Question 538167: I need help working this problem out. I have no idea what I am doing.
4a + 2b - 6c = 2
6a + 3b - 9c = 3
8a + 4b - 12c = 6 Answer by jpg7n16(66) (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website! The idea behind a more complicated problem like this is to make things as easy as possible. For instance, start reducing everything. Equation 1 is all multiples of 2. #2 is multiples of 3. And #3 is multiples of 4 (except the 6) - but it's worth reducing anyways.
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The ultimate goal is to eliminate one/two of the variables to solve for the rest.
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Step 1: reduce all the coefficients down by dividing by 2, 3 and 4 respectively
1)
2)
3)
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And something's wrong with this problem. 2 equations are NEVER supposed to be identical after reducing. And you'll notice #1 and #2 are equal. (So one of them is irrelevant)
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But worse than that, we know that if a=b and a=c then b=c, right? Well according to your problem:
Since and , then - which is def not true.
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So there you have it. There's something wrong with the problem! It's not your fault :-)
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