Solution TSS.C28 Chris Black
The augmented matrix for the given linear system and its row-reduced form are: \begin{align*} \begin{bmatrix} 1 & 2 & 3 & 1\\ 2 & -1 & 1 & 2\\ 1 & -8 & -7 & 1\\ 0 & 1 & 1 & 0 \end{bmatrix} \rref \begin{bmatrix} \leading{1} & 0 & 1 & 1\\ 0 & \leading{1} & 1 & 0\\ 0 & 0 & 0 & 0\\ 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \end{bmatrix}. \end{align*} For this system, $n = 3$ and $r = 2$. Since it is a consistent system by Theorem RCLS, Theorem CSRN guarantees an infinite number of solutions. An equivalent system is \begin{align*} x_1 &= 1 - x_3\\ x_2 &= -x_3, \end{align*} where $x_3$ is any scalar. So we can express the solution set as \begin{align*} \setparts{\colvector{1 - x_3\\ -x_3\\x_3}}{x_3\in\complexes} \end{align*}