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Solving a linear equation

Solving a linear equation

"I need to programmatically solve a system of linear equations in C, Objective C, or (if needed) C++.

Here's an example of the equations:

-44.3940 = a * 50.0 + b * 37.0 + tx
-45.3049 = a * 43.0 + b * 39.0 + tx
-44.9594 = a * 52.0 + b * 41.0 + tx

From this, I'd like to get the best approximation for a, b, and tx."

Asked by: Guest | Views: 228
Total answers/comments: 1
Guest [Entry]

"Cramer's Rule
and
Gaussian Elimination
are two good, general-purpose algorithms (also see Simultaneous Linear Equations). If you're looking for code, check out GiNaC, Maxima, and SymbolicC++ (depending on your licensing requirements, of course).

EDIT: I know you're working in C land, but I also have to put in a good word for SymPy (a computer algebra system in Python). You can learn a lot from its algorithms (if you can read a bit of python). Also, it's under the new BSD license, while most of the free math packages are GPL."