Lecture 14 summary

The use of absorbance measurements at two wavelengths to determine the concentrations of two components of a solution can be treated as an example of a more generalized problem of solving a system of two linear equations in two unknowns. The term "linear" refers to the fact that only constants and terms in x and y (the two unknowns) appear in the equations, and there are no terms containing x², xy, y², norare there any other higher power polynomic terms. The application of a mathematical appraoch called matrix algebra allows a general solution to the problem of two equations in two unknowns. Note that in the equations in Harris on p.405 are just a specific instance of this general problem.