I just started learning about Matrix and I got this as a warm-up problem, but I don't know how to solve it and the examples in my textbook aren't anything like this one: [4x 3y] = [12 -1]

Please help.

Since the two matrices have the same size and they are equal, corresponding elements must be equal.

Thus:
4x = 12 ----> x = 3
3y = -1 ----> y = -1/3

OHHH. I GOTCHA. THANKS

To solve the given problem, let's understand the equation first.

We have a matrix equation [4x 3y] = [12 -1].

The left-hand side of the equation [4x 3y] represents a matrix with two columns: the first column contains 4x and the second column contains 3y.

The right-hand side of the equation [12 -1] represents a matrix with one row and two columns: the first column contains 12 and the second column contains -1.

Now, to solve for x and y, we can write the equation as two separate equations:

4x = 12 (equation 1)
3y = -1 (equation 2)

Let's solve equation 1 for x:

Divide both sides of the equation by 4:

4x / 4 = 12 / 4
x = 3

Now, let's solve equation 2 for y:

Divide both sides of the equation by 3:

3y / 3 = -1 / 3
y = -1/3

Therefore, the solution to the system of equations is x = 3 and y = -1/3.