Rouché–Capelli theorem

In linear algebra, the Rouché–Capelli theorem determines the number of solutions for a system of linear equations, given the rank of its augmented matrix and coefficient matrix. The theorem is variously known as the:

• Rouché–Capelli theorem in English speaking countries, Italy and Brazil;
• Kronecker–Capelli theorem in Austria, Poland, Romania and Russia;
• Rouché–Fontené theorem in France;
• Rouché–Frobenius theorem in Spain and many countries in Latin America;
• Frobenius theorem in the Czech Republic and in Slovakia.

1 Formal statement

A system of linear equations with $n$ variables has a solution if and only if the rank of its coefficient matrix $A$ is equal to the rank of its augmented matrix $[A|b]$. If there are solutions, they form an affine subspace of ${\mathbb{R}}^n$ of dimension $n$ − rank($A$). In particular:

• if $n=rank(A)$, the solution is unique,
• otherwise there are infinitely many solutions.

2 Example

Consider the system of equations
$$\begin{gathered} x+y+2z=3, \\ x+y+z=1, \\ 2x+2y+2z=2. \end{gathered}$$
The coefficient matrix is
$A=\left[\begin{array}{ccc}1& 1& 2\\ 1& 1& 1\\ 2& 2& 2\end{array}\right],$
and the augmented matrix is
$(A|B)=\left[\begin{array}{cccc}1& 1& 2& 3\\ 1& 1& 1& 1\\ 2& 2& 2& 2\end{array}\right].$
Since both of these have the same rank, namely $2$, there exists at least one solution; and since their rank is less than the number of unknowns, the latter being $3$, there are infinitely many solutions.

In contrast, consider the system
$$\begin{gathered} x+y+2z=3, \\ x+y+z=1, \\ 2x+2y+2z=5. \end{gathered}$$
The coefficient matrix is
$A=\left[\begin{array}{ccc}1& 1& 2\\ 1& 1& 1\\ 2& 2& 2\end{array}\right],$
and the augmented matrix is
$(A|B)=\left[\begin{array}{cccc}1& 1& 2& 3\\ 1& 1& 1& 1\\ 2& 2& 2& 5\end{array}\right].$
In this example the coefficient matrix has rank $2$, while the augmented matrix has rank $3$; so this system of equations has no solution. Indeed, an increase in the number of linearly independent columns has made the system of equations inconsistent.

3 See also

• Cramer’s rule
• Gaussian elimination

4 References

5 External links