Math. 311                                           Fall 1998

                     HOMEWORK SUMMARY REPORT


  Week number:1          
    
  Problem number:1.2.4  

  Number of papers received:2  

  Reviewing committee (Greek letter):Theta       

  List all participating members:Juan Mendoza, James Skoruppa, Elliot
Broughton 



  Author[s] of paper[s] chosen for publication: ...                  




  Comments:The papers were both correct, one was just a bit more
organized.


INSTRUCTOR'S COMMENT (spring '99):  Oops!  This paper had an error that
was overlooked by all concerned until the next year.  It is a common
student error, so I shall dwell upon it.  We need to find all solutions
(x,y,z) to  -x + 2z = 5.  The fact that y is multiplied by 0 in this
equation does not mean that y is zero; far to the contrary, y is
ARBITRARY.  Thus there are TWO arbitrary parameters in the answer, which
you can take to be y and z.  (Otherwise, the solutions would form just a
line, not a plane.)