 Skip Navigation  Consistent and Inconsistent Linear Systems
Systems with parallel or intersecting lines  Atoms Practice
Practice Consistent and Inconsistent Linear Systems Practice Now
Who Done It?  Have you ever wondered how police use eyewitness
statements to solve crimes? After interviewing several
witnesses, it might at first seem impossible to find out
“whodunit,” but if investigators think of the collection of
statements as a system of equations, they can start to put
together the pieces of the puzzle.  Why It Matters  If one
witness says the bad guy has black hair and is a man, while
another one insists the criminal is female and blond, their
statements are inconsistent. Based on these two statements, no
conviction can be made. If two eyewitnesses both say that the
criminal is an elderly gentleman with gray hair, a conviction
still can’t be made. That’s because these are dependent
statements.  To make a conviction, an officer of the law needs
two independent statements that are consistent with each o