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ExampleConstruction: AI-adaptedVerification: AI-generatedSession-authored (Fable 5 assisted)precheck passaudited 2026-08-11
How statement and proof provenance work

The first chip identifies the source of the statement or construction; the second identifies the source of its local proof or verification.

  • Literature-sourced: the exact statement appears in a cited source; only wording and notation differ.
  • AI-adapted: a semantically identical restatement of literature-sourced material, modulo indexing, notation, and boundary cases adopted by the library.
  • AI-generated: a genuinely novel statement formulated by AI, with no source for the claim itself.

These labels describe origin, not correctness: citations and verification chips remain separate evidence.

One matrix has two distinct row echelon forms but one reduced row echelon form

Example

Over Q\mathbb Q, the matrix A=(1110)A=\begin{pmatrix}1&1\\1&0\end{pmatrix} has distinct row echelon forms R=(1101),S=(1101),R=\begin{pmatrix}1&1\\0&-1\end{pmatrix},\qquad S=\begin{pmatrix}1&1\\0&1\end{pmatrix}, but both reduce to I2I_2.

Facts & Assumptions

Given: The displayed matrix and two proposed reductions.

[L1]

Every finite matrix over a field is row equivalent to exactly one matrix in reduced row echelon form (Every finite matrix over a field is row equivalent to exactly one reduced row echelon matrix).

[L2]

A matrix is in row echelon form when every zero row lies below every nonzero row, the leading entry — the leftmost nonzero entry — of each nonzero row lies strictly to the right of the leading entry in the row above it, and every entry below a leading entry is zero. A row echelon matrix is in reduced row echelon form when every leading entry equals 11 and is the only nonzero entry in its column (Row echelon form, reduced row echelon form, leading entries, pivots, pivot positions and pivot columns).

[L3]

Over a field FF, an elementary row operation interchanges two distinct rows, replaces RpR_p by cRpcR_p for a nonzero cFc\in F, or replaces RpR_p by Rp+cRqR_p+cR_q for distinct p,qp,q and cFc\in F; two matrices are row equivalent when a finite sequence of elementary row operations transforms one into the other (Elementary row operations and row equivalence for finite matrices over a field).

Verification

technique · direct
1.1

The replacement R1R1+(1)R0R_1\leftarrow R_1+(-1)R_0 is an elementary row operation of the third kind and takes AA to RR; the scaling R1(1)R1R_1\leftarrow(-1)R_1 is one of the second kind, 1-1 being nonzero in Q\mathbb Q, and takes RR to SS. So AA is row equivalent to each of RR and SS by [L3]. Each has no zero row, leading entries in columns 00 and 11 respectively, and 00 below the leading entry of its first row, so each is in row echelon form by [L2]. Finally RSR\ne S because 11-1\ne1 in Q\mathbb Q. The ground field matters here and not elsewhere in the example: over F2\mathbb F_2 one has 1=1-1=1, so RR and SS coincide and this matrix exhibits no failure of uniqueness.

L2L3algebra
2.1

From SS, the replacement R0R0+(1)R1R_0\leftarrow R_0+(-1)R_1 is again elementary of the third kind and gives I2I_2, so I2I_2 is row equivalent to AA by [L3] and step 1.1; its two leading entries equal 11 and each is alone in its column, so it is in reduced row echelon form by [L2]. Applying the same replacement after the scaling of step 1.1 carries RR to I2I_2 as well, in agreement with the uniqueness of [L1].

step 1.1L1L2L3algebra

Depends on

Used by

Nothing in the library uses this result yet.

Dependency tree · next 3 levels

Direct dependencies and their dependencies through the next three levels: 17 results over 11 levels. An arrow runs from a result to what uses it, and this result sits at the bottom with a heavier outline. Click the chart to enlarge it.

Sources