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Question 116081:  If you could explain to me how to solve this problem, I would appreciate it. I need numerical values for a, b, c, and d. I know this involves substitution, I just don't know where to start! Thank you so much. 
 
2a+3b-4c+6d=6
 
7a-5b-c=-7
 
13a-9b=6
 
d^2-2d=-1 
 Found 2 solutions by  Edwin McCravy, bucky: Answer by Edwin McCravy(20064)      (Show Source): 
You can  put this solution on YOUR website! 
 2a + 3b - 4c + 6d =  6 
 7a - 5b - c       = -7 
13a - 9b           =  6 
           dē - 2d = -1
Solve the last equation first, since
that is the only equation that has 
just one unknown:
       dē - 2d = -1
   dē - 2d + 1 =  0
(d - 1)(d - 1) =  0
d - 1 = 0 or d =  1
Substitute d = 1 into the first 
equation:
  2a + 3b - 4c + 6d = 6
2a + 3b - 4c + 6(1) = 6
   2a + 3b - 4c + 6 = 6
       2a + 3b - 4c = 0
So now the system of equations is:
 2a + 3b - 4c =  0
 7a - 5b -  c = -7 
13a - 9b      =  6
Can you solve that system? If not,
post again asking how.
Answer:  a = 6, b = 8, c = 9 
and earlier we found d = 1.
Edwin  
 Answer by bucky(2189)      (Show Source): 
You can  put this solution on YOUR website! Sort of complex. For reference I'm going to use Roman Numerals to Identify the 4 equations as follows: 
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(I) 2a+3b-4c+6d=6 
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(II) 7a-5b-c=-7 
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(III) 13a-9b=6 
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(IV) d^2-2d=-1 
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Cramer's rule might be an interesting way to solve this, but I'm going to assume that you 
haven't studied that yet. So let's just plod our way through. 
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The first thing that I noticed was that equation (IV) has just one variable. So we can solve 
it for d first thing. Add 1 to both sides of equation (IV) and it becomes: 
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d^2 - 2d + 1 = 0 
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The left side is a perfect square as follows: 
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(d - 1)^2 = 0 
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To make the left side equal to the zero on the right side we need to have: 
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d - 1 = 0 
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Solve for d by adding 1 to both sides to get: 
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d = 1 
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One down ... only a, b, and c to find. Before we go further let's go back to equation (I) and  
substitute 1 for d to make that equation: 
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2a + 3b - 4c + 6(1) = 6 
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subtract 6 from both sides and equation I reduces to: 
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(I) 2a + 3b - 4c = 0 
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Notice that the form of this equation is now very similar to equation (II). Let's multiply 
both sides of equation (II) by -4 and it becomes: 
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(II) -28a + 20b + 4c = 28 
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We now have the new equations (I) and (II) as: 
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( I ) 2a + 3b - 4c = 0 
(II)-28a +20b + 4c = 28 
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Notice now what happens if we add these two equations vertically in columns. We eliminate 
the terms containing the variable c and the equation resulting from this addition (call 
it equation (I&II) is: 
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(I&II) -26a + 23b = 28 
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This looks a lot like equation (III) and the pair of equations is now: 
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(I&II)-26a + 23b = 28 
(III) +13a - 9b = 6 
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Let's work to eliminate the variable "a". Multiply equation (III) ... all terms on both 
sides by 2 to make the equation pair become: 
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(I&II)-26a + 23b = 28 
(III) +26a - 18b = 12 
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If we then add the two equations vertically in columns, the two "a" terms cancel each other 
and the combined equation that results from the addition (call it equation (I&II&III) becomes: 
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(I&II&III) 5b = 40 
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Divide both sides by 5 and get: 
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b = 40/5 = 8 
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Two down ... only a and c left to find. 
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Now that we know b = 8 we can return to the original equation (III) and substitute 
8 for b to get: 
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(III) 13a - 9(8) = 6 
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Multiply 9 times 8 and the equation changes to: 
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(III) 13a - 72 = 6 
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Add 72 to both sides and it further becomes: 
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(III) 13a = 78 
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Solve for a by dividing both sides by 13 to get: 
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a = 78/13 = 6 
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One more to go ... just c left. 
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Return to one of the original equations that contains c and substitute the known values for 
a and b. Let's go way back to equation (II). If we substitute 6 for a and 8 for b that equation 
becomes: 
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(II) 7(6)- 5(8) - c = -7 
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Do the multiplications and we get: 
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(II) 42 - 40 - c = -7 
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Combine the numbers on the left side: 
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(II) 2 - c = -7 
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Subtract 2 from both sides to reduce this to: 
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(II) - c = -9 
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Solve for +c by multiplying both sides by -1 and we have: 
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c = +9 
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That's it ... no more variables to find. In summary: a = 6, b = 8, c = 9, and d = 1. 
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You can check these answers by returning to the original 4 equations and substituting 
the values for a, b, c, and d as needed in each equation. You should (and will) find that 
with these values the left side of each equation will equal the right side. 
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Hope this helps you to understand the problem. 
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