Clear Filters
Clear Filters

Solve fails to find a solution for trivial linear system

1 view (last 30 days)
I'm trying to find the value of G in the following set of equations by code:
clear all; clc;
syms R T S u yr y B A G
eq1 = R*u == T*yr - S*y;
eq2 = y == (B/A)*u;
eq3 = y == G*yr;
solve([eq1,eq2,eq3], G)
However, solve fails with an empty solution set, although this system has a trivial answer.
It's easy to see how it can be done, from eq1:
u == (T*yr - S*y)/R
From eq2:
y == (B/A)*(T*yr - S*y)/R
Thus:
y = yr*(B*T)/(A*R + B*S)
Finally, from eq3:
G = (B*T)/(A*R + B*S)
I can't understand why solve fails in this case. I appreciate any help I can get.

Accepted Answer

Walter Roberson
Walter Roberson on 6 Mar 2016
Actually it is just a matter of telling it all three variables to solve for:
solve(eq1, eq2, eq3, y, u, G)
  2 Comments
Daniel
Daniel on 6 Mar 2016
Edited: Daniel on 6 Mar 2016
Wow, that was exactly it! Is there a specific reason why I need two more variables?
I used:
res = solve([eq1,eq2,eq3], [y,u,G])
and it worked perfectly. Thank you, Walter!
Walter Roberson
Walter Roberson on 6 Mar 2016
When you do not specify the other variables, the best you could have hoped for was that G was returned as y/yr, from the third equation, as it would have had no reason to know which other variables to eliminate.

Sign in to comment.

More Answers (1)

Star Strider
Star Strider on 6 Mar 2016
Sometimes, you have to lead it gently by the hand:
syms R T S u yr y B A G
eq1 = R*u == T*yr - S*y;
eq2 = y == (B/A)*u;
eq3 = y == G*yr;
eq4 = solve(eq2, eq3);
yr = eq4.yr;
eq5 = subs(eq1, yr);
G_solved = solve(eq5, G)
G_solved =
-(B*S*u)/(A*(R*u - T*yr))
  1 Comment
Daniel
Daniel on 6 Mar 2016
Star, as always, great answer and you're one of the most helpful people here but I'll have to hand this one to Walter Roberson because he hit the nail on the head. Thank you!

Sign in to comment.

Categories

Find more on MATLAB in Help Center and File Exchange

Products

Community Treasure Hunt

Find the treasures in MATLAB Central and discover how the community can help you!

Start Hunting!