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  2. Proof by infinite descent - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proof_by_infinite_descent

    It is a method which relies on the well-ordering principle, and is often used to show that a given equation, such as a Diophantine equation, has no solutions. [3] [4] Typically, one shows that if a solution to a problem existed, which in some sense was related to one or more natural numbers, it would necessarily imply that a second solution ...

  3. Linear equation - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linear_equation

    The phrase "linear equation" takes its origin in this correspondence between lines and equations: a linear equation in two variables is an equation whose solutions form a line. If b ≠ 0 , the line is the graph of the function of x that has been defined in the preceding section.

  4. Extraneous and missing solutions - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraneous_and_missing...

    Therefore, the solution = is extraneous and not valid, and the original equation has no solution. For this specific example, it could be recognized that (for the value x = − 2 {\displaystyle x=-2} ), the operation of multiplying by ( x − 2 ) ( x + 2 ) {\displaystyle (x-2)(x+2)} would be a multiplication by zero.

  5. System of linear equations - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_of_linear_equations

    In general, a system with fewer equations than unknowns has infinitely many solutions, but it may have no solution. Such a system is known as an underdetermined system. In general, a system with the same number of equations and unknowns has a single unique solution. In general, a system with more equations than unknowns has no solution.

  6. Fermat's Last Theorem - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermat's_Last_Theorem

    In other words, it was necessary to prove only that the equation a n + b n = c n has no positive integer solutions (a, b, c) when n is an odd prime number. This follows because a solution (a, b, c) for a given n is equivalent to a solution for all the factors of n. For illustration, let n be factored into d and e, n = de. The general equation a ...

  7. Consistent and inconsistent equations - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consistent_and...

    The system + =, + = has exactly one solution: x = 1, y = 2 The nonlinear system + =, + = has the two solutions (x, y) = (1, 0) and (x, y) = (0, 1), while + + =, + + =, + + = has an infinite number of solutions because the third equation is the first equation plus twice the second one and hence contains no independent information; thus any value of z can be chosen and values of x and y can be ...

  8. Overdetermined system - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overdetermined_system

    The number of independent equations in the original system is the number of non-zero rows in the echelon form. The system is inconsistent (no solution) if and only if the last non-zero row in echelon form has only one non-zero entry that is in the last column (giving an equation 0 = c where c is a non-zero constant).

  9. Underdetermined system - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underdetermined_system

    The homogeneous (with all constant terms equal to zero) underdetermined linear system always has non-trivial solutions (in addition to the trivial solution where all the unknowns are zero). There are an infinity of such solutions, which form a vector space , whose dimension is the difference between the number of unknowns and the rank of the ...