\cdot a\ne 0$, there is no solution. When $b\cdot a=0$, all solutions are $x=a+dc$ with arbitrary $d\in \mathbb{R}$: their dot product with $b$ is indeed $d$. Since $b\cdot c=1$ forces $c\ne 0$, this is an entire affine line, not a single point. These alternatives are the solvability of an affine rank-one vector equation.