Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 1 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge / 2014 / Paper 2 / 12 / b / ii

At $a=2$, eliminate the first column by $R_2\leftarrow R_2-2R_1$ and $R_3\leftarrow R_3-2R_1$ in the augmented matrix. The last two rows give $-z=-2$ and $-y+z=-1$. Hence $z=2$, $y=3$, and the first row then gives $x=-2$. ThusThe coefficient determinant at this parameter is nonzero, so this solution is unique.