Final answer:
To find the general solution in terms of one or more column matrices, we need to use the reduced coefficient matrix. The dimension of the solution space is 1 and a basis for this space can be represented by the column matrix [0 0 0 0 1]T.
Step-by-step explanation:
To find the general solution in terms of one or more column matrices, we need to use the reduced coefficient matrix. Given the system of equations:
6x₁ - x₂ + x₃ = 0
x₁ - x₄ + x₅ = 0
x₁ - 2x₅ = 0
We can rewrite it in matrix form as:
[6 -1 1 0 0][x₁ x₂ x₃ x₄ x₅]T = [0 0 0]
Using Gaussian elimination, we can reduce the coefficient matrix to row-echelon form:
[1 0 0 0 3/2][x₁ x₂ x₃ x₄ x₅]T = [0 0 0]
So the general solution can be expressed as:
x₁ = -3/2x₅
x₂ = 0
x₃ = 0
x₄ = 0
x₅ = x₅
The dimension of the solution space is 1 since there is one free variable x₅.
A basis for this space can be represented by the column matrix [0 0 0 0 1]T.